How to plan your shot? So little time, so many buttons!!

[enivre]

Hi,

Yesterday night I was tasked to take photographs of my hostel mate's mini-birthday celebrations... so i took out my 602 snapped on my Achiever and went off to snap some shots...

Now here's the problem I encountered,

The room was a small one with already present flourescent lighting, which would be enough lighting actually. Oh, the roof is about 3m high..

Well anyway, my auto shots turned out blurry coz they couldn't capture movements fast enough, my manual shots with flash somehow turned out mostly either under exposed or too harsh..

The under exposed shots, I fired the flash towards the ceiling thinking that it would bounce, but somehow it didn't bounce nicely for some reason.. also, pointing the flash towards the audience made the lighting look extremely artificial.

So how? Should I have used a diffuser or a bounce card as well?

Oh what f-stop should I have used considering that I needed to capture everyone's faces when they were pilled up from 2m in front of me all the way to about 6m away from me...

Any advice for a newbie?

Thanks a lot guys,
Ervine Lin

 

[allanphang]

Ervine Lin,

What was your film speed/ISO settings ?

Cheers,
Allan

 

[enivre]

Think I was using 400 at that time...

 

[darkness]

Not too sure what the achiever flash is like, but usually you have to compensate upwards when you are doing a ceiling bounce. Try a 2-stop compensation for a start.

 

[enivre]

Hm.. okay then there's this problem of the top of the room being lit but not the bottom..

 

[allanphang]

hmm.....

"Oh what f-stop should I have used considering that I needed to capture everyone's faces when they were pilled up from 2m in front of me all the way to about 6m away from me..."

If you want deeper DOF (depth of field) so that you can capture front & back, try f16 with 1/90sec in manual mode.

IMHO, by bouncing your flash towards the ceiling, I don't think it's suitable in your situation if you want to cover faces pilled up from 2m in front all the way to 6m away from you.

That's why you got under shots. I experienced the same thing in a room with people and bounced my flash towards the ceiling, approx. same distance as yours.

I was using Reala 100 with EOS300+Speedlite 540EZ.My mistake was using that film speed. Should've either gone for a 800 instead and used direct flash if using 100.


I'm no expert but my advice is to take a few shots and compare. Like you mentioned, try taking one direct flash, one with diffuser and one with bounce card. You'll get different results and then you can compare which is the best you can utilise next time you encounter such a situation.

Some flash units come with two flashes. The main one where you can tilt upwards for bounce flash and a smaller one on it as a fill-in for a direct flash to eradicate shadows on your subject.

Was the ceiling where you bounced your flash white or some other color ?

Cheers,
Allan

 

[enivre]

Haha my 602 can only go to f11 leh...
but already f11 it was so dark... oh maybe it was my shutter speed.. Hm...

I think I should have used a bounce card or diffuser.. Hm.. actually the best shots (exposure wise) were in auto mode without flash, only problem was that shutter speed was at 1/10sec?? so a lot of blurring due to camera shake and people moving...

Thanks for the help so far.. any other ideas?

 

[allanphang]

1/10 sec ?? Woah....you've gotta have super steady hands for that!! Did you hold your breath for a moment when you clicked the button? Using 1/10sec handheld, a Nikon lens with VR or Canon lens with IS technology would come in handy. But that's another story all together

Ppl moving...that's when you really need interaction if they're patient enough to wait for that 1/10 click..hehe..

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a 602 camera ? is it the Fuji S602? And what is an Achiever ?

Cheers,
Allan

 

[enivre]

Oh yar 602 is the Fujifilm S602 Zoom.. and the achiever 260T is just a cheap autoflash...

That's the problem, in automode it sets shutter speed that slow so what to do? I wanted to take candid shots but it's impossible in auto mode...

 

[allanphang]

Try 1/60 sec - 1/90sec in manual mode with f5.6 when taking candid shots. I'm sure the others can give their reccomendations as well.

Getting a 1/10sec in auto mode is not a really a suitable setting for taking indoor candid shots.

