prom picture advise please: Hi this is my first photo post this is a shot taken last night on my sony a55 using a sony external flash for fill. Im not a lover of using flash mainly...

gchaddy Loc: Bolton

Hi this is my first photo post this is a shot taken last night on my sony a55 using a sony external flash for fill.
Im not a lover of using flash mainly because i cant get my head around using it. i feel the this shot and most the shots i took using the flash last night look washed out / over exposed i tried to alter this with the camera but didnt want to mess with the settings to much as i didnt want to miss any shots ( panic )
would love some feed back and could it just be my lack of editing skills

thanks in advance Gary

KG

I'm learning to use fill flash outdoors as well.

Your subjects aren't overexposed or washed out. They are lit with the wrong color (too white or too pale). The color of flash is cooler than the color of ambient sunlight.

You might want to use CTO gel on your flash. Not full CTO, but maybe 1/4 or 1/2 CTO.

That would bring the color temperature of flash light closer to the color temperature of sunlight.

Another thing you might want to do is open up aperture a bit wider. Right now, the depth of field is too great. So it's not obvious whether the subjects or the leaves are in focus. Using a slightly more shallow DOF would make it obvious to the eye what's in focus.

After that, try dialing down flash exposure compensation. But my guess is it won't be necessary.

With the existing photos, you might want to try playing with white balance. Try making it look warmer just a bit. The background will get warmer as well, but that won't be a problem.

donrent Loc: Punta Gorda , Fl

Lighting is good, focus is great, but you should have had a little more of her dress and less space on his side...
Good picture overall...

victoria1

Gary, this is a fine pic. The kids should be pleased that they look so good. I agree with the others that the lighting isn't a real problem. In fact, slightly overexposed, which you feel this pic suffers from, is flattering to skin, giving it some luminosity. It is done deliberately - high key it's called. As for composition, I'd like to see the feet, else make portraits 3/4 or 1/2. It's like taking a shot of a church and omiting the top of the spire. Seems like a nice camera too.

victoria1

Gary, this is a fine pic. The kids should be pleased that they look so good. I agree with the others that the lighting isn't a real problem. In fact, slightly overexposed, which you feel this pic suffers from, is flattering to skin, giving it some luminosity. It is done deliberately - high key it's called. As for composition, I'd like to see the feet, else make portraits 3/4 or 1/2. It's like taking a shot of a church and omiting the top of the spire. Seems like a nice camera too.

gchaddy Loc: Bolton

KG wrote:

I'm learning to use fill flash outdoors as well. b... (show quote)

Hi thanks for your reply mmm CTO gell not something i have herd of ( did i mention i was amature :) ) i will have a look for
one can you advise of which to get and best place.

regarding widening the aperture i tried this with this next shot god knows why the background didnt blur

thanks again gary

KG

Quote:

Hi thanks for your reply mmm CTO gell not something i have herd of

It's color temperature orange. Basically an orange strip of film you put on top of your flash. Any brand will do.

I just posted this:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-50188-1.html

I used 1/4 CTO gel to match the color temperature of the sunlight. Don't remember the brand of the gel, but that doesn't matter. It's not even real gel (doesn't stretch), more like color film. Anything you can do to make your flash light come out more orange or yellow (CTO, CTS) will help when filling in daylight. But don't overdo it.
Here is an example of how I did it wrong:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-47388-1.html

Quote:

regarding widening the aperture i tried this with this next shot god knows why the background didnt blur

What were the aperture values for those shots?

Maybe the focal length of the second shot was too small for any useful DOF regardless of aperture.

gchaddy Loc: Bolton

KG wrote:

quote Hi thanks for your reply mmm CTO gell not s... (show quote)

ok thanks for that i will invest in a set of gells shot one was at F11 and Shot two F5.6 so bascically if i use say my 70mm to 270mm zoom at a wide aperture and stand further away from the subject this will help give me a shallow dof

gchaddy Loc: Bolton

donrent wrote:

Lighting is good, focus is great, but you should have had a little more of her dress and less space on his side...
Good picture overall...

Thanks for you kind feed back perhaps its not as bad as i thought :)

gchaddy Loc: Bolton

victoria1 wrote:

Gary, this is a fine pic. The kids should be pleased that they look so good. I agree with the others that the lighting isn't a real problem. In fact, slightly overexposed, which you feel this pic suffers from, is flattering to skin, giving it some luminosity. It is done deliberately - high key it's called. As for composition, I'd like to see the feet, else make portraits 3/4 or 1/2. It's like taking a shot of a church and omiting the top of the spire. Seems like a nice camera too.

Hi i take on board your comment as great advice i see what you mean by the composition it makes sence now .
Its a great help when people point things out to you.
at last i have found a forum were people are actually willing to give help and advise in stead of just saying go read a book which when like me your not the best at reading and absorbing info from a book its a great help :)

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

gchaddy wrote:

shot one was at F11 and Shot two F5.6 so bascically if i use say my 70mm to 270mm zoom at a wide aperture and stand further away from the subject this will help give me a shallow dof

#2 -moving the subject farther from the background would help too.

gchaddy Loc: Bolton

GoofyNewfie wrote:

gchaddy wrote:

shot one was at F11 and Shot two F5.6 so bascically if i use say my 70mm to 270mm zoom at a wide aperture and stand further away from the subject this will help give me a shallow dof

#2 -moving the subject farther from the background would help too.

Ok thanks. In the second shot he was aprox 3 foot away from the tree

So am I correct in saying that using my 18 to 70 mm lens on its full aperture of F5.6 it would be difficult to get a shallow DOF. To the point were it would blur the back ground in the same situation as shot 2

KG

You don't need to blur the background completely. Just enough to make it "easy" for the viewers' eyes to distinguish what's in focus and what's not. They probably won't even be aware of it, but doing so will make the subject appear to them even sharper.

gchaddy Loc: Bolton

Next question are the two shots improvable by editing
Perhaps softening the back ground
What the best way to do it

Thanks gary

caron2 Loc: Georgia

Will probably spend a big portion of my day learning, watching Peter Hurley tutorials on you tube. They are great! Wish I could afford his dvd. Thanks for the tips everyone is giving on here. So glad I signed on :)