*Official Photography Thread* (56k warning)

[Julianachos]

So make sure the flash is at a low enough setting?

[ilovemycb7]

No... I would think the brighter the flash the better. The camera takes in light, that's what makes the picture. So if you have a long exposure you are taking in more light making darker images visable at night. If you light up an image really bright with a flash this will in a sense overload the amount of light right there. It takes just that flash to send all the light into the camera from that object. Yet, everything not lit by the flash will still be absorbed into the camera slowly. That's why if the background moves it can blur while the flash lit object appears still. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's how I see it in my head anyways.

[J-specCb4]

So make sure the flash is at a low enough setting?

im confused by this question.... but yeah ilovemycb7 has the basic idea of it.... also, shutter speed with flash effects ambient light and how much is let in, and ISO and aperture, effect flash output..... except on ttl flashes which stands for through the lens metering which is basically an auto setting for a flash. also u can run into color temperature issues in different types of light... electric flash produces a light at 5600K which is the color of daylight, however a lot of times outdoors at night u will have pics with the subject looking evenly balanced and the background will have an orange tint.... the reason being is that lots of lighting used by cities is tungsten in color(3200K) the way to counteract this is to get gels for a flash or flashes that change the light output to 3200K and then u set the white balance in camera to a custom setting.

also bounce flash, while indoors with a white ceiling works well for portraits, and is very simple to produce great images.... flash gets tricky when u have nothing to bounce from....

also remember that the larger the surface the light is coming from the softer the light. this is why u see photographers using umbrellas and softboxes.... to give the light a natural soft feel.


this is kind of a quick rundown of what goes on when using a flash.... hope this helps....

[ilovemycb7]

Interesting... I need to stop reading your posts. My to buy list now has the 18-200mm VR lens, a flash, and a nicer body. Must stop myself. Well I guess my wallet will be doing that for me.

[J-specCb4]

hahah my wallet stops me all the damn time haha

[Julianachos]

im confused by this question....

(sorry it's blurry. Camera phone ftl on focusing)

When my camera (Kodak Easyshare Z812 IS) is on manual mode, this is what it looks like. On the bottom right, is the flash setting. It's on -0.7, which is the second lowest flash brightness setting.

I was asking if the flash brightness should be low or high...

[J-specCb4]

i gotcha. it all depends on the image, the easyshare doesnt react the same way a slr would so i cant really help much with that question, sorry.

[ilovemycb7]

(sorry it's blurry. Camera phone ftl on focusing)

When my camera (Kodak Easyshare Z812 IS) is on manual mode, this is what it looks like. On the bottom right, is the flash setting. It's on -0.7, which is the second lowest flash brightness setting.

I was asking if the flash brightness should be low or high...

I would guess higher. And you can't really get the effect in a brighter setting. I dunno if the shelf was an example or not...

More questions! So is there a difference in holding up a flashlight and using a proper flash? For those model car picks I took a page back I just used a flashlight. Would a proper flash light the whole frame or have a similar effect?

[Julianachos]

The shelf's just there. lol.

[J-specCb4]

More questions! So is there a difference in holding up a flashlight and using a proper flash? For those model car picks I took a page back I just used a flashlight. Would a proper flash light the whole frame or have a similar effect?

a flash in that situation bounced off the ceiling would work quite well.... but no a flashlight isnt really the best to use because the light isnt all that even and its 9 outta 10 tungsten light..... with a flash u will have a correct color temp out of the cam with zero editing.... u just have a lot more flexibility and control with a flash.

[ilovemycb7]

The shelf's just there. lol.

Gotcha. Well just go try it out sometime. Come back show us what happened. I'm sure you'll figure it out. I mean I sorta got the idea and I tried it for about 10 minutes. Obviously I can't repeat it consistently but It's a start.

[ilovemycb7]

a flash in that situation bounced off the ceiling would work quite well.... but no a flashlight isnt really the best to use because the light isnt all that even and its 9 outta 10 tungsten light..... with a flash u will have a correct color temp out of the cam with zero editing.... u just have a lot more flexibility and control with a flash.

I didn't edit those actually... I stood about 5 feet away so that the light would be more even. Or I put a tissue over the top. Interesting though. I suppose the best would be just to try it out sometime. I may experience more with my pop up flash.

[J-specCb4]

looking back i see what ur saying, however u see how its got a centralized light and some less even light towards the center of the car? thats part of what im talking about.

looks good tho

[vh22accord]

[ilovemycb7]

looking back i see what ur saying, however u see how its got a centralized light and some less even light towards the center of the car? thats part of what im talking about.

looks good tho

Ah, now that you mention it you're right there. IT was really hard not getting a glaring reflection in the "windshield". I was pretty bored, turned off the lights in my room and started messing around. I took like 200 pictures. haha. A flash would create a more even light then... that would be handy.