potrait at night

[iFly]

i used to get very frustrated with the A40 when taking outdoor nite shot with portrait.
if i use flash (even slow syn flash ) the subject ( people) is ok, but background is too far from flash, and basically it is total pitch dark.

if without flash, with a tripod, the overall picture is seen but the subject (people ) is too dark .

Any idea to take good photo under such condition ?
**outdoor night shot, background is 7 meters away, and subject is in 2 meters range.

BTW
In fact the pictures looks ok on the LCD screen (camera), but they are much darker after download, can photoshop solve this problem?

I have tried using the adjustment of brightness and contrast but fint it made the pictures look so fake and grainy.

 

[roygoh]

The technique for taking pictures under such conditions is to use "slow-sync" flash mode.

- Meter to the background as if you do not have a flash; you will end up with some long shutter speed such as 1/2 sec or slower, depending on the brightness of the background.
- Lock the exposure setting or use manual mode to set the exposure controls according to the metered results.
- Turn on flash, and make sure that the camera did not force the shutter speed to the flash sync speed.
- Compose and take the picture.

Points to note: when using slow-sync to take pictures of people, you have to tell the people being photographed to stay still during the exposure. Most people will start to move or relax once they see the flash go off. If that happens then you will get ghost images on the picture.

Some cameras may have slow-sync mode built in, so all you have to do is select the mode, and take the picture as normal.

The simpler method is to use a high speed film, such as ISO400, and shoot as normal.

Remember to use a tripod.

 

[Bluestrike]

or put a slave flash at the back????

 

[roygoh]

Originally posted by Bluestrike
or put a slave flash at the back????

Well that depends on how big and how far away is the background

Do you have a slave flash big enough to light up the City Hall?

Anyway, I would guess that more than half the time you would like to have the natural lighting of the background. That's why the slow-sync method seems like the most appropriate.

Studio shots are a different matter altogether.

 

[Bluestrike]

Agreed!

But it another option that might work !

 

[Joshua T]

i dun really get the flash part abt slow-sync.
the exposure is set to without flash.
then what do i set the flash settings to???:dunno:

 

[Punkie]

Sorry let me ask something. I am using a G2 and it doesnt have slow sync flash. Then how? Thanks