How to take potraits photo with night scenery

[kpyip]

Hi all,
Can teach me the best settings for taking potraits photo with night scenery?

I did it twice with ISO100 F4" AWB with built in flash but I can good backgroud but not the persons in front.

Please advise. Thanks

 

[lingk]

does your cam has a icon : "person with a star behind it"? Its actually mean Night Portrait with built-in flash.

 

[daredevil123]

switch to spot metering and meter on the person's face than then shoot.

After that, if you find the person shows up fine and the background becomes pitch black, boost your ISO up and repeat till you can see the background ok too.

 

[kpyip]

Thanks. Will try it out

 

[kpyip]

Yup. Have it. but still sometimes get the person blur.
is the flash not strong?

 

[GFhana]

try use slow sync flash, u will get brighter background

 

[yc2005]

Usually I will use my tripod, solve everything

 

[Minerva]

slower shutter speed with a decent iso. Slower shutter speed exposes weaker background lights. You meter the face of the person though.

 

[lingk]

kpyip, since you have that Night Portrait function, I would recommend that you use this as a learning tool before going manual setting.

Night Portrait function usually use higher ISO to capture background lights while built-in flash helps to 'light-up' your object. At this function, expect the shutter speed to be slowed down & you might need a monopod or tripod or IS on your lens.

If you have a blur object than the background, then your focusing could be on your background instead of on your object. If the blur is caused by camera movement then object & background would both be blur. Hope this helps.

 

[lingk]

Blurred subject with OK to sharp background are usually caused by moving subject. To rectify, use higher shutter speed like >1/80. But when you do this, you will need to up the ISO to help bring the background lights in. The built-in flash or attached flash should help light-up the subject properly IF the flash unit is properly sync with the camera body thru ETTL.

 

[daredevil123]

Yup. Have it. but still sometimes get the person blur.
is the flash not strong?

If flash is not strong enough to freeze motion, your subject may turn out blur. You may also want to try M mode. Either way, I recommend getting a flash gun. Get a small one to start off, and get a cap diffuser (something like stofen omnibounce).

For more details see this post.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5716761&postcount=11