How do I avoid this happening? Auto Flash?

[classixuk]

Hi guys,
After all of the help you gave in my previous thread about the hair models, I decided to try and take on board some of the things you said about composing the shot and portrait vs landscape.
I am using a Sony A380 with everything set to Auto (I'm trying to learn what makes a shot before I explore the camera...it might be months before I press "menu" by the looks of things).
My test model was my 13 month old puppy. He's big (see the first snapshot of him standing on my couch LOL) and doesn't tend to stay put very long.

I did some quick shots looking down at him from the couch, and I did some shots from the floor perspective.

When I allowed the auto-flash to fire, it bleached him out. When I switched the auto-flash off, I was happier with the pictures, but they took on a "blue" cast.

What should be the happy medium?

On the floor pics, I was hoping to get him silhouetted more or less against the light from the patio doors. However, I still wanted the detail of his face.



I haven't cropped or lightroomed the photos below...they are as shot.

Thanks for your help and education!

And one more question (now I can see the pics like that)...why do none of my pictures look 'crisply focused'? I know I am only using auto-everything, but is there no way the auto-settings can give me a crisp focus when the subject is centered in shot?

 

[hank_marvin]

I don't have any advice but i think you are so kind for rescuing a blind dog.

 

[SuperAP]

Some general advice...

The settings are there on your camera for a reason - usually as a way of either adapting to the subject you are shooting and/or dealing with light conditions. However, you're always going to have situations where you simply don't have the "natural" conditions to achieve what you would like. I would suggest reading up on the settings you camera can do, and experiment with the effects of changing them.

With a large, dark subject indoors your AF will struggle and DoF will be a factor as your Aperture will be forced wider, so reducing the area that will be in focus - the face should be the point of focus and consider using MF if AF hunts too much.

I'm assuming you used the built-in flash. I'm not best placed to advise (since I haven't used anything other than that) but consider your environment - light reflects off everything to some degree! Mirrors, light walls, shiny surfaces will all bounce / reflect the flash and give unexpected results. Off-camera flashes give greater options and more control over lighting. The Patio Doors shot is a tough one - you would need to balance controlling the exposure in the background and somehow get light on the dogs' face. Consider a reflector or even something simple like a torch with something to soften the light over it.

Someone will be along in a minute to correct my clueless rambling

 

[ramyad]

When I allowed the auto-flash to fire, it bleached him out. When I switched the auto-flash off, I was happier with the pictures, but they took on a "blue" cast.

The "blue" cast is due to White Balance which is to do with the temperature of light. There is a white balance setting on your camera which you can set depending on the main source of light (natural versus man-made types) The blue will more than likely be due to the wrong white balance setting or the camera not sensing the blue cast quickly enough, due to sunlight. When you use flash the white balance setting will/should change. When you switch it off the white balance should change again for natural light. If it is not on Auto White Balance then you need to change it yourself.

What should be the happy medium?

Set the white balance to Auto, which you say it should be?

On the floor pics, I was hoping to get him silhouetted more or less against the light from the patio doors. However, I still wanted the detail of his face.

To silhouette, meter for the brighter scene behind him and then recompose the frame and take the shot. BUT on auto metering, when you recompose, the camera will meter again for the new composition. Either spot meter and lock the exposure or try manual. Then use the flash to provide some fill light to light his face.

And one more question (now I can see the pics like that)...why do none of my pictures look 'crisply focused'? I know I am only using auto-everything, but is there no way the auto-settings can give me a crisp focus when the subject is centered in shot?

The focus system uses the contrast between light and dark areas. The dog is too dark with no contrasty areas. If you can use a single focus point then point it to somewhere on his head that has light and dark parts.