Taking photo in hazzy or foggy environment & 40mm f/2.8 w/Speedlite


Golagislow

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Dec 7, 2011
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Would like to 2 questions:

1. I tried taking some Singapore landscape 1 day but turned out to be very 'pale'. It was bit hazzy that day. I tried various configurations include ISO, aperture and shuttle speed, results various of course but still as 'pale'. Another place I can think of will be Shanghai Bun area taking over the 东方明珠. Shanghai is always foggy / hazzy. What should be the right way of taking pictures in such environment.

2. When I mount the Nissin Di622 onto my Nikon D3100 w/40mm f/2.8 to take photos at night, the largest aperture is f/3.5 and no matter how I turned, it can never go to f/2.8. Is there an 'internal' limitation when speedlite is mounted or something not rite?
 

Would like to 2 questions:

1. I tried taking some Singapore landscape 1 day but turned out to be very 'pale'. It was bit hazzy that day. I tried various configurations include ISO, aperture and shuttle speed, results various of course but still as 'pale'. Another place I can think of will be Shanghai Bun area taking over the 东方明珠. Shanghai is always foggy / hazzy. What should be the right way of taking pictures in such environment.

2. When I mount the Nissin Di622 onto my Nikon D3100 w/40mm f/2.8 to take photos at night, the largest aperture is f/3.5 and no matter how I turned, it can never go to f/2.8. Is there an 'internal' limitation when speedlite is mounted or something not rite?

1. Your camera has no "Shuttle Speed". The Shuttle was retired by NASA. You mean "Shutter" speed.
There is not much you can do. The environment is the way it is. This is why photographers will scout out a spot as early as 5am to see if the conditions are better. The most you can do is maybe use a polarizing filter (might help a bit) and of course adjust the color curves in Photoshop.

FYI, instead of typing so much, all you had to do was search:
how to eliminate haze from pictures

2. Not sure. But it may be for exposure/focus balancing. Best to read your Di622 and D3100 manuals.
 

I assume by 'pale', you are implying something like a lack of contrast. Everything seems a bit washed out, no?
Well, essentially photography is about light. If you have bad light, you will struggle to produce good images. If it is hazy, you can't expect to tweak some magic settings in-camera, and hey presto produce blue skies.

Curious about the f/3.5 limitation with the external flash. Usually it's the shutter (not shuttle) speed that gets limited, but not the max aperture. You remove the external flash and you can adjust to f/2.8?
 

2. When I mount the Nissin Di622 onto my Nikon D3100 w/40mm f/2.8 to take photos at night, the largest aperture is f/3.5 and no matter how I turned, it can never go to f/2.8. Is there an 'internal' limitation when speedlite is mounted or something not rite?
Please share the entire settings of camera and flash and describe the scene you are working in as well as what you are trying to achieve. Without this we can only ask tea leaves.
 

the millions and millions of particles in the air not visible to the naked eye but seen as fog, smog, mist act as a giant reflector and diffuser ....... shoot a flash into it...... some of that light thrown out by the flash will reflect back towards the camera causing this washed out effect
 

Are you trying to shoot small objects at macro distance with your 40mm f2.8? If yes, then that explained the f3.5 you are getting.
 

Thanks for all the replies. Guess nothing I can do for issue 1. For issue 2, I was taking night portrait pictures w f/2.8 using aperture mode. After I mount the speedlite, the aperture changed to 3.5 n I can't turn to 2.8. Let me try a few more times n see n revert again..
 

Thanks for all the replies. Guess nothing I can do for issue 1. For issue 2, I was taking night portrait pictures w f/2.8 using aperture mode. After I mount the speedlite, the aperture changed to 3.5 n I can't turn to 2.8. Let me try a few more times n see n revert again..

It is obvious that you don't understand the reciprocal relationship between ISO setting (sensivity to light) ,aperture,shutter speed and the amount of light available, in this case the flash.Can't blame you
because everything is automatic nowadays. :) Hint: what ISO were you using at the time?

Forgot to add focal length of lens and subject distance will also affect what the flash computes in terms of aperture.
 

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Bring down to the service centre when in doubt
 

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It is obvious that you don't understand the reciprocal relationship between ISO setting (sensivity to light) ,aperture,shutter speed and the amount of light available, in this case the flash.Can't blame you
because everything is automatic nowadays. :) Hint: what ISO were you using at the time?

Forgot to add focal length of lens and subject distance will also affect what the flash computes in terms of aperture.

It seems to me like you're answering a different post.
TS was asking why the camera forced him (in aperture priority mode) to a max aperture of f/3.5 when external flash was mounted, even though he had an f/2.8 prime lens mounted. That scenario seems strange to me.
I don't really find it obvious that TS doesn't understand the reciprocal relationship between ISO, shutter speed and aperture value. :dunno:
 

Thanks for all the replies. Guess nothing I can do for issue 1. For issue 2, I was taking night portrait pictures w f/2.8 using aperture mode. After I mount the speedlite, the aperture changed to 3.5 n I can't turn to 2.8. Let me try a few more times n see n revert again..

When you remove the speedlite, does the aperture value then go back to your previously-set f/2.8?
 

Another place I can think of will be Shanghai Bun area taking over the 东方明珠. Shanghai is always foggy / hazzy. What should be the right way of taking pictures in such environment.

There is no right way. It is in your mind, to be creative to get the shots you want... If it is too foggy, hazy or too cloudy.. shot what ever you see... and see the beauty in it.

Shot right before the typhoon hits, in very strong wind...
5892691541_d4ca496aa9_z.jpg
 

if there is a color saturation problem you could either fix it post-processing (duplicate layer and set the mode to Overlay, then adjust the opacity...can use GIMP or PS to do. GIMP is free),

or,

you might want to shoot black and white for a textured feel which the haze imparts.

try using a tripod at night, and shoot without your flash...might help?