Surrounding background not bright enough...

[alvin]

Hi!
I have a problem with some of my shots, the people in it are correctly focused, but the background is totally dark. The back of the room is approximately 10-12m away. This is my camera setting:

Manual mode, F4 (biggest aperture liao), 1/125, focal length 100mm, Flash (Metz 32Mz2) in TTL mode, Fuji Xtra 800 (rated at 640, but this doesn't matter right?)

Also another problem, the DOF is very narrow. I spot focused on the bride's eyes, but the groom is not in focus due to the narrow DOF. On the photoalbum it's ok when viewed from far, obvious when near... if I were to stop down the problem will be worse right?

This problem only occured at this particular focal length in the particular set of pictures. At 200mm, 50 and 28, the background is ok, but some had lack of DOF.... though for the 200mm, the picstures taken were not so "close up".

Thanks!

Regards,
Alvin

PS: Not wedding photog. Just firing from my seat.

 

[Newbiez]

Hi!
I have a problem with some of my shots, the people in it are correctly focused, but the background is totally dark. The back of the room is approximately 10-12m away. This is my camera setting:

Manual mode, F4 (biggest aperture liao), 1/125, focal length 100mm, Flash (Metz 32Mz2) in TTL mode, Fuji Xtra 800 (rated at 640, but this doesn't matter right?)

the shutter speed controls the amount of ambient light. Try shooting at 1/60 or 1/30s.

 

[alvin]

1/30s - 1/60s ok for use with such long focal lengths ah? What about say at 200mm? Will there be handshake effect? I use 1/30s for my 28-70 range... :thumbsup: thanks!

 

[SianZronG]

the shutter speed controls the amount of ambient light. Try shooting at 1/60 or 1/30s.

yeah agreed so that the ambient light will be picked up. that's how i worked my way round my flash which is almost the same as yours a metz 32mz3. even though the back ground won't be totally light up at least there is a dark background giving you a hint of wat's behind

 

[SianZronG]

1/30s - 1/60s ok for use with such long focal lengths ah? What about say at 200mm? Will there be handshake effect? I use 1/30s for my 28-70 range... :thumbsup: thanks!

i don't think there's another way shakes are unavoidable, only by getting the ambient lighting in then you will get some background . you can't have both at the same time though ,

 

[wacko]

if you stop down, DOF will widen, not become narrower. but of course to maintain similar exposure, shutter speed will be decreased.

for low light conditions, long shutter speeds with fill flash to brighten up the background may not exactly be very practical because it usually entails the subjects to have to keep rather still so as not to get a blurred picture. plus the fact that you have to have extremely stable hands, or a tripod.

 

[ace2001]

Hi!
I have a problem with some of my shots, the people in it are correctly focused, but the background is totally dark. The back of the room is approximately 10-12m away. This is my camera setting:

Manual mode, F4 (biggest aperture liao), 1/125, focal length 100mm, Flash (Metz 32Mz2) in TTL mode, Fuji Xtra 800 (rated at 640, but this doesn't matter right?)

Also another problem, the DOF is very narrow. I spot focused on the bride's eyes, but the groom is not in focus due to the narrow DOF. On the photoalbum it's ok when viewed from far, obvious when near... if I were to stop down the problem will be worse right?

This problem only occured at this particular focal length in the particular set of pictures. At 200mm, 50 and 28, the background is ok, but some had lack of DOF.... though for the 200mm, the picstures taken were not so "close up".

Thanks!

Regards,
Alvin

PS: Not wedding photog. Just firing from my seat.

Well, handshake prob differs from person to person, you ready gotta try it out yourself to see wat works for you. A general guideline would be 1/focal length(pretty forgiving i would say for anything less then 135mm) Since you mention that you are firing from your seat, you can lock your elbows and chest like a tripod(if you get wat i mean). I tried b4 1/30 for 135mm and majority of the pic is quite ok on 4R.

IMHO,
since you know you be working with available light and you need the speed, I would use the film as it is at 800. using at 640 do gives it better coolours n sat, but if it meant sacrifing for background or handshake prob, i would rather give it upz(matter of preferences of course)
for the focusing, i would more often focus on the subject closer to me, as i find that the depth of field to the back is more forgiving, i.e focus on the bridegroom. esp in this case since the bride groom is looking into the picture, and seems to be the center of focus, he should be the one getting more attention and thus he foremost should be sharp(again it depends on your preferences).
I am not sure of the spec of the metz flash, but if it allows and considering the ceiling etc, you can try boucing off the ceiling, it normally look better. Another thing to take note might be the lights behind them, in my personal opinion i would often place it off thier head or move till the subject cover the lights off as I often find a bright light beside the head distracting. And as for the flash, I find your flash a bit bright, i would have prefer it to down by half a stop or so.
Above are my opnions and others might differ, nevertheless 2 great smile capture =p

cheers =p

 

