Shadowed Man - Suggestions?

[Harmony]

Hi everyone =)

i'm a relatively new beginner, and I used a point and shoot kodak to get this shot, and changed it to sepia over the computer. the contrast between the outside light was very harsh in the colour picture, and it's only slightly better in the sepia tone. can anybody let me know a different way to shoot so it's not so harsh? i used a flash for it aswell.

 

[LaFoto]

Heya Harmony, welcome to ThePhotoForum.
Well, you say you set your flash against the bright light from outside, but I can't see traces in your photo here that would indicate it really fired. At least on the edge of the table and the armrests and sides of the chairs near to us there WOULD HAVE BEEN a gleam, something to show us that the flash really fired.

If it is the on-camera flash you meant to use, I doubt it would have reached the person at the far end of the table, for their range of light is usually quite limited and the light falls off fast after that (which would have been countered by the light through the window in this case, though).

But I fear you got these harsh contrasts because the flash did not really fire.

 

[Fangman]

If your camera allows - chose "always flash" on as I am sure the camera decided with the bright light it did not need it.

 

[theRossatron]

Quite a cool shot though, has a spooky feel.

I think this is one of the rare cases where if everything was symmetrical it may have been better from a compositional point of view.

 

[Harmony]

i zoomed in on this one because to get close enough would have been to step on the uncovered floor (TABOO!) because it was a historical site,

and yes, my dad was like, "it's not symetrical, you should have moved the end chair first" =)

thanks, i'll remember the flash tips =)