How To Get Indoor's Pic Background Lighted?

[donchua]

How to get indoor pic background lighted like in Drean Car Asia
using flash?

I see most clupsnappers DCA photo background wre well lighted,
mine seem to be quite dark.
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=139389

Anybody can enlighten me?
Thanks.

 

[dominator]

good start for ask...i'm keen to learn too!

 

[igpenguin]

Expose for the background lighting conditions, and use fill-flash.

 

[yanyewkay]

Expose for the background lighting conditions, and use fill-flash.

I agree.

The flash will only light up the foreground. many people believe that the flash will light up everything. which is incorrect. Get some books on flash photography and read up on about it. There's too many techniques to simplify on a reply thread.

 

[snowspeeder]

I only use direct flash for events if it is really unavoidable becos this tends to make the subject look harsh.

Speaking about flash ignorance, one time I showed my friend a night scene traffic shot (20 sec shutter image). And he asked me why I didn't use flash! :bsmilie: :bigeyes:

 

[detrop]

hahaha... amazing..

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

I agree.

The flash will only light up the foreground. many people believe that the flash will light up everything. which is incorrect. Get some books on flash photography and read up on about it. There's too many techniques to simplify on a reply thread.

maybe to highlight the issue... even if you have a flash that can light up the whole place, just imagine the distance, the people you are trying to capture will be like ghost in white sheets, den the background perfectly lighted...

anyway i find that almost every week / month will have this question asked over & over again... perhaps making a sticky would be good...

 

[budiman]

I only use direct flash for events if it is really unavoidable becos this tends to make the subject look harsh.

You can always reduce your flash output and use stofen to soften the flash on person's face. For events like Dreamcars, an external flash is a must, otherwise the face will look dull/dark.

Just take the meter reading from background and set your camera in M mode, and set the coresponding aperture and shutter speed. Compensate your flash power output such that it's not too harsh.

 

[Witness]

apart from metering the backgrd and filling...

wat u could do is...

1) use rear curtain flash..but u muz have steady hands or else u will see "halos" ard ya subjects

2) drop the shutter speed..... i.e ...expose longer with the shutter...

cheers..

 

[eng_keow]

When I meter the bg on manual, should I use spot, centre-weighted or evaluative? If I spot, where should I spot?

If I try to meter the bg, the shutter speed is bound to be so slow even though I open wide and choose a high iso.

so far, I have set the shutter speed such that it is 1 or 2 stops down and let the flash ETTL decide on its own for the foreground subects. Seems to work most of the time.

How can I do it better?

 

[ckiang]

When I meter the bg on manual, should I use spot, centre-weighted or evaluative? If I spot, where should I spot?

If I try to meter the bg, the shutter speed is bound to be so slow even though I open wide and choose a high iso.

so far, I have set the shutter speed such that it is 1 or 2 stops down and let the flash ETTL decide on its own for the foreground subects. Seems to work most of the time.

How can I do it better?

That should be good enough. The "meter for background" method only works if the resulting exposure is not ridiculously low.

Regards
CK

 

[MDZ2]

The only way to get the background properly exposed is to urrr. . .expose it properly??
But seriously, since most prosumer cameras do not have a decent slow shutter sync function, the only viable way is to meter the scene without flash and then set the camera with these settings in manual mode, then set the flash to match your camera setting. Does this make sense?
Of course in such situation, camera shake in the background will become obvious if you don't use a tripod or there are moving subjects. To minimise such situations, you can increase the shutter speed a couple of stops to relatively freeze action and lower the flash exposure comparatively, then push the overall exposure back to normal at post processing. A viable option if you don't mind the slight increase in grain.

 

[espn]

The flash will only light up the foreground. many people believe that the flash will light up everything. which is incorrect. Get some books on flash photography and read up on about it. There's too many techniques to simplify on a reply thread.

Correction, flash only lights up the subject and the area you intend to expose.

For background "illumination"

i) pump up ISO
ii) larger aperture
iii) slower shutter