Photographing Firefighters (reflective clothing and gear)

[Armed and DWI]

I can't seem to get a good-looking photograph of firefighters in their gear with any digital camera, or any kind of camera for that matter. I have tried all the different flash settings, but the reflective strips on the firefighters' gear and clothing confuses the camera into thinking that the scene has more light than it really does. The result is a very very dark photo, and a few super bright strips of uniform showing up. Like this : http://users.nac.net/alienrnm47/firefighters.jpg

Any ideas how I could get it to look more like this photo taken by Fire Department of New York City photographers:

 

[Cuervo79]

have you tried bouncing the flash? althought it would be cumbersome if you could change the angle instead of bein right on top of the camera put it on the left with an extention cord, try different angles and all.. I think bouncing it would be an interesting touch since there is allot of flash in the front, a little less flash would look better, and I mean bouncing it if you have thos flash bouncer gadgets you put in the end of the flash, or go with a friend and a big reflector... it all depends too if its live action or in training... that would also depend how can you control the what is hapening in the picture

 

[Canon Fan]

I'm not 100% sure about this but a polarizer may cut down on some of the light being reflected back to the camera not sure. Otherwise you could attempt to set EVcomp on the camera but the reflections may wash out the frame altogether.

 

[tr0gd0o0r]

have you tried bouncing the flash or something. The polarizer may make it way too dark to take the photograph

 

[KmH]

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