Help - Bright subject - dark background - 430EX

I recently bought a 430EX flash to use with my Digital Rebel XT and then shot a

wedding before having time to test the flash. So basically I set everything on

auto. Most of the pictures were great but those with the bride in her bright

white dress had a perfect exposure on the dress but everything else is dark. Is

there a setting on the camera or flash that would have helped this?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Not on the flash, but on the camera.

 

The basic idea with flash is that aperture and shutter control the background exposure

while the flash output controls the foreground exposure. So, next time, take some pictures

without the flash and adjust the exposure of the background to your liking (you'll probably

want it slightly underexposed, unless you plan on doing a bunch of masking in post-

production), and then take the ``real'' shot with flash on and the same aperture and

shutter. (Oh -- and ISO, too, of course.)

 

Of course, if you're in dark surroundings, that probably means a slow shutter -- perhaps

even one slow enough that you'll be certain you'll get lots of unacceptable motion blur. But

don't worry about it. The flash will freeze the motion in the foreground, and your tripod

(you *are* using one, no?) will hold the background steady. Remember, the duration of the

flash is some ludicrous fraction of a second, and the foreground is only getting exposed

during the flash.

 

Cheers,

 

b&

Use less flash and more available light when shooting scenes like this. This is precisly why fast lenses are the 'fav' of pro wedding photo journalists.

My standby approach for this is to take an ambient light metering and set the ambient exposure to underexpose by about a stop (assuming you can get a handholdable shutter speed without cranking the ISO too high). Even when I use a flash I use a fast lens and shoot at around f2.8 Your problem is only the ambient exposure and not the flash exposure though you might find that the camera underexposes when flash is the main light source.

 

Ben,

 

Except for the occasional shot from the back of the church, and the occasional group portrait, very few people us a tripod to shoot at a wedding. I have seen them used occasionally for impromptu studio shots (i.e. background, lights, and tripod) at a reception but by and large most weddings these days are shot photojournalist style.

Hi Charles,<p> Here's a<b> <a href="http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=106">link</a> that may help.<br></b>Mac 10

Use "slow sync" mode: flash with Av or M. The camera automatically balances ambient and subject in these modes. Of course M is the most flexible as you can follow the ambient meter for balanced fill or, when conditions are too dim, dial back ambient and let the flash behave as main light.

As mentioned above, by the previous posters, there are several options. Shooting with the camera in "Manual" mode. You can set the shutter speed a little slower, or/and open the aperture wider. Also, might need to bump your ISO to 400-800. You could bump ISO to 800, and leave it in "P-Program". Also, if possible, bouncing the flash (45 degrees) may help prevent dark backgrounds.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I will experiment more and see what I can do with this flash. One problem I had was that the available light in the church was very red-orange compared to the flash. I had hoped that the flash would dominate, but there you have the problem of the distance to the background. Most of the pictures were taken "on the fly" so taking time for meter readings and bracketing was not possible. They dark pictures seem to enhance OK, so the bride is not upset, especially since this was a "freebe". I don't plan on shooting any more weddings than I have to - I kinda got "roped" into doing this one, but I do want to be able to take good pix in the future. Overall I am very happy with the flash and camera.

Charles Foster wrote:

 

"I recently bought a 430EX flash to use with my Digital Rebel XT and then shot a wedding before having time to test the flash. "

 

"Gutsiest" thing I've ever read!

 

You might like to have a read of the "Gold Standard" book on Canon EOS Flash photography by "our own" NK Guy, at ...

 

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

 

Cheers,

 

Colin