Pictures taken in a night club - half pic bright

[mpr555]

I have start taking pics at nightclubs. They came out pretty well apart from half of the picture was fairly bright. Is this because I don't have a 'softener' as such on my flash? I have a canon 300v with a cobra flash, don't know model. You can angel the flash, which I did, but still got a bright reflection.

Any info would be fab. If needed I can upload a pic to show you what I mean.

Does anyone know of a good photography handbook, like a reference book? I’m a beginner, trying to study the tech side of things, but find it a little difficult.

Cheers peeps
Max

 

[Artemis]

Just buy a diffuser for your flash, you can get em for about...oh....£15...not bad tbh

 

[Scurra]

Which half of the image?

If it's a top half it may be the case that you're flash is angled too high and you're only illuminating a portion of the image.

 

[fadingaway1986]

or your shutter speed could be too fast, and therefore only half is seeing the flash.

Or is that too slow?

 

[hobbes28]

Does anyone know of a good photography handbook, like a reference book? I’m a beginner, trying to study the tech side of things, but find it a little difficult.

Cheers peeps
Max

I swear I don't get money for recommending this book. John Hedgecoe's New Manual of Photography. Excellent book and very informative. He usually writes a new book every year so that he can keep them up to date with the technology but still covers all of the basics.

 

[selmerdave]

Could be half of your photo was a larger distance than could be properly exposed, or that there was a great distance between the closest and furthest object.

Dave

 

[Unimaxium]

My guess would be that your shutter speed was too fast for your flash. This would cause your shutter to be partially closed while the flash was firing, causing only part of the photo to be properly exposed. Try some googling on "flash sync speed".

 

[Soren]

I se two possibilities:

• If the border between light and bright is sharp, I think the shutter speed is too short. Try 1/60 second.
• If the border between light and bright is dull, I think the flash is aimed wrong.