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Taking pictures in dark rooms
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Jul 23, 2013 19:07:57   #
Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ
 
Starr wrote:
Here are two of the pictures that I believe are too dark. Thank all of you for your suggestions and help. Captain C, I think you are right...... Sometimes it just can't be done.


You might try the demo of 'Perfectly Clear'
http://athentech.com/products.html

I saw it on another blog, and the results were amazing.

Reply
Jul 23, 2013 19:10:35   #
Starr Loc: St. Louis, MO
 
jdubu wrote:
In low light events, I don't use my flash in the bounce mode. Most of the venues I have attended haven't been conducive for effective bounce.

I take it off camera and shoot hand held, usually on an extended arm to get it higher and closer to a 45 degree from the camera. I have different diffusers that I put on the flash to soften the light, depending on the look I am after.

Sometimes wired and sometimes I use the Pocket Wizard flex units, either maintains ETTL so I can dial in compensation on camera.
In low light events, I don't use my flash in the b... (show quote)


Good ideas Jdubu. Haven't advanced to the Pocket Wizard flex units yet though. Will try to get the flash off the camera.

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Jul 23, 2013 19:11:05   #
Starr Loc: St. Louis, MO
 
Wall-E wrote:
You might try the demo of 'Perfectly Clear'
http://athentech.com/products.html

I saw it on another blog, and the results were amazing.


Thank you Wall-E!

Reply
 
 
Jul 23, 2013 19:30:43   #
CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver
 
Starr wrote:
Here are two of the pictures that I believe are too dark. Thank all of you for your suggestions and help. Captain C, I think you are right...... Sometimes it just can't be done.


For these kinds of images, I would just aim the flash right at them and nuke 'em! These are not portraits, they are not art, they are just a recording of people at an event. Even the hard and harsh light from direct flash is better than this.

If you are going to do this on a regular basis, get a stroboframe flash bracket of similar, get a TTL cord for the flash and then get the flash up above the lens by 8-12" and attach something like a small Lumiquest softboxIII. YOU get direct flash but the height kills that red-eye (to a degree), and the height makes it a bit less direct, and the soft box gives you 15 to 30 times the area so it is a bit softer. I do this for events in dark areas all the time.

Here are two examples from a heavy equipment trade show in a dark convention hall. Nikon D700, ISO 400 1/60 @ f/3.5 with the strobe frame bracket and a Lumiquest SoftboxIII using a Nikon Sb800.

Piece of cake.





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Jul 23, 2013 20:11:46   #
Papa Joe Loc: Midwest U.S.
 
Starr wrote:
Here are two of the pictures that I believe are too dark. Thank all of you for your suggestions and help. Captain C, I think you are right...... Sometimes it just can't be done.


Starr, I took the liberty of slightly adjusting one of your pictures. Actually I don't think they're all that dark or unusable. You have plenty of information in them making it easier to adjust. See example below:



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Jul 23, 2013 20:12:30   #
joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois
 
Starr wrote:
I was using an external flash but there was nothing to bounce the light off of. I just purchased a Vivitar flash but now I know I need to stick with my camera brand, Pentax.

I love B&H.

Thank you...


Stick with the Vivitar since you already have it. All you need is the bounce attachment. You can make it work. The beauty of digital is that you can easily dial in your settings with a few practice shots

Reply
Jul 23, 2013 20:14:41   #
joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois
 
CaptainC wrote:
For these kinds of images, I would just aim the flash right at them and nuke 'em! These are not portraits, they are not art, they are just a recording of people at an event. Even the hard and harsh light from direct flash is better than this.

If you are going to do this on a regular basis, get a stroboframe flash bracket of similar, get a TTL cord for the flash and then get the flash up above the lens by 8-12" and attach something like a small Lumiquest softboxIII. YOU get direct flash but the height kills that red-eye (to a degree), and the height makes it a bit less direct, and the soft box gives you 15 to 30 times the area so it is a bit softer. I do this for events in dark areas all the time.

Here are two examples from a heavy equipment trade show in a dark convention hall. Nikon D700, ISO 400 1/60 @ f/3.5 with the strobe frame bracket and a Lumiquest SoftboxIII using a Nikon Sb800.

