Remember this photo? I think I get it.......

[Elizabeth30]

So, remember this photo from my first post a few days ago?

Well, I've watching tutorials and reading and I think I have a small understanding of why the light in this photo looks bad. The ambient light behind her is completely under exposing her face and blowing out portions of the background. As I learned today, the shutter controls ambient (any light we cannot control) light and aperture control flash (or any controlled light). So if I had forced a flash on her face and used a faster shutter and then used my exposure compensation this photo might have worked in terms of exposure?? is that right?

You guys are going to get sick of me really fast because I'm probably going to post a lot and ask a TON of questions but feedback is a MUST in the learning process for me! Thanks for your responses ahead of time.

 

[480sparky]

.....As I learned today, the shutter controls ambient (any light we cannot control) light and aperture control flash (or any controlled light)......

Aperture controls all lighting.... sunlight, flash, man-made.

 

[thereyougo!]

Aperture controls how much light gets in no matter what the source. The Shutter decides how long for. Aperture also affects DOF .

 

[Elizabeth30]

Aperture controls how much light gets in no matter what the source. The Shutter decides how long for. Aperture also affects DOF .

Well, ok in this situation if I force a flash on her face and then take a series of shots while i only change the shutter speed the ambient light would change around the subject but the flash on her face would not.??

 

[Derrel]

I that exact situation, if you would have had two people holding a white bedsheet up, right behind your camera position, you could have had beautiful "reflector fill light" that would have made this a simply lovely lighting scenario. A large, say 42x72 inch fabric rectangular reflector made out of PVC pipe, or a wood frame, and positioned so that it was propped up, like a picture frame on a desk--that too would have created beautiful reflector fill light.

 

[Vtec44]

Well, ok in this situation if I force a flash on her face and then take a series of shots while i only change the shutter speed the ambient light would change around the subject but the flash on her face would not.??

It depends on how far you change the shutter speed, it may have an effect on the overall exposure. From my own experiment, aperture and shutter speed does have an effect on overall exposure. However between the two, aperture has a more noticeable effect on your flash.

Instead of reading about it, give it a test shoot and let us know how it goes

 

[gerardo2068]

Yes shutter controls background light, But for flash photography. There's a video in YouTube by adorama tv that explains why. On canon you set it in Av mode and control the background light but by adjusting exposure compensation, on Nikon you have to put it on manual mode and change the shutter speed. It works because after watching that video I test my self and it does work and has improve my flash photography now that I understand that video. I don't have link right now though.

 

[480sparky]

Aperture controls how much light gets in no matter what the source. The Shutter decides how long for. Aperture also affects DOF .

Well, ok in this situation if I force a flash on her face and then take a series of shots while i only change the shutter speed the ambient light would change around the subject but the flash on her face would not.??

Shutter speed will change the ambient light, and may end up affecting the flash if you exceed your camera's synch speed. Aperture will change both the ambient and flash. The distance between you and the subject may affect the flash, depending on whether you're using TTL or manual flash, but it will not affect the ambient light.

 

[KmH]

As Ken alludes to there is a limit on how fast you can set the shutter speed. It's known as the shutter x-sync speed and it is listed in your camera's specifications, pretty much all of which you need to understand.

Your camera can only sync with the built-in flash up to a max on 1/200. If you try to use a shutter speed faster than 1/200 one of the 2 shutter curtains well be in front of the image sensor when the flash fires and will be seen as a wide black line at the top or bottom of the photo. Note: The lens projects the scene onto the image sensor upside down.

 

[MLeeK]

You are getting somewhere with what you are learning, but the best thing you can do for yourself is to play with it and see what happens.
BUT!!! Do you fully understand the BASIC exposure of an image first? Do you know how to use shutter and aperture creatively to create the image you want? I don't think you do yet. Throwing in flash before you get that right can be a recipe for disaster. That doesn't mean don't use it when you are snapping, you'll still have to, but if you are trying to learn something and working on your "studies" don't use it and don't think about it yet. Get the exposure and creativity aspect first.
If you understood how to get good exposure in this image in the first place you could then begin to add flash and understand how it would have an effect in the image very simply.

 

[pharmakon]

A very basic method that incorporates the aperture and shutter speed adjustments to get good overall exposure in a situation like this. (for beginners)
In Manual Mode:

1. set shutter speed to max sync speed ( 1/250 or whatever your camera will handle). With flash on manual, set the flash power ( in this case probably full or 1/2 power given the sun behind subject)
2. take some test shots, adjusting the aperture until the flash properly exposes the subject (don't worry about the ambient at this point, unless it is too bright in which case you need more flash power)
3. if you need more background/ambient light once your flash exposure is set, start slowing down the shutter speed until the ambient is where you want it to be. This should have little to no affect on the flash exposure so long as you don't change the aperture you set in the previous step.

 

[Dominantly]

So, remember this photo from my first post a few days ago?

Well, I've watching tutorials and reading and I think I have a small understanding of why the light in this photo looks bad. The ambient light behind her is completely under exposing her face and blowing out portions of the background. As I learned today, the shutter controls ambient (any light we cannot control) light and aperture control flash (or any controlled light). So if I had forced a flash on her face and used a faster shutter and then used my exposure compensation this photo might have worked in terms of exposure?? is that right?

You guys are going to get sick of me really fast because I'm probably going to post a lot and ask a TON of questions but feedback is a MUST in the learning process for me! Thanks for your responses ahead of time.

I'd say it's a decent job of finding a balance between the background (with the sun) and your subject. The grass is kind of the tell, as the sun will always be blown when it's directly in your frame, but that grass still shows detail.

Shutter will control ambient, but will have no effect on exposure when there is no ambient; say in a dark studio where you will be using strobes to do your lighting.
For this photo, exposing for the background, keeping in mind your shutter speed should not exceed your maximum sync speed, you will adjust your settings, then use a balanced fill flash to expose the girl.