 Tonya Cozart |
why did this happen?
I photographed my second wedding last weekend, and while creatively thie pictures turned out really well, I had some SERIOUS lighting issues. I used my film Nikon n65. Some pics with attatched sb600 flash, some with only the on-camera flash. The photos I am asking about were with the flash unit. These photos are the same essentially, one is horizontal and one vertical. They were taken back to back, only re-composing for different view. As you can see, the vertical view is shaded awful! It is almost like a line drawn down the middle. The thing is, MANY of the pictured turned out this way. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why. I did have some problems with my camera...if I can explain it, I remember it happening on this pic, and it happened several times throughout the wedding, some of the other photos that look like this I remember this trouble...when I would go to click the shutter, NOTHING!. It would not take the pic. I would push it 2-3 times and it would finally take. I never did figure out why, it has never happened, nor has this problem with my pics. I am new to the flash, but did practice and got no results like this. Also, on another note, quickly, I had LOTS of background shadows that I thought the flash was supposed to fix..should I have bounced it? Maybe not used it? I used 400iso. Lastly, 2 rolls of the film were damaged, my guess is old. The pics are very grainy...is there ANY way to fix this at all? I am not having much luck in photoshop, is there a way to go back to the negs? I figure I am stuck with it, but it is worth asking. Thanks in advance for any help, I am so confused. I did not charge for the wedding, it was for very close friends, but I would like to help undo some of this damage if I can, and for sure know what heppend so it wont again.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
looks like blocking the light or not angling the flash head right when trying to bounce. Dosen't look like sync speed problem. How do you hold your arms when shooting vertical, and was it straight flash or bouncing it off of something.
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Tonya Cozart |
I was wondering the same thing, but I got out my digital and "tried" to reacreate the way I hold my arms, thinking I was blocking, and I am not convinced that is it,(or not it), the shutter giving me problems is stuck in my mind. When I shoot vertical, I tend to go under the lens, but maybe I held my arm out wrong...and it was a straight flash...I am wondering if I should have tried to bounce it...would that have helped with shadows behind the bodies? I have some where that is very prominant...
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
shutter sticking or wrong sync speed makes a dark area with the straighter edge going across. That one looks like it's angled left to right a little. And since it's only the vertical, first thought is that something is in the way. But if your shutter sometimes opens, it probably is sticking. Open the back and see if there's any residue on the shutter blades. Canons have a rubber shock absorber that over time the rubber starts to break down and leaves a sticky stuff on the shutter blades, making them delay opening. Shadows are in the same line of direction as light, so light from higher up or to the side from bouncing or some other way gets them from directly behing the people.
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Christopher A. Vedros |
Tonya, You weren't using a flash bracket, were you? If you take vertical pictures with the flash mounted directly on the camera, the flash will light one side of your subject more than the other. Your picture might be an extreme example of this. Was this picture taken at a fairly close camera-to-subject distance with a wide angle lens? The closer you are to your subject, the more pronounced the side-lighting effect will be. Also, your problem of pushing the shutter with nothing happening -- this happens to me sometimes if I am too close to the subject for the lens to get a focus lock. Could this have been happening to you?
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Tonya Cozart |
Chris, The more I study the pics, the more I think it may be a blocking of the flash...no I did not use a bracket, but not all are up close,(lens is 28-70) and there are a few that are this way when I only used the on camera flash. Some of them that did this I distictly remember the shutter sticking. I thought this was a focus issue at first myself, but as soon as it started that is the first thing I checked and I was getting a lock. Also, in studying the pics, I think that I was unprepared for the harsh lighting on the pulpit area. There were two large bright spotlights up high that lit this area. I was thinking I needed the flash for fill, but I think I made it worse. I am learning allot from this shoot, as I am a begginner, but I hate that I am learning from a wedding shoot. I took many practice shots and this never happened until this day.
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Kerry L. Walker |
Yep, you need a flash bracket, one that will flip to allow you to keep the flash above the axis of the lens. The bracket will help in many ways. It will eliminate red-eye (which you didn't have here), even out the light and throw the shadows behind your subject where they won't be as visible.
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Christopher A. Vedros |
Tonya, What shooting mode were you using? I don't know if Nikon's flash system works the same way as Canon's (which I have). It looks to me that the flash was not operating in fill mode, it was the primary lighting source for the exposure. This would help to explain why the side where the flash hit is exposed and the other side of her face isn't.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
fill or full mode wouldn't light parts of a scene, it would just adjust the brightness.
