Some noob questions

[ninkus]

I have a problem with shooting some shots...

Eg,

When I have a dark foreground and a very bright background. I can't seem to get the foreground, which usually contains a person or something to show up nicely. It'll always turn out the person too dark, or if I use flash, the background will appear too bright and I can't see the details. What do I ahve to do to make both appear correctly.

Also, when shooting a person with a background, such as a building or big landscape behind, it's always either the person is focused and the backdrop gets out of focus; and vice versa. How do I a work around on that?

Hope some kind soul can advice me. Thanks.

 

[nickmak]

I have a problem with shooting some shots...

Eg,

When I have a dark foreground and a very bright background. I can't seem to get the foreground, which usually contains a person or something to show up nicely. It'll always turn out the person too dark, or if I use flash, the background will appear too bright and I can't see the details. What do I ahve to do to make both appear correctly.

Also, when shooting a person with a background, such as a building or big landscape behind, it's always either the person is focused and the backdrop gets out of focus; and vice versa. How do I a work around on that?

Hope some kind soul can advice me. Thanks.

1) If you have FEC on your camera or flash it is possible to get the right exposure for both highly contrasting subjects... The flash experts have to explain this...

2) To get everything in focus, stop down your aperture setting to f8 or something...

Hope this helps!

 

[laugh]

This is a common problem everyone faces...taking photos when the subject is in the shade in bright sunlight..
The best bet (besides using taking 2 shots and then use PS to merge them) is to use flash. You can meter on the bright background, then use flash.

As for taking pple in front of landscapes, i believe you need depth..so to achieve depth you must use a small aperture..(big f-stop).

Hope this helps.

 

[likefunyouare]

I have a problem with shooting some shots...

Eg,

When I have a dark foreground and a very bright background. I can't seem to get the foreground, which usually contains a person or something to show up nicely. It'll always turn out the person too dark, or if I use flash, the background will appear too bright and I can't see the details. What do I ahve to do to make both appear correctly.

Try to take the meter reading from the foreground (which is your main subject) instead of the background. Use partial meter or spot meter if necessary.


Also, when shooting a person with a background, such as a building or big landscape behind, it's always either the person is focused and the backdrop gets out of focus; and vice versa. How do I a work around on that?

Hope some kind soul can advice me. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Depth of field to shallow. Increase your f-stop. If you have a DOF preview, use it to see if the all your subjects are in focused.

 

[ninkus]

er.. super technical terms. Somemore i just using a simple Ixus400. i don't think it has that much control.

But thanks guys for the advice. I'll see what I can do.

 

[justarius]

I have a problem with shooting some shots...

Eg,

When I have a dark foreground and a very bright background. I can't seem to get the foreground, which usually contains a person or something to show up nicely. It'll always turn out the person too dark, or if I use flash, the background will appear too bright and I can't see the details. What do I ahve to do to make both appear correctly.

Also, when shooting a person with a background, such as a building or big landscape behind, it's always either the person is focused and the backdrop gets out of focus; and vice versa. How do I a work around on that?

Hope some kind soul can advice me. Thanks.

Assuming you are shooting in daylight with your person in the shade, judicious use of fill flash can solve your problem. And are you sure the background would be too bright when you use flash? The foreground should be the first thing to go usually. We need more details (what camera, what sort of setting you are shooting in, distance of your from subject and distance to background)

Make sure you are focussing on the correct thing you want to focus on. As others suggest, try shooting at a smaller aperture.

 

[Ice]

laugh sugguest meter on the background while likefunyouare sugguest metering the foreground, so does both method gives the same result?

 

[laugh]

i suggested meter on the background, so that the background would not be washed out... if you meter on the foreground, the background will definitely be washed out..

thus what i suggested metering on the background then compensate the lack of light in the foreground with flash lor..

Metering on the foreground will ensure you will not lose your subject i guess..

But if you want both foreground and background to be clear, then you have to give light to the foreground, becasue you cant take light away from the background...logical?

of course its not a definite rule, need some experience..so just shoot and experiment for youself.

 

[ziploc]

Hi ninkus,

You might want to read this thread and this thread (gosh time flies, they're such old threads liao... )

Anyway, most modern cameras and flashes come with fill flash mode. All you need to do is to set it on your camera, and you're ready to go. What the camera is doing is effectively filling in the shadow areas in your shot by matching the flash output to the metered exposure value, which would normally be the ambient exposure value.

For your Ixus 400, simply turn on the "fill flash" mode and you're all set. Don't worry too much about metering, the camera will do the rest. If you like to control the amount of fill flash, you can dail in flash compensation of -1 to -2ev depending on the outdoor lighting condition. For example in sunny day where the sun is casting harsh shadows on your subject, so you might want to trying using -1ev to make your subject looks more natural. Similarly in an overcast day, you can try using -1.5 to -2ev for flash compensation.

Hope that helps.

 

[ziploc]

laugh sugguest meter on the background while likefunyouare sugguest metering the foreground, so does both method gives the same result?

Hi Ice,

laugh is correct in this case. When doing fill flash under backlight condition, you would want to meter the background, and then let the flash fill in the darker subject at the foreground.

 

[tmc17479]

Ninkus, in your described scenario, when using a flash, press your shutter halfway, hold, and aim at your subject again. then you press it all the way.

 

[ninkus]

Hi ninkus,

You might want to read this thread and this thread (gosh time flies, they're such old threads liao... )

Anyway, most modern cameras and flashes come with fill flash mode. All you need to do is to set it on your camera, and you're ready to go. What the camera is doing is effectively filling in the shadow areas in your shot by matching the flash output to the metered exposure value, which would normally be the ambient exposure value.

For your Ixus 400, simply turn on the "fill flash" mode and you're all set. Don't worry too much about metering, the camera will do the rest. If you like to control the amount of fill flash, you can dail in flash compensation of -1 to -2ev depending on the outdoor lighting condition. For example in sunny day where the sun is casting harsh shadows on your subject, so you might want to trying using -1ev to make your subject looks more natural. Similarly in an overcast day, you can try using -1.5 to -2ev for flash compensation.

Hope that helps.

Thanks ziploc. I kinda understand what you're sayin gthere. but I do not find the "fill flash" mode tat you mentioned. Think muz dig more. :sweat:

 

[likefunyouare]

laugh is correct. i suggest to meter the foreground to get a proper exposure of the subject without utilizing fill flash. However the background exposure should be controlled with care to prevent blown out highlights. Sorry for the confusion. :embrass:

 

[ninkus]

laugh is correct. i suggest to meter the foreground to get a proper exposure of the subject without utilizing fill flash. However the background exposure should be controlled with care to prevent blown out highlights. Sorry for the confusion. :embrass:

Eh sorry for wat. U enlighten me with more options. So I should be grateful lar. Aiyoh, take 1 photo also got so much to learn and think about. :sweat:

 

[ziploc]

Thanks ziploc. I kinda understand what you're sayin gthere. but I do not find the "fill flash" mode tat you mentioned. Think muz dig more. :sweat:

I think on your Ixus 400 it is called "Flash On" (refer to your manual). I do not have the camera and can only pick up the available modes from the webs. Look under the section "Built-in Flash" at the following site:

http://www.digitalreview.ca/cams/S400.shtml