 Tara R. Swartzendruber |
HELP! Flash in dark building
I had an SB800 mounted on a flipped stroboframe so I could take portrait photos. My camera is a Nikon D80. I had a wide open aperature, and the shutter speed was 1/60. The flash was set to iTTL BL Thanks!
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Jon Close |
Whatever ISO you used, double it or more. You might try bounce flash if the ceiling is not too high, using a white card on the flash to add some front-fill light. Example: LINK, though you'll want to point the head up more so that the card reflects forward rather than down.
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W. |
Upping ISO increases noise a lot too! Decreasing image quality. If you work off of a stable tripod, you can also shoot the same scene without subjects, allowing for very slow shutter speeds, to get a much better lit background. Have fun!
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Tara R. Swartzendruber |
ISO was 400. I guess I could've "upped" this as I only need to make 4x6 size photos. The ceiling is 30' high, so bounce is out. I have tried the card, but doesn't seem to make a difference. Can I avoid the harsh shadow? Would a higher ISO have done that?
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W. |
The harsh shadow is the result of the point-shaped light source: your flash gun. The larger the light source, the softer the shadows. Some photographers use (usually D-I-Y) ring flashguns with a 2' diameter. But that provides very flat, almost featureless lighting. The ideal setup would be a large softbox on one side and a large reflector on the opposite side. Provided you've already sorted out the background lighting, of course.
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Mark Feldstein |
Your problem is twofold: First, you need to move your subject off the background a bit more, while softening the lighting on the foreground using the built-in diffuser on your SB800. You can also use the SB in an umbrella on a stand which will be even greater help to you. The second problem as W noted, is that you need to essentially balance light the background with the foreground, probably with a secondary light source like either a studio strobe with a wide reflector or large softbox (or two) OR a couple of additional SB or compatible units slaved to your main, also diffused or in some kind of light modifier. That light needs to be balanced to be either the same value as the foreground OR slightly below that value. For example if your foreground weighs in at f5.6 at 1/125, your gallery background here should be about a half a stop less, say f5.6 and 1/2 or even f8.0 at 1/125. Changing your ISO will only give you noise and an opportunity to shoot the same dimly lit background at a faster shutter speed or smaller f-stop. That's not the way to fix the problem.
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Mark Feldstein |
BTW Tara, if there was a way to increase the lighting on the gallery behind the subjects, by say turning up incandescent lights in the ceiling, that'd certainly help. But then you'd probably have a color shift problem with the color temperature of the gallery lighting being cooler (yellow) say at 3500 degrees kelvin, versus the color temp of your warmer strobe at 5400 degrees kelvin, or so. You can wash the gallery with strobe to match the temp of the foreground to the background AND the exposure value of the two areas of the scene, OR shoot the entire work using a number of incandescent, hot lights like Lowell or something of that ilk. Problem with those is the color temp changes as the bulbs burn in, and if you overload a circuit, you're going to be looking for someone who knows how to reset the breakers and where they are. Long extension cords for that kind of shoot are important as well.
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Jon Close |
>"Changing your ISO will only give you noise and an opportunity to shoot the same dimly lit background at a faster shutter speed or smaller f-stop."< I, respectfully, disagree. Yes, upping ISO from 400 to 800 will give somewhat more noise, but not necessarily so much that it couldn't be removed in post-processing. Raise the ISO 1 stop and using the _same_ shutter speed and aperture, the background will be 1 stop brighter. Additionally, the flash will fire with 1 stop less power to give the same exposure to the near subjects, lessening the shadows cast and giving better ambient/flash exposure balance.
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Tara R. Swartzendruber |
I thank you all for your thoughts. The problem with the studio-lighting suggestions is that these photos were taken during a church service where our church gives first graders their Bibles. I can't really set anything else up. All I have to work with is my camera and flash for a quick "snapped" photo. I don't need them to look fabulous, but I would like them to be better than this! (We often photograph things during our church service, and I always have a similar problem.) This is all the lighting our church has to offer. It is a large-cathedral type building (not a cathedral, but quite dark, stained glass window, 30' vaulted celing). I feel like I'm working in the impossible!
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Mark Feldstein |
Well Tara, trying to light this scene you described with an on camera flash is like trying to empty the ocean with a tablespoon. You're trying to light two different scenes with one shot and a single light. Seems unless you can at least brighten up the incandescent ceiling lights on the background, you're skunked. The simplest solution then, is if you can't paint it with light when you shoot (moving the flash around the scene and having an open shutter) which is tough with people moving around, then you just have to "recreate" or "stage" the shot before or after the event, rather than shooting during the actual ceremony. You'd still need the right number of lights of sufficient power and a couple of helpers to quickly put them in place for the shot. At that point, it's really a piece of cake, errr, so-to-speak. Just make arrangements to do that with the pastor or minister or whomever is running the deal. It's done that way all the time.
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anonymous A. |
I shoot a llot of church functions and can appreciate your problem! My best solution has been to turn off the flash. My Canon doesn't have significant noise issues at 800, and for some shots, 3200ISO is more acceptable than the unbalanced light and hard shadows you are experiencing. In most cases, mixed light (fluro, daylight, incandescent) is the real bugbear, and I rely a lot on Paintshop to deal with this after the event.
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