Cheers,
Allan

 

[Zoomer]

Normally, shooting wide open with digicams will give u the required DOF, and lots more too.

Don't be afraid. With digicams, you can shoot wide only.

Btw: If the lens is at 10mm, 1/10 is still acceptable considering the 1/focal length rule.

 

[darkness]

I don't think the 2 of you are talking in the same frequency, you seem to be confusing each other...

The S602 has a lens of 7.8 - 46.8mm equivalent to a 35- 210mm in 35mm format cameras. In terms of aperture size, f/2.8 on the S602 is equivalent to 35/7.8 * 2.8 = f/12.56. That is to say, the DOF effect of using f/2.8 on the S602 is equivalent to use f/12.56 on the 35mm SLR.

If your pics are becoming too dark, you should be *opening* up the apperture (making the f number smaller) instead of stepping down (making the f number larger). If you achiever flash is an automatic flash, there should be some settings for ISO and apperture to use. For e.g., the flash may have a setting such as ISO 200 at f/5.6. If you are using bounce, try ISO 200 at f/2.8 for a start while having the flash set at ISO 200 at f/5.6. If this is too bright, then try stepping down the apperture on the camera until you get your desired effect.

 

[Revo]

Originally posted by darkness
I don't think the 2 of you are talking in the same frequency, you seem to be confusing each other...

The S602 has a lens of 7.8 - 46.8mm equivalent to a 35- 210mm in 35mm format cameras. In terms of aperture size, f/2.8 on the S602 is equivalent to 35/7.8 * 2.8 = f/12.56. That is to say, the DOF effect of using f/2.8 on the S602 is equivalent to use f/12.56 on the 35mm SLR.

If your pics are becoming too dark, you should be *opening* up the apperture (making the f number smaller) instead of stepping down (making the f number larger). If you achiever flash is an automatic flash, there should be some settings for ISO and apperture to use. For e.g., the flash may have a setting such as ISO 200 at f/5.6. If you are using bounce, try ISO 200 at f/2.8 for a start while having the flash set at ISO 200 at f/5.6. If this is too bright, then try stepping down the apperture on the camera until you get your desired effect.

v useful info.......

Been wanting to find out abt this....guess i shld thank e thread starter too.......

 

[allanphang]

Originally posted by darkness
I don't think the 2 of you are talking in the same frequency, you seem to be confusing each other...

The S602 has a lens of 7.8 - 46.8mm equivalent to a 35- 210mm in 35mm format cameras. In terms of aperture size, f/2.8 on the S602 is equivalent to 35/7.8 * 2.8 = f/12.56. That is to say, the DOF effect of using f/2.8 on the S602 is equivalent to use f/12.56 on the 35mm SLR.

If your pics are becoming too dark, you should be *opening* up the apperture (making the f number smaller) instead of stepping down (making the f number larger). If you achiever flash is an automatic flash, there should be some settings for ISO and apperture to use. For e.g., the flash may have a setting such as ISO 200 at f/5.6. If you are using bounce, try ISO 200 at f/2.8 for a start while having the flash set at ISO 200 at f/5.6. If this is too bright, then try stepping down the apperture on the camera until you get your desired effect.

Hi Darkness,

How about if you want deeper DOF (depth of field) so that you can capture 2m front and 6m back like what Ervine Lin mentioned ?

Won't f5.6 have a shallow DOF for getting the details till from 2m till 6metres?

Just curious.

Cheers,
Allan

 

[enivre]

Yar exactly.. quite difficult to know where exactly is the balance to enable one to get the right DOF in this case...

And I don't think my block mates are so kind as to keep posing for me while I experiment with my settings.. hahaaa...

Also, this opening up of the aperture, so what u mean is at first I use the table thing at the back of the flash to estimate what my f-stop should be... then I take the photo, if it's too dark then I lower the F-value to let more light in.. but this of course would reduce my DOF...

okay understood.. BUT THEN... what's this idea about the f-stop of the 602 being different than that of traditional 35mm cameras? So u mean that the table on the back of the flash is useless coz it's actually not meant for the 602?

So many questions... argh.. sorry