No flash?

[cccott3]

Ok I have been reading a lot about not using a flash and using "natural" lighting. So just wondering if I'm taking pics in my house In the afternoon how do u get them bright enough with no flash? I'm going to take some pics if my friends baby in a few days in my house so no flash? (pics are just for fun not fir money or anything, mostly just for me)

 

[sierramister]

If you're doing 'natural light', you need to be thinking "available light". If you want to go this route, open blinds, turn lights on, shoot closer to the windows, wait for times when the sun shines through.

And you'll need to turn your aperture to a lower number and your ISO higher.

 

[o hey tyler]

I suggest you supplement your photoshoot with:

A) Your camera's manual

and

B) Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson

You'll understand why flash is good in certain situations, even indoors. As well as what you can do to help you utilize available light. The great thing about digital photography is its accessibility to "try and experiment". You can throw your camera into manual mode and learn exactly what it takes to properly expose a photograph under any conditions.

 

[joealcantar]

Know you cameras ISO limitations as well, all cameras have noise levels and you need to work with it and find when your camera starts to develop noise. Once you find this stay below it if you can. This is where the 1.4 and 1.8 lenses come into play as they take advantage of taking in more available light in these conditions. This is why we recommend the nifty fifty to start with as it is a cheap portait lens on a dx frame camera, may be a little limiting in small rooms but does well.
-
Shoot well, Joe

 

[subscuck]

You're going to struggle with your kit lens to get indoor shots without flash. It's just not fast enough, and I believe the XS has the non IS version. As already suggested, make it as bright as you possibly can, and kick your ISO to 800. I'm sure the XS is better at 800 than my old XT.

 

[KmH]

I highly recommend these tutorials: Digital Photography Tutorials

Someone mentioned opening the blinds and turning lights on.

Each kind of light source generates light that has a certain color temperature.

Our brain alters our perception of the light we see with our eyes so most light look close to white to us.

The camera cannot do that on it's own. So it has an adjustment called White Balance, though ironiocally White Balance is rarely about white. Understanding White Balance

Incandescent light, sunlight, and flourescent light each have a different color temperature. If your camera's white balance is set to sunlight, and the scene is lit with incandescent lighting, the photo will have a strong orange/yellow color cast to it. If the light source is flourescent and your camera's white balance is set to sunlight, the photo will have a strong greenish color cast to it.

Your camera has White Balance settings for vaious light types. Unfortunately, your camera can only be adjusted for one light type at a time. If you try to shoot a scene lit by more than one light type, called mixed lighting, you can accommodate only one of the light types with the camera's white balance adjustment.

This is just one of the problems encountered when trying to shoot using available light, compared to using flash. By the way, all light is natural light.

To shoot indoors without flash you will still need to learn how to do photographic lighting. As you learn about photographic lighting you will discover that using only available light is pretty limiting and not all that easy since to have a measure of control over the available light sources you will need some accessories like reflectors of various sizes, types, and colors, as well as diffusers. Introduction to Portrait Lighting

 

[cccott3]

You're going to struggle with your kit lens to get indoor shots without flash. It's just not fast enough, and I believe the XS has the non IS version. As already suggested, make it as bright as you possibly can, and kick your ISO to 800. I'm sure the XS is better at 800 than my old XT.

Ok so if I can't ok so if I can't get it bright enough is it Ol to use my flash?

 

[KmH]

issue #1 - Flash on the lens axis, like from the camera's pop up flash or a flash mounted on the camera hot shoe, doesn't make shadows that provide modeling of the facial mask. The shadows create a sense of depth. A large part of the artistry of making people photos is having the knowledge and skill to make those shadows help communicate the story the photo is.

Issue #2 - The pop up and hot shoe mounted flash units are small light sources. Small light sources produce harsh light and hard, sharp edged, unflattering shadows. The on camera flash can be modified to be apparently larger.

One way that is done is to bounce the flash of light off the ceiling. Built-in flash units can't be turned upwards to do that, but many hot shoe flash units can.

There are also considerations to doing bounced flash, like the color of the surface the light is bounced off of, and the high angle the light then comes from, which can cause dark eye sockets, or 'raccoon eyes'.
Visit www.strobist.com and http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/1-natural-looking-flash/