550ex on 10D Senario

Ok, Attached is a little diagram I created. What would you do if you

had a 10D with a 24-70/2.8L lens and a 550ex on the hotshoe?

 

Senario

-High Ceiling (No bounce)

-You want the subject in focus and also the background exposed.

Background not necessarily in focus, but expose.

-No 'Deer Headlight' effect on subject

-Camera to subject - 10feet

-Subject to Background - 10 feet

-Regulary tungesten lighting

 

I am trying to avoid the 'deer headlight effect' and you have no way

to bounce the flash to create soft light. How would you shoot this

senario

Select your camera's manual mode. Select an aperture which will provide the depth-of-field appropriate for your subject (probably somewhere between f/4 and f/8).

 

With the flash turned off, meter the background for the ambient, tungsten lighting at the aperture you've selected.

 

Then turn on the flash and shoot the picture with the selected aperture and the shutter speed resulting from the background measurement.

PS: Make sure before you take the picture, you focus on the face of one of your subjects or a neutral toned item of clothing.

Like someone mentionioned in your previous thread, check http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash; specifically, look at FAQ #9.

 

Bill's answer is good, but be aware that in Av and Tv modes, the camera *should* do this work for you and automatically meter based on ambient light.

 

If you're preparing to take pictures at a specific event, try taking some test pictures before the event using a variety of methods in a setting similiar to your event's setting.

550 mounted at 140 degrees to bounce off wall releative to subject. High ISO either 800 or 1600. Large Aperature in AV mode Eval Metering. If no wall, Position 550 about 20 degrees above normal position with -.1/3 - .5 flash compensation....same settings as mentioned above. Also would reccommend a stophen flash diffuser.<div></div>

Bill Muth is right. Av mode may be a better choice as the camera then meters for the ambient light (background) regardless of whether flash is used or not, and the camera will control the flash to properly expose your main subject.

 

Using a Stofen Omnibounce will avoid any color caste due to the tungsten lighting, provided the walls and ceiling are white.

>>tungesten lighting<<

 

I would set the camera's K value to tungsten and use a tungsten gel over the flash so that all color temp is the same. Otherwise, you will get the yellowish cast on areas lit by tungtsten (wich may or may not what you like).

 

You can get ROSCO gels cheap and cut a piece to fit the 550EX.

Yeah, key is to use AV mode. This will set camera to meter for ambient. Set ISO to keep shutter speed reasonable, or else use a tripod.

 

Flash will take care of itself. BUT you MUST have AF point on neutural tone subject *at the moment of exposure* or use FEL. If the AF point is over the wall, the subjects will be far overexposed.

 

Also, I think you will want to use a diffuser as a minimum. A soft box may work better.

<P><I>"Bill's answer is good, but be aware that in Av and Tv modes, the camera *should* do this work for you and automatically meter based on ambient light."</P></I> <P>But, unfortunately, Av and Tv modes don't. Bill's technique is the only one that will give a perfect exposure of the background in a typical dim interior. Why? If the flash is on in M, Av or Tv modes the 10D automatically applies negative exposure compensation to the background (NEVEC). Thus, flash and ambient light are not balanced. The background is underexposed. Some like this look, but I hate it! If you're in a hurry, you could use Av mode and counter NEVEC with +.5 to 1.0 guesstimate, but metering ambient separately is the most accurate.</P> <P><A HREF="http://eosdoc.com/manuals.asp?q=NEVEC." TARGET="_blank">NEVEC</A></P>

My own experience is that the tips above (AV mode and use FEL) work fine. AV provides the control over the background and DOF. FEL ensures the flash exposes for the subject and mid tone. The 550ex and ETTL does a good job and avoids the "deer" effect. BUT, a Stophen is a great help when bounce (and even with bounce in many cases)is not possible. It softens the light very nicely. For important shots I always take 2 shots - one as Stophen suggest at 45 degree tilt of the flash head and the other straight ahead.

There are a couple basic principles to keep in mind when shooting with E-TTL flash:

- Shutter speed determines the background exposure.

- The E-TTL systems determines the subject exposure.

- The light /dark value under the active focus point affect the E-TTL metering.

 

I just want to mention a few things you can try in addition to the excellent advises you've already gotten from the other posters:

 

- Shoot in Av mode so you can control the DOF.

- Use higher ISO.

- Use the Exposure Compensation feature to control the background EV.

- Use the flash FEC to control the flash amount on the subject.

- Use a tripod.

- Watch the histogram and the preview, you should get exactly what you want after a few test shots.

If I use the camera's exposure compensation to make the background expose more, wouldn't this apply to the entire picture, including the flash exposed subject?