[alvin]

SianZronG: Sienz guess there's no way ard it... thanks!

wacko: Hi hi! Oh what I should have wrote is, "if i were to stop down, the background would be darker...." i didn't stop down in anycase because thru' the viewfinder both of 'em have reasonable dof

 

[alvin]

ace2001: Hi! Last I tried 1/30s @ 100mm w/flash, 4R the pics a tad blur, dunno if its the lens, but I'd say it's most probably me... so this time round I decided to play a bit safe. Thanks for the advice, I'll keep it in mind :thumbsup:

BTW dudes, I have a 50mm F1.7 lens, in the situation I had last night, at full open aperture I was getting about 1/15s (or was it 1/30?) whilst in Aperture priority mode, without flash. Reasonable to handhold for 50mm?

When I attached the 80B filter (tungsten correction), horrors! Speeds dropped to 1/5 - 1/3s!!!! I managed to pull off some shots with a tripod in available light, but those later on all using flash w/o filter. Sienz, didn't know i'd lose so much light. Machum polarizer....

 

[ace2001]

F1.7??anywe50mm handheld at 1/30 should be pretty safe(of course it a prep shot , not those snap shots). Do a test sometime and see how low you can comforatbly go and still get decent pics=p
and ya, try to find something to stable yourself, like resting both your elbow on the table, leaning against a pilla, all these do help alo, and ya, how you press the shuuter, half press and then slowly press down do help too, like how you fire off a M16=p

cheers =p

 

[Prismatic]

Try to focus on the person nearer to you, that way, you will maximise your DOF.

 

[Spectrum]

Hi Alvin,
Btw, is there anyway to inform anyone who's incharge of all the lighting to turn the lights on to it's maximum? Just a suggestion.

 

[coke21]

Hi!
I have a problem with some of my shots, the people in it are correctly focused, but the background is totally dark. The back of the room is approximately 10-12m away. This is my camera setting:

Manual mode, F4 (biggest aperture liao), 1/125, focal length 100mm, Flash (Metz 32Mz2) in TTL mode, Fuji Xtra 800 (rated at 640, but this doesn't matter right?)

Also another problem, the DOF is very narrow. I spot focused on the bride's eyes, but the groom is not in focus due to the narrow DOF. On the photoalbum it's ok when viewed from far, obvious when near... if I were to stop down the problem will be worse right?

This problem only occured at this particular focal length in the particular set of pictures. At 200mm, 50 and 28, the background is ok, but some had lack of DOF.... though for the 200mm, the picstures taken were not so "close up".

Thanks!

Regards,
Alvin

PS: Not wedding photog. Just firing from my seat.

Have you tried taking the picture with a slow sync flash?

Think that would give you a better exposure on the back ground and also you can can decrease your aperature size a little. That would give you less DOF and the grrom and bride will be in focus.

Of cos you need to be careful that your hand does not shake.

 

[kex]

Have you tried taking the picture with a slow sync flash?

Think that would give you a better exposure on the back ground and also you can can decrease your aperature size a little. That would give you less DOF and the grrom and bride will be in focus.

Of cos you need to be careful that your hand does not shake.

Are u sure ?? :bigeyes:
given such a dark background,if u shoot at slow sync,i SERIOUSLY doubt u can handhold it.
IMO best way to shoot it is set to manual mode and shoot at the smallest f-stop @ 1/30sec..
Or if u got an assistant,u can oso get him to carry a slave flash point at the background..(abit too *kua zhang*) but it works.

 

[coke21]

Are u sure ?? :bigeyes:
given such a dark background,if u shoot at slow sync,i SERIOUSLY doubt u can handhold it.
IMO best way to shoot it is set to manual mode and shoot at the smallest f-stop @ 1/30sec..
Or if u got an assistant,u can oso get him to carry a slave flash point at the background..(abit too *kua zhang*) but it works.

Yes I'm sure. He shot it at 1/125. You mean to say you CANNOT take it at 1/60 or 1/30 with slow sync? If you can't then too bad for you....


And please go and read what he posted. He already said he took it at F4 (his smallest) at 1/125....

 

[kex]

Go read up on wad slow sync is b4 u make comments.

 

[showtime]

Go read up on wad slow sync is b4 u make comments.

can read here...
http://www.photo.net/concerts/mirarchi/concer_4.htm

 

[showtime]

1/60 is normal sync on a F80 in low ambient light....slow sync will have to be slower than that...

Steadyhand is what we all need dudes!!! can train or not ar?

 

[coke21]

1/60 is normal sync on a F80 in low ambient light....slow sync will have to be slower than that...

Steadyhand is what we all need dudes!!! can train or not ar?

Precisely...1/30 cannot hand hold meh?

 

[showtime]

depends on the focal length....
at 24mm or wider, i suppose can... hehe