He,she,me and us.

[yamapi]

So this pic wasn't taken by a DSLR but by a compact.
Flash has been fired but the background appears dark/underexposed.
In any case,the background shouldn't have appear to be dark as the place was actually pretty well lit with tungsten lightings.

why is the background so dam dark and it seems like every pic my friends and i took had dark backgrounds.
Is this the limitation of a compact?

any compact experts willing to comment?

[Sausage]

short flash range and high shutter speed?

[sunboi80]

i think it's the limited range of the flash..
FYI it does happen to DSLR as well not only compacts..

[sprintist]

i suppose the compact camera reading wanted to achieve a faster shutter speed, pushing it to a faster speed when using the flash. as a result like what a dslr will achieve as well, a lit subject but without ambient lighting. when shooting indoors with compact what i will do is to use slow sync flash, works most of the time but still subjected to handshake blur where you get the curtain flash motion blur and sharp effect.

btw is the guy in red clarence?

[lennyl]

It's not really the short range of the flash, it is a law of physics - the inverse square law that dictates how light falls off (at 2x the distance, you get 1/4 of the light and so on). So when you use flash, the flash sends a brief, intense burst of light, which lights up the people more than the background. When people are properly exposed, background is not. If there is sufficient light in the store, try not using flash.

Even if you have a very powerful light source on your camera pointing at subject, you will still have the problem, unless:

1. You are far enough from the people that the difference in distance between camera - people and camera - background is negligible. This is not usually practical - and then you will have a separate problem, shadows in the background.

2. Use external flash and bounce light off ceiling / wall.

3. Use additional flash to illuminate background.

4. Use high ISO and turn down / off flash output.

Night mode may work - I don't have a lot of experience with that. Flash is not easy to master. Proper lighting may be one of the most difficult technical aspects in photography.

[yamapi]

Originally Posted by sprintist i suppose the compact camera reading wanted to achieve a faster shutter speed, pushing it to a faster speed when using the flash. as a result like what a dslr will achieve as well, a lit subject but without ambient lighting. when shooting indoors with compact what i will do is to use slow sync flash, works most of the time but still subjected to handshake blur where you get the curtain flash motion blur and sharp effect. btw is the guy in red clarence?

you know him?

[Octarine]

Originally Posted by yamapi So this pic wasn't taken by a DSLR but by a compact. Flash has been fired but the background appears dark/underexposed. In any case,the background shouldn't have appear to be dark as the place was actually pretty well lit with tungsten lightings.

The background IS underexposed
Another misperception is the intensity of light. "Pretty well lit" is just a human impression but the real intensity (what the metering system will capture) is a different thing. You can try this with your cam if you have a proper display of aperture / shutter speed. Switch off the flash, set the cam to a fixed aperture (e.g. 5.6) and try to take pictures indoors in various buildings (home, office, restaurant, shopping mall etc.). The readings of shutter speed as the camera sets it will fluctuate although you might say that it all looks "well lit" to you.
Secondly, human eyes adapt to different light conditions (so that we can see properly), the camera's "eye" doesn't - it always measures the real amount of photons coming in. That's why we need to take care of shutter speed, aperture, ISO settings etc.

[voldisinarta]

Originally Posted by yamapi In any case,the background shouldn't have appear to be dark as the place was actually pretty well lit with tungsten lightings.

Originally Posted by Octarine The background IS underexposed Another misperception is the intensity of light. "Pretty well lit" is just a human impression but the real intensity (what the metering system will capture) is a different thing.

Agree with Octarine: Something "pretty well lit" to your eyes does not mean has enough lighting for a camera. I think your cam is smart enough and adjust it's flash power to give enough light for the object (which is you and your friends). Your faces will be overexposed if the camera adjust it's flash power to light also the background... However, I think the background is just dark and not that underexposed, I still can see some details there.

Btw, who's that cutiepie behind you? She looks familiar... NYP student?

[yamapi]

Originally Posted by voldisinarta Agree with Octarine: Something "pretty well lit" to your eyes does not mean has enough lighting for a camera. I think your cam is smart enough and adjust it's flash power to give enough light for the object (which is you and your friends). Your faces will be overexposed if the camera adjust it's flash power to light also the background... However, I think the background is just dark and not that underexposed, I still can see some details there. Btw, who's that cutiepie behind you? She looks familiar... NYP student?

There's no one behind me.
I'm the one in white
she's a friend and from tp

[catchlights]

Why background dark? it already explained here.

Quote: Camera Make: NIKON Camera Model: COOLPIX S3 Image Date: 2008:03:03 15:12:06 Flash Used: Yes (Manual) Focal Length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 35mm) Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60) Aperture: f/3.0 ISO equiv: 50 White Balance: Auto Metering Mode: Matrix Exposure: program (Auto)

Originally Posted by lennyl It's not really the short range of the flash, it is a law of physics - the inverse square law that dictates how light falls off (at 2x the distance, you get 1/4 of the light and so on). So when you use flash, the flash sends a brief, intense burst of light, which lights up the people more than the background. When people are properly exposed, background is not. If there is sufficient light in the store, try not using flash. Even if you have a very powerful light source on your camera pointing at subject, you will still have the problem, unless: 1. You are far enough from the people that the difference in distance between camera - people and camera - background is negligible. This is not usually practical - and then you will have a separate problem, shadows in the background. 2. Use external flash and bounce light off ceiling / wall. 3. Use additional flash to illuminate background. 4. Use high ISO and turn down / off flash output. Night mode may work - I don't have a lot of experience with that. Flash is not easy to master. Proper lighting may be one of the most difficult technical aspects in photography.

Yes, agreed with this. and knowing the inverse square law will help you a lot about flash lighting set up.

Originally Posted by Octarine The background IS underexposed Another misperception is the intensity of light. "Pretty well lit" is just a human impression but the real intensity (what the metering system will capture) is a different thing. You can try this with your cam if you have a proper display of aperture / shutter speed. Switch off the flash, set the cam to a fixed aperture (e.g. 5.6) and try to take pictures indoors in various buildings (home, office, restaurant, shopping mall etc.). The readings of shutter speed as the camera sets it will fluctuate although you might say that it all looks "well lit" to you. Secondly, human eyes adapt to different light conditions (so that we can see properly), the camera's "eye" doesn't - it always measures the real amount of photons coming in. That's why we need to take care of shutter speed, aperture, ISO settings etc.

Yes, you see (with your eyes) will not always what you get in term of photography.

[Fragnatic]

i can see a little red eye effect.
but can be easily corrected with photoshop or other image processing software.

[sprintist]

Originally Posted by yamapi you know him?

haha ya alittle