Crystal Clear Pictures

[imrsalas]

<p>I was wondering how photographers are able to take crystal clear pictures using a flash. Is it all because they use f/2.8 lenses and not any of the variable aperture lenses out there. I am trying to take a photo using the lights of a christmas tree as the main light and use a hotshoe flash which I can take off the camera as a fill light. When I tried this the last time the picture was grainy. Your assistance on the matter would be greatly appreciated.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>It will help if you mention some other things about the exposure. The ISO setting (are you choosing that manually, or do you have auto ISO turned on?), the aperture, and the shutter speed. If it's a slow shutter speed, are you using a tripod?</p>

[imrsalas]

<p>Hi Matt, I normally shoot on the lowest ISO setting available, but it looks like this time I forgot to set it and it fired with the ISO on auto, f/8 and 1/30. Camera was on a tripod set on timer so that I could be included in the photo with my wife. I used a Vivitar 285HV set to 1/16. If you start zooming on the blue chair, you will notice the graininess on the cushions. Your assistance would be great, this would allow me to take better portraits. The camera that I used before was a D60 but now I am using a D90 paired with a 18 - 105mm lens. I have attached a copy of the picture for your reference. Thanks.</p><div></div>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Your D90 shouldn't look <em>too</em> bad at ISO 800, but that noise will be more noticeable if you underexpose. Noise is always more visible in dark/shadow areas. Your blue chair would be a classic spot for that sort of thing.<br /><br />If you really want the ambient light in the room (the tree lights) to provide most of the exposure's light, you're going to want to take control of that manually. This might take a little practice ... but consider testing the shot first <em>without</em> the flash, and go with an entirely manual exposure. Turn Auto ISO off, and try setting it around 400, perhaps. Then choose shutter speed and aperture that get you a nice, atmospheric shot of the tree, providingthe look you're after. Who knows ... 1/15th, perhaps, and something like f/5.6. See how that's working. Don't go too slow on the shutter speed, because the ambient light will illumniate your own movement in front of the camera, and you'll see some ghosting along with the more frozen-looking image preserved by the flash.<br /><br /><em>Then</em> start adding some flash to the exposure. Set the flash power manually, as well, and try to use it with as light a touch as possible, aiming in a way that cross the faces without throwing a lot of light on the rest of the scene. If you have some flash gels, you might consider slightly warming the color of the flash so that it at the warm tones of the background scene get along better - it will look more natural. You may even want to rig up a flag or snoot to control the flash's output so that it's kept just where you want it.<br /><br />This is definitely a situation where you don't want the camera making any decisions for you, since you have very specific goals for your exposure. Have fun!</p>

[imrsalas]

<p>Thanks a whole lot. I think that was a whole lot of information that I now need to break out the camera and start practicing so that I get that right picture with the look that I am after. Thanks.</p>

[Alex]

<p>As a foot note. If you want the ambient light to be the dominant (main) one as Matt already mentioned go manual an see wha is the camera setting you need to get the right exposure. If you can see on your image the shadow on your face and the one on the wall casted by the tree are created by the directional light of the flash, on your example the flash clearly is the dominant light.<br>

Seems like your walls are white, as an alternative to trying directional light you can try bouncing the light of the flash againt the wall or if you have a reflector you might like to try that as well. Also an umbrella (reflecting or shoot through) could be a good choice to experiment.<br>

Have fun<br>

Alex</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>Flash lighting often looks sharper and brighter. As you get into photography more, you learn to control the flash to look more natural.</p>

[sjmurray]

<p>If you have the kind of flash unit that can be aimed at the ceiling you can get a nice soft lighting effect. I've even done it by taping a white card directly in front of the flash aiming up at a 45 degree angle. This aiming the flash at the ceiling bounces the light and it will fill the room with soft light. This can be done in manual mode as well: set the shutter at 1/60 and do some test shots to determine the f stop and iso. Here's an example I recently did with my D80, bouncing the flash off the ceiling, iso was 800, f 6.3.</p><div></div>

[kris-bochenek]

<p>here is an example of using flash with an ambient light to take this portrait. I used manual mode with ISO 400 1/20 shutter speed and f4 to get the ambient light to register and I used a slight amount of flash to light the model. I used an off camera flash shot trough an umbrella. Hope this helps.</p><div></div>

[imrsalas]

<p>I would like to thank everyone for the responses that you have given me. I am trying all these different techniques to get the desired effect that I am after.</p>