 Desiree C. Preckwinkle |
How to Eliminate Shadows on People in Bright Sun?? Hello, I am going to be shooting a wedding for my friend coming up real soon. The only problem I am having is that it will be in the afternoon when the sun is directly above us. I will be using 400 iso film and read that if I set the camera to ISO 200 and set my flash to -1, it should eliminate any shadows on the subject. I took several pictures and all of them still had the shadow on the face downward toward the chin (since the sun is directly above) Unfortunatly I will not be able to place the subject to where the sun is behind them due to the background. Any advice would be so helpful. Thanks in advance.
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Jon Close |
What camera and flash? Some brands (like Canon EOS) automatically adjust the output for fill flash, so dialing in an additional -1 flash exposure compensation may have made it too weak. If you were using just the low-powered built-in flash, and a small aperture of f/8 to f/16 your subject may have been beyond it's useful range.
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Desiree C. Preckwinkle |
I am using the Nikon N80 with the SB-50 flash. I had the camera set on automatic. I also tried it without setting the camera to ISO 200, and had all settings on AUTO, however the pictures came out looking the same. Still with a very harsh shadow.
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Justin G. |
Use 200, set your camera on Av and dial your aperture to 5.6 or 6.7. Leave your flash on 0 and since its on Av your flash will know to fill in instead of expose for the scene. Now you should be good in eliminating those face shadows. Try these settings.
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Desiree C. Preckwinkle |
I set my camera at 200 ISO and put in to Av, then when it entered 5.6 or 6.7 into my camera, the exposure was way too high. On Auto mode, the camera sets itself to at least F19 or F22? Should I use Av, at set it at F22? I shot another roll with some different setting but still got a shadow? I don't know what I am doing wrong? If I did do it right, would the whole shadow on the face be eliminated or just more subtle? Thanks so much.
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Debby A. Tabb |
DESIREE, IF YOU HAVE A OFF CAMERA FLASH AVAILABLE GET A TRIPOD FOR IT AND A $6.00 SLAVE FROM THE PHOTOTORIUM , GO AHEAD AND USE THE AUTO SETTING OF 200/F22 AND SEE IF THAT HELPS. SOME TIMES NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO -YOU CAN'T FIGHT THE HARSHNESS OF THE SUN AND THE SHADOWS THEY CAUSE WITH OUT APPLYING LIGHT FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE ON TO YOUR SUBJECT TO ELIMINATE THEM-THIS USUALLY MEANS OFF CAMERA. I AM SURE YOU KNOW ALL THIS , BUT SOMEONE ELSE MAY NOT. I DO HOPE THIS HELPS, DEBBY
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Justin G. |
If you set your camera on Av mode, this is called Aperture Priority. YOU set the aperture and the camera automatically meters the scene to properly expose the scene. So if you set if on 5.6 (because you want a shallow DOF) then the camera will meter the light entering the lens and decide the best time setting it should use. Also if there's a shadow on the face the exposure time won't affect the shadow persay, it will just expose the entire photo. So whether the portrait is underexposed or overexposed (or properly exposed) the shadow will still be there. This is where your flash comes in, it makes the light on the face to eliminate the shadow. Also reflectors will work. I don't have a lot of money myself so what I am temporarily using for reflectors are those foam posterboards you can get at a local hobby shop. Its about lets say 24x30 or so and its foam, one side has a particular color and the other side is white. These have helped me reflect soft light onto the face of the subject. Good luck, hopefully I didn't confuse you. Keep in there and keep practicing! .justin.
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Debby A. Tabb |
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Debby A. Tabb |
JUSTIN IS RIGHT REFECTORS WILL HELP AS WELL-AND THERE ARE SO MANY CREATIVE WAYS TO GET THEM WITH OUT A LARGE COST-I USED TO USE THOSE WINDSHIED ONES CLIPPED TO A STAND OR ON THE GROUND. DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO AND AS HE SAID- PERACTISE, PRACTISE,PRACTISE.
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Desiree C. Preckwinkle |
Debby, If I use my off camera flash on a tripod and get the slave for it, do I then need to use my small on camera flash to set my SB-50 flash to go off? If not, how would I get my off camera flash to trigger? Thanks Justin, I know what Aperature priority is, and that I set the aperature when in Av mode and the camera will set the rest, but why when I dial in 6.7 does the camera shutter speed say HI ? I did not try to take the picture at that setting as I thought it would not take, but as I am messing around with my camera now, I find that it will take, but the frame may be slightly overexposed? I just don't undertand why the camera reads HI, when it can go as high as 1/8000 a sec. I appreciate all your input on this. I will keep practicing to see what I can figure out.
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Debby A. Tabb |
EXACTLY DESIREE! THE SLAVE I AM TALKING ABOUT IS A SMALL SQUARE ON A SYNC CORD- THEY ARE SENSETIVE YET RESONABLE- BETTER YET FOR THE LIGHT NATURAL LIGHT YOU ARE FIGHTING WOULD BE A RADIO SLAVE-BUT TRY THESE FIRST-AND THEY ARE NICE TO HAVE AROUND.
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Justin G. |
If I insulted your intelligence I apologize, just trying to make it easy to understand. Anyways I'm not sure of which type of camera you're using but it should say the shutter speed and not neccessarily "HI". I"m nots aying you're wrong, just saying I haven't heard of that. It should be a number like 1/250 or something. Well good luck, listen to Debby, now that she's appeared I"m done with advice! haha. .justin.
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Christopher A. Vedros |
Desiree, I think your camera was indicating HI instead of a shutter speed, because the f6.7 aperture you set required a shutter speed that was faster than your camera's maximum flash sync speed. Justin & Debby gave some good suggestions, but it doesn't sound like they are working. Let's back up to the beginning. You are shooting in bright daylight with the sun directly overhead. ISO 400 film is too fast for this setting. Setting your camera to ISO 200 will overexpose the film even more. Try using ISO 100 or 160 film. Set your camera for the stated film speed. This will bring your aperture/shutter speed combinations down to a more reasonable level. When using the faster film, the bright ambient light was overpowering your flash. Use either Av mode or Tv mode. Either way, you need to keep your shutter speed below your camera's max sync speed (probably around 1/200). This will limit your ability to control DOF, but you don't have much choice in this situation. If you can do some more test shots, try first with the flash in Auto mode, then try with it on full power manual (if it lets you do that). If the bright ambient light is still overpowering your flash, or causing it to fire a very low-power burst, manual may be needed to fill in the shadows. Since you're shooting film, try a few different settings, and write them down along with your frame numbers, so you know which settings work the best. The slave flash on a tripod idea may be difficult to pull off if your subjects are moving around.
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Debby A. Tabb |
YOUR GETTING GREAT IDEAS AND HELP FROM THE RIGHT FILM PEOPLE- AND YES CHRIS IS RIGHT THE FLASH ,BEING USED AS A FILL LIGHT IS ONLY GOOD FOR YOUR POSED SHOTS. SORRY IF THIS WAS NOT CLEAR. AND THANK YOU ! CHRIS, FOR POINTING OUT THAT I HAD GIVEN DIRECTIONS FOR A UNCLEAR SITUATION. JUST A NOTE FOR THOSE LOOKING IN- WHEN I WAS SHOOTING FILM AND DID ANY TEST WORK- I CARRYED A SMALL NOTE BOOK- WHEN THE PRINTS WOULD COME BACK I WOULD MATCH THEM UP - KEEPING A "MANUAL" OF SETTINGS FOR MYSELF- WHAT YOU DON'T OR CAN'T USE TODAY MAY COME IN VERY HANDY TOMORROW.
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