Is this technique right?

[SlimPaul]

Hey,

What I do for most of my indoor shots, is increase the shadows and contrast together. Is this technique alright and is it commonly used?


Unedited version

All the necessary tweaks and increased shadows+contrast

Thanks, Paul

 

[Big Mike]

Whatever works for ya.

A better technique would be to get it right when shooting, so that you don't have to adjust the shadows.
Or at least shoot it a bit brighter (but not to the point of being blown out)...then adjust it down. This technique (Expose to the Right) will help you control noise at higher ISO levels.

 

[SlimPaul]

Whatever works for ya.

A better technique would be to get it right when shooting, so that you don't have to adjust the shadows.
Or at least shoot it a bit brighter (but not to the point of being blown out)...then adjust it down. This technique (Expose to the Right) will help you control noise at higher ISO levels.

Thanks Big Mike. The problem with getting it right when shooting are the blown highlights. When I set the flash any stronger, some are blown out. I use bounce flash. What's the problem here? I usually shoot on manual, ranging from 1/50 to 1/125. When I want to use shutter speeds above that, the background is totally dark. :/ What to do to get it right?

Thank you,

 

[Derrel]

I actually prefer the top, unprocessed version. In the second photo, the highlights on the woman's arm appear to be leaning toward the yellow--kind of that sickly, Nikon-inspired, overexposed highlight color...

A number of indoor wedding and event photographers *like* to have the backgrounds go dark--as dark as possible. The woman with the polka dot dress (? wow!) in the background for example--she does not really add value to the above photo. I think it would be perfectly acceptable to allow the background in this case to go as dark as possible.

It depends though, on if you like that approach or not. A lot of people like dragging the shutter, as slow as 1/8 second indoors, but then that can pick up a lot of mixed light illumination,and you get the tungsten + flash mixing.

 

[Big Mike]

Thanks Big Mike. The problem with getting it right when shooting are the blown highlights. When I set the flash any stronger, some are blown out. I use bounce flash. What's the problem here? I usually shoot on manual, ranging from 1/50 to 1/125. When I want to use shutter speeds above that, the background is totally dark. :/ What to do to get it right?

Well, 'getting it right' is a matter of taste...and as Derrel mentioned, sometimes you want the background to go dark.

When shooting with flash in somewhat dark situations, there are any number of factors that can influence your light...especially when you bounce the light. For example, most flash accessories are made to be used while bouncing so that you can throw some light forward. If I'm using a flash accessory, I prefer one that is adjustable so that I can adapt it to the situation at hand.

As for the ambient/background exposure. Don't be afraid to try slower shutter speeds. I will go as low as 1/10 to get more background exposure. The flash should help freeze the subject, but they can get a little blurry if there is too much ambient light on them. I will even go much slower when I want some fun 'motion' shots.
Also, you can get more ambient exposure by cranking up the ISO. You can go pretty high because a little noise in these types of shots, isn't the end of the world.

Actually, what I do for receptions now, is to use an off-camera flash in conjunction with an on-camera flash. The remote unit will be in manual (it might be a flash or a studio strobe) and the on-camera flash will be in E-TTL. I will usually have the remote light act as a main light (or back light) and then use the on-camera as fill.

 

[KmH]

Some highlights are expected to be blown. They're called specular highlights and you'll get them off of shiny things like metal and glass.

 

[bhphotography]

I have to agree with Mike. It's always better to slighly over expose than to under expose.

The images look a little on the yellow side to me, could use a bit of a colour balance in my mind.