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Tonya Cozart |
this shoot has handed me lots to deal with in one day....
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Tonya Cozart |
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Kerry L. Walker |
First, the flip bracket should eliminate the shadow problem. With the flash on camera, when you flip the camera, the flash flips to the side and illuminates one side more than the other. The flip bracket will keep the flash above the axis of the lens. Since it also positions the flash higher it will throw the shadows lower behind the subject. For a wedding (or any other important shoot) never use old film. Buy your film fresh and store it in a freezer. That will stop the aging process. What type of film were you using? Some 400 speed film has much more grain than others. Underexposure will also cause more graininess.
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John G. Clifford Jr |
It's not the shutter. Shutter curtains run along the long axis of the frame. Also, if it were a shutter-related problem the 'edge' separating the light and dark areas would be VERY strongly defined. What most likely happened is that the light from your flash bounced off an object close to the left side of the photo (wall, pillar, someone in light clothing) and reinforced the direct light traveling to the subject. Most flashes have TTL auto-exposure so once the flash senses enough light thru the lens the flash turns off... thus the right side of the photo that didn't receive the bonus light from bouncing is darker. If you really are going to use a flash for professional portraiture, strongly consider getting a softbox/diffuser for it so this isn't a problem.
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Tonya Cozart |
Thanks to all of you for you input and advice, it has really helped me! One last thing...does anyone have any photoshop tricks to fix this? What about the grainy film...any hope to repair it in any way?
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Actually you do get a shadow going down the long side if there's something making the shutter blades hang up. If she had the same thing with her nikon as I had with my canon, sometimes the shutter won't open at all, sometimes it would start to open normally but slow down thru the rest of opening, sometimes it would open and stop and give a more defined line. And flashes have an angle of coverage greater on the long side than on the short side, so if it was from reflecting on a vertical shot, there'd be just as much if not more on a horizontal.
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Tonya Cozart |
I am inclined to think that the two things have something in common, that is the way my brain tends to work, but it could be just one of those things, the shutter prob and the shadows could be compeltely independent of each other. I am going to take my n65 in for service and cleaning and see if they find anything. It is time anyway. So, two recomendations have come my way, a bracket and a diffuser...if the problem is from turning the camera vertical, how will diffusing the light help that?
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Kerry L. Walker |
First, I don't think you have a problem with your shutter. Notice how the shadow is further to the left in the bottom of the picture than it is in the top. If your shutter was sticking, I would think the shadow would be more even, top to bottom, even if the shutter was opening slowly through part of its travel. The bracket will help more with the shadows than the diffuser will but the diffuser will help some. It will make the light less directional so is disperses more across your subject and across the background. The main thing a diffuser will do is to help eliminate hot spots, like toe one above her right eye and in her hair in the first picture and on her forehead in the second picture.
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Tonya Cozart |
I see Kerry, thanks for that...you have been a big help. BTW, I love your work!
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Kerry L. Walker |
Thank you.
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Tonya Cozart |
ok..if you all are not sick of me yet...one more thing. Why would this half shadow problem not happen in every vertical shot? I have many that are just fine. In fact, the pic I uploaded to show the shadowing behind was a vertical shot, same wedding, same situation, and it did not happen there. I photographed all pictures from basically the same standpoint. I hope you are all not thinking what a DA I am for keeping on about this issue, but I really don't want this to happen to me ever again.
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Jay A. Grantham |
When you went vertical, was your flash set to bounce off the ceiling, but was pointed off to your left?
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Tonya Cozart |
no, I had it in the normal position
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Kerry L. Walker |
No, we don't think you are a District Attorney. LOL It may have been the same wedding but I doubt it was the same situation. On the first shot you posted, you were so close to the subject your flash was not able to, in effect, diffuse enough to reach the left side of the subject. In the second photo (the two guys) they were close to a wall so the shadow showed up. If the subject was far enough away from a wall or other object for the shadow to fall on, it was probably more spread out and, thus, not noticeable.
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Jay A. Grantham |
So, when you turn your camera for a vertical shot, you have a bracket that holds the flash in the same position.. or is it attached to the camera.. therefore being on your left instead of above you?
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Tonya Cozart |
yes, the flash would go to my left. No bracket...
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Kerry L. Walker |
If you are asking Tonya, I believe she had her flash mounted on the camera's hot shoe, which would mean it was on her left.
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