Piece of cake.
For these kinds of images, I would just aim the fl... (show quote)


Nobody does flash as well as Nikon. I love my D700 too.

Reply
 
 
Jul 23, 2013 21:26:21   #
Starr Loc: St. Louis, MO
 
CaptainC wrote:
For these kinds of images, I would just aim the flash right at them and nuke 'em! These are not portraits, they are not art, they are just a recording of people at an event. Even the hard and harsh light from direct flash is better than this.

If you are going to do this on a regular basis, get a stroboframe flash bracket of similar, get a TTL cord for the flash and then get the flash up above the lens by 8-12" and attach something like a small Lumiquest softboxIII. YOU get direct flash but the height kills that red-eye (to a degree), and the height makes it a bit less direct, and the soft box gives you 15 to 30 times the area so it is a bit softer. I do this for events in dark areas all the time.

Here are two examples from a heavy equipment trade show in a dark convention hall. Nikon D700, ISO 400 1/60 @ f/3.5 with the strobe frame bracket and a Lumiquest SoftboxIII using a Nikon Sb800.

Piece of cake.
For these kinds of images, I would just aim the fl... (show quote)


CaptainC, you are full of knowledge. Yes, it was pictures at a benefit, just people having fun. I was being to hard on myself.
Thank you for taking time time to answer my question.

Happy shooting!!!!

Reply
Jul 23, 2013 21:31:57   #
Starr Loc: St. Louis, MO
 
joer wrote:
Stick with the Vivitar since you already have it. All you need is the bounce attachment. You can make it work. The beauty of digital is that you can easily dial in your settings with a few practice shots


Thank you Joer. I've been working with the Vivitar flash and trying to figure out the TTL and Manual settings by taking pictures and writing down the settings. I think I'm starting to get it! Time and patience when it comes to photography, eh......

Thank you for your help.

Reply
Jul 23, 2013 21:33:53   #
Starr Loc: St. Louis, MO
 
Papa Joe wrote:
Starr, I took the liberty of slightly adjusting one of your pictures. Actually I don't think they're all that dark or unusable. You have plenty of information in them making it easier to adjust. See example below:


That looks wonderful Papa Joe. How did you do that? You did a much better job than I did in PS CS4. Thank you for your time!

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Jul 23, 2013 21:37:31   #
Starr Loc: St. Louis, MO
 
GoofyNewfie wrote:
Use one of these:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=811488&is=REG&A=details&Q=
and drag the shutter as much as you can to get something in the background to show up.
http://digital-photography-school.com/dragging-the-shutter-balancing-fill-flash-with-ambient-light


Thank you GoofyNewfie. I was looking at getting a Gary Fong diffuser. Appreciate the link to the photography school.

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Jul 23, 2013 22:14:26   #
GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City
 
Starr wrote:
Thank you GoofyNewfie. I was looking at getting a Gary Fong diffuser. Appreciate the link to the photography school.


Not knocking the Fong dome, it works well in smaller light- colored rooms. Conditions as you describe need something like the Light Genius or Lumiquest. Why waste light -firing it 360 degrees when it's not going to bounce off of anything (and temporarily blind people behind you?)

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Jul 23, 2013 22:25:05   #
Papa Joe Loc: Midwest U.S.
 
Starr wrote:
That looks wonderful Papa Joe. How did you do that? You did a much better job than I did in PS CS4. Thank you for your time!


I only did some very basic 'brightening' and reduced shadows a bit. I use Photoshop Elements and find it satisfied my needs.

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Jul 23, 2013 23:07:48   #
Starr Loc: St. Louis, MO
 
Papa Joe wrote:
I only did some very basic 'brightening' and reduced shadows a bit. I use Photoshop Elements and find it satisfied my needs.


Thank you. Good job. I think I need to take some PS tutorials. Just found out how to remove shadows off a face. Pretty cool.

Reply
Jul 23, 2013 23:56:02   #
CajonPhotog Loc: Shreveport, LA
 
Starr wrote:
Here are two of the pictures that I believe are too dark. Thank all of you for your suggestions and help. Captain C, I think you are right...... Sometimes it just can't be done.


They are pretty dark, true, but all I did was use a levels adjustment and a hue/saturation adjustment. They look pretty good for not being the original, and I am sure the original would look better.





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