Understanding Exposure

[KellyL]

Dean: I did use a flash on this, 580EX, but I don't know what it was set on. ETTL, I know. I would have used my Metz, but I am still terrible with it. The shadows it casts are relentless and I haven't figured out how to tame it.

Jay, I am determined to nail this down! I wasn't minding my video camera enough yesterday, I got too caught up in the photography end of things.

[KellyL]

Dean: You can see my shadow falling on the car. I don't know if I was too far away, or what...or maybe their eyes weren't turned in a direction that would take the fill??

[kgphoto]

Kelly,

if you can see their eyes, the on camera flash will fill. It should be set on manual, though, but you knew that.

[Dean Johnson]

Dean: I did use a flash on this, 580EX, but I don't know what it was set on. ETTL, I know. I would have used my Metz, but I am still terrible with it. The shadows it casts are relentless and I haven't figured out how to tame it.

Dean: I did use a flash on this, 580EX, but I don't know what it was set on. ETTL, I know. I would have used my Metz, but I am still terrible with it. The shadows it casts are relentless and I haven't figured out how to tame it.

I was wondering what that shadow was, and now I'm wondering how in the hell you managed to get your own shadow showing up on the car like that!

Where was the flash? Where were you? Somehow I can't picture how this would happen.

Aside from that little mystery, for some reason the flash didn't get to your subjects. My guess would be that the ETTL read the light coming from the car and then quit, never quite reaching your subject.

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by Dean Johnson

I was wondering what that shadow was, and now I'm wondering how in the hell you managed to get your own shadow showing up on the car like that!

Where was the flash? Where were you? Somehow I can't picture how this would happen.

Aside from that little mystery, for some reason the flash didn't get to your subjects. My guess would be that the ETTL read the light coming from the car and then quit, never quite reaching your subject.

...or did the lady photographer standing in the back behind the car use her flash simultaneously while you were... then could it also have 'blinded' your flash ?? ...

...€0.02 and all...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[heartseye]

Or....is the shadow cast by the sun? Might I suggest s heretical idea here.....what if you just used your camera's built in flash...... on full auto exposure?
Remember the old Metz.....it is just that...an old Metz. It was not designed by Harry Potter......your'e getting bogged down here in techie quicksand, my dear friend....Cheers...Bob

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by Dean Johnson

Aside from that little mystery, for some reason the flash didn't get to your subjects. My guess would be that the ETTL read the light coming from the car and then quit, never quite reaching your subject.

EXIF says: EOS 30D, 1/400sec, F10, Partial metering, 17mm (= 28mm FoV)...

1/400sec: did you use HighSpeedSync and ETTL? Then you could have had too short a shuttertime to record the already ETTL diminished Bang of the 580...

...€0.02 more...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[jfrancho]

Bright sun, backgrounds, high shutter speeds, fill flash, etc. can make it difficult to decide what to do. You've got to take one thing at a time. What DOF? Is it moving? Is the light balanced? Do I need to pop off a flash? Answers to each of these questions narrows your settings and equipment down to a manageable and subjective range of values.

For this shot, I knew I needed a deep DOF, and had it at f/11, based on my DOF chart in my camera bag (yes, i carry a few!). But I was getting shutter speeds that were still pretty high, and since it 11:30 AM, the sun was high in the sky and causing some ugly shadows on their faces. To get the shutter down to a reasonable speed (at or below 1/250 max sync) I used a 4 stop (1.2) ND filter. The background was still a little bright, so I stopped down to f/14. This is the result:



This might seem like a lot of asking and answering, but after a while, you make these progressive choices instinctively and fast enough that it doesn't slow you down.

[KellyL]

Sorry guys! For some reason I didn't get the emails with all of these replies, so I have to catch up just a bit.

Dean: I did have it on high sync, and I have been told by someone, Michael maybe, that it would cut down flash, so I usually try to avoid it. So yes, flash did not reach eyes. Second, the sun cast the shadow on the car.

