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Photography Question 

Thea Menagh 		 

Canon 20D Settings for Low Light Wedding Reception


Good morning! Please know I'm horrendously technically-challenged! Manuals aren't much help!! I've been Photographing wedding receptions with various settings. All photos are to dark no matter what I do - various ISO settings & various shutter speeds. (I use a Canon 550EX Speedlight flash.) I keep the camera set @ Evaluative Metering & use a 28-135 zoom lens to quickly focus in on interesting activities! Colour temp is set at 5200. No problems with family shots & general scenery. Am I trying to do something that's just plain impossible without heavy-duty studio lighting?! Many thanks for any 'very simple instructions' anyone can give me if there is a possibility of getting decent first-dance shots when the lights are turned down!! Have a great day! Thea


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June 06, 2006

 

Jon Close 		  Re: "... All photos are to dark no matter what I do - various ISO settings & various shutter speeds. (I use a Canon 550EX Speedlight flash.)..."

If you can post samples it would help to determine the problem. There are several sources and solutions to your problem. What exposure mode are you shooting? Have you set any Flash Exposure Compensation, either on-camera or on the 550EX? A dark background but well-lit near subject is typical of using flash indoors with a relatively high shutter speed (1/60 or faster). You can lighten the background and still keep the subject well exposed by some combination of slower shutter speed, wider aperture, and higher ISO. If both the subject and background are too dark, it could be that your subject is be beyond the range of your flash - fixed by getting closer, setting wider aperture, and/or higher ISO. Or it could be the exposure balance that the 20D automatically sets for background and flash-lit foreground are not to your liking, in which case you can set + Flash Exposure Compensation.

If you focus/recompose/shoot, that can through off the E-TTL metering since it biases exposure to the active focus sensor which is not on your subject after recomposing. If you focus/recompose/shoot with flash, use FEL (Flash Exposure Lock), or set the 20D's C.Fn-14 to "1" to switch flash exposure form E-TTL to Average.


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June 06, 2006

 

Thea Menagh 		 
 
 
Thank you so much for that extensive answer, Jon. Having had another look at my photographs, I'm assuming from what you've said that the distant part of the photograph is simply beyond the range of the flash ... but I'll check everything you've mentioned and see if those suggestions help! Not using a tripod means having to stick with the fast shutter speed because I'm bouncing around a great deal during the reception activities. You've certainly given me a great many options, and I'll give them a try. I've included a couple of images this time. Could it be that when there's something white in the foreground, the camera uses that as a guide? Also, I should mention that the 'Shadow/Highlight' in Photoshop does wonders for these images!! Again, many thanks for taking the time, Jon!! Thea


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June 06, 2006

 

Thea Menagh 		 
 
 
Thank you so much for that extensive answer, Jon. Having had another look at my photographs, I'm assuming from what you've said that the distant part of the photograph is simply beyond the range of the flash ... but I'll check everything you've mentioned and see if those suggestions help! Not using a tripod means having to stick with the fast shutter speed because I'm bouncing around a great deal during the reception activities. You've certainly given me a great many options, and I'll give them a try. I've included a couple of images this time. Could it be that when there's something white in the foreground, the camera uses that as a guide? Also, I should mention that the 'Shadow/Highlight' in Photoshop does wonders for these images!! Again, many thanks for taking the time, Jon!! Thea


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June 06, 2006

 

Thea Menagh 		 
 
 
Sorry about the duplication! I've tried to upload the 2 photos but have been bouncing around for ages!! I click on Select ... choose '2', and then 'Submit', but don't get a chance to browse to select the 2 photos for uploading! In any case, they're photos of a banquet room with the front of the photo clear and bright. The further back, the darker it gets ... which is why I think it's just the distance is beyond the range of the flash! Thanks anyway. Sorry about that! Thea


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June 06, 2006

 
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