Some help on the settings please

[PavementPilot]

So I am trying out some of the settings on my new D3100 today. I tried the slow flash, where the flash goes off just before the shutter closes. I like the way my wife is not washed out with flash, but it did washout the wall behind her. What would I need to change to not washout the background?

 

[Robin Usagani]

Flash is so fast. I have a feeling you mean dragging the shutter? Where your shutter speed is slow and you freeze the motion from flash? Or maybe you mean 2nd curtain? I am not sure what you are trying to do, 2nd curtain usually used to show motion. What you need is lower your flash power.

 

[PavementPilot]

SLOW (slow sync): Shutter speed slows automatically to capture background lighting at night or under low light. Use this to include background lighting in portraits.

- from my manual.

I was cross thinking of the other flash feature, rear-curtain.

So how would I not washout the background with slow sync? ISO maybe?

 

[Robin Usagani]

Thats if you want more ambient light from the background. Most of the light of the background is from your flash. Flash photogaphy is not hard, but it is hard to explain.

 

[Chamelion 6]

Front curtain or rear isn't really the problem here. What that is referring to is exactly when the flash fires during the exposure. When the shutter triggers and the shutter opens anything that moves is going to blur (that's what the ambient light is all about). If the the camera triggers the flash when the shutter first opens then that will freeze the object immediately, on a rear curtain, the flash fires just before the shutter closes. The effect is an object that is both frozen and sharp because of the flash and blurred and moving because of the ambient light. In front curtain the blur is the direction the object is going, rear curtain the blur is behind the object.


IMG_1827.jpg by chamelion65, on Flickr

Here is what I'm talking about. This was shot in the daylight so that there was good ambient light but I used a flash also. Notice the bus is sharp and frozen but there is a ghost image of it that blurs off of it, implying movement. (Look at the circular marking on the side of the bus)

I intended the flash to fire on rear curtain, but it fired on first curtain. The blur makes the bus look like it's moving backward.... :er:

 

[Chamelion 6]

Now to sort out your over exposed background. First, is your flash a dedicated Nikon and if so, were you firing it on a Manual setting or Auto?

 

[Geaux]

Why did you have your iso at 3200?

 

[MohaimenK]

Did anyone else notice that OP used ISO 3200 with 1/6 shutter speed?? That should give you the answer.

 

[white]

:shock:

 

[PavementPilot]

Why did you have your iso at 3200?

Um, forgot to reset it from 3200. :blushing: I was playing with all sorts of settings, to see what they did and didnt do.

 

[PavementPilot]

Did anyone else notice that OP used ISO 3200 with 1/6 shutter speed?? That should give you the answer.

I realize That this is bad setting for this picture, but would be more in line for shooting this one, for correct background light?

 

[Chamelion 6]

Did anyone else notice that OP used ISO 3200 with 1/6 shutter speed?? That should give you the answer.

I realize That this is bad setting for this picture, but would be more in line for shooting this one, for correct background light?

I think it's less the setting on the camera and more the setting on the flash... And the location of the flash. The exposure was made for the stuff in the foreground so it exposed properly, but to do that the flash threw out so much light that the white walls, fridge, and pretty much everything around the subject got hammered. Add to that the stuff is white, really reflective, and at an almost dead on flat surface to the camera it was heavily over exposed.

How to fix it depends on what you used and how you shot it.

Generally, the ISO needs to be as low as possible and still make a good exposure at a reasonably fast shutter speed and whatever aperture setting is appropriate for your subject and composition.

 

[sobolik]

So I am trying out some of the settings on my new D3100 today. I tried the slow flash, where the flash goes off just before the shutter closes. I like the way my wife is not washed out with flash, but it did washout the wall behind her. What would I need to change to not washout the background?

What you describe is rear curtain flash and it works like this:

The camera exposes as if there is no flash going to be used. This allows the background out of flash range parts of the scene to properly expose.
Then it will fire the flash to properly expose for the parts of the scene that are in range of the flash.

The way I interpret your photo is that you misused rear curtain flash where it is not designed to work. You do not have anything in this scene that is out of flash range. You made a faulty choice of camera settings.

You took a "long" exposure which adequately exposed the entire scene and then blasted it with flash to boot. This confused the camera's computer and you got what you got.

This scene is not a candidate for rear curtain flash.

 

[Josh66]

What mode were you using the flash on?

If TTL, I'm surprised ... usually it's pretty good. (TTL, Canon TTL at least, can usually tell when you only need fill flash, and adjust accordingly.... That did not happen here.)

If manual, way too much power...lol.

 

[Chamelion 6]

What mode were you using the flash on?

If TTL, I'm surprised ... usually it's pretty good.

If manual, way too much power...lol.

^^^This.

The foreground is mostly exposed well, so the camera read that and exposed for it. Which makes me believe it was the pop up flash or TTL. The wall and fridge reflected an excess... There was a huge range difference between these surfaces and the subject.

You can see the bright circular burn hole almost right over her left shoulder on the fridge falling off towards the edges. That's why I say it depends on what and how.