Bob: I was challening myself to do some manual work on this shot. Don't ask me why...when I proved to myself that auto was working fine for the walking down the sidewalk shot. And I didn't think about putting the Canon flash on manual. It is a new concept to me...manual flash.

Max: I reread the entire 30D manual, and didn't find anything about hooking it up to the computer to put your name on it. I need to look in the original box and see if I am missing something.

John: WOW! That image pops. Of course, everytime I post a group in white I get the same thing, "Why didn't you tell them to wear something different? The white distracts!" I am not saying that about your picture, just glad to see the family in white...so I am not the only loon.

Here is a photo from last weekends wedding where I worked to get the exposure correct. I wanted a nice warm light on the player, and I wanted the window in the background to be exposed correctly. I ended up "foofing" (Denis Reggie term for bouncing the flash) off of the wall behind me after I set my exposure for the window.

I think this discussion on this thread has helped me tremendously.

[KellyL]

Now if only I would have taken a second to move those books, but since the wedding was starting in five minutes, he might have had a coronary. Later he told me the flash was just a little distracting! He was an awesome player.

[Worm324]

Kelly, That is the best exposure I've seen yet!! That looks totally natural, yet like a very very difficult shot to get!! really nice work, and thats proof practice makes perfect

The books don't take away from the image IMO.

Jay

[KellyL]

Thanks Jay. I think it is too funny...you are the master of the outdoors and I am working hard to be great in. Like you said, practice, practice, practice. I had to do this shot four times before I got it right. Just about caused the piano player to have a fit.

[cyclohexane]

I have been told by someone, Michael maybe, that it would cut down flash, so I usually try to avoid it

It probably was me... don't use it! You lose around 2/3 of the effective flash distance, so you have to be really close to the subjects to light them adequately with high speed sync. If you need a higher native flash sync you can (1) use a camera with an electronic shutter or (2) use a camera with a leaf shutter system but those two options have their own potentially troublesome limitations.

-------

I took a look at most of the stuff you've posted today... looking good! Keep it up! =)

[Tom Swaman]

.....and Michael, please do not forget the the ability of the photographer to hold still in all the right planes.

Tom

[KellyL]

Thanks Michael! I have other things I need to be doing, but I must feed my addiction to the Camel.

[Wes]

Kelly, I think you did an outstanding job with your portrait of the pianist, both technically and artistically...less of course the sheet music laying on top of the piano which you already pointed out. IMO, Very nice balance of the ambient and artifical light .

[KellyL]

Thanks for stopping by Wes! I do appreciate the comments. Had the wedding not been in progress, I might have been able to declutter a little.

[jfrancho]

"Why didn't you tell them to wear something different? The white distracts!"

There are a couple of responses that will quell that. The first is because its what the customer wanted, and the second is to ask, why are you so easily distracted by white? Must be tough to concentrate at a wedding

[Cem]

Originally Posted by KellyL

...Max: I reread the entire 30D manual, and didn't find anything about hooking it up to the computer to put your name on it. I need to look in the original box and see if I am missing something..

Hi KellyL,

I hope you don't mind me jumping in here .
You can put your name on a Canon SLR by using the Canon Camera Control applet that is on the same CD-ROM as the DPP and ZoomBrowser. I am not at home so I can't recall the exact name of the program, but it is the one that allows you to take pictures from your PC when the camera is tethered using a USB cable. Anyway, in there, there is a setting/preferences option. Therein, you can put your name as the owner of the camera. HTH.

Cheers,

[Max@Home]

Cem,



...the application is called EOS Utility (EU), the 'new' name for the elder EOS Viewer Utility (EVU) application...

On your 30D's - EOS Digital Solution Disk you probably find an older version, the latest (2.0.2) can be downloaded here, EOS Utility Updater (to version 2.0.2 )

Kindest regards!

Max@Home