Indoor portraits

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michaelho

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Hi,
Have just come from my Grandma's birthday where I tried to get some nice family photos.
I have a 400D and was using the kit lens. As the celebration was indoors I found it very hard to maintain a fast shutter time, I did bring a tripod with me but using it was inconvenient so all my shots were hand held.

I had to up the iso to 800 to get a shutter time of around 1/60 with an f stop of f/4 when using the inbuilt flash.

The result was not that great, people close to the flash were over exposed and other people where underexposed and the photos were not as sharp as I would have liked.

Would adding a dedicated flash unit help me in these situations? Want I really would like is to be able to keep the shutter times compatible with using the camera hand held and also something that would give a more natural lighting look.


Any recommendations? I have looked at the canon offerings and there seem to only be two flash units the 430EX and the 580EX, what are the differences between these?

Thanks
Michael.
 
michaelho said:
Hi,
Have just come from my Grandma's birthday where I tried to get some nice family photos.
I have a 400D and was using the kit lens. As the celebration was indoors I found it very hard to maintain a fast shutter time, I did bring a tripod with me but using it was inconvenient so all my shots were hand held.

I had to up the iso to 800 to get a shutter time of around 1/60 with an f stop of f/4 when using the inbuilt flash.

The result was not that great, people close to the flash were over exposed and other people where underexposed and the photos were not as sharp as I would have liked.

Would adding a dedicated flash unit help me in these situations? Want I really would like is to be able to keep the shutter times compatible with using the camera hand held and also something that would give a more natural lighting look.


Any recommendations? I have looked at the canon offerings and there seem to only be two flash units the 430EX and the 580EX, what are the differences between these?

Thanks
Michael.
Click to expand...

Michael,

the 580EX is stronger (reaches further) than the 430EX. But whichever one you use, people close to the flash will still be overexposed and people outside the range will still be underexposed.

The result was not that great, people close to the flash were over exposed and other people where underexposed and the photos were not as sharp as I would have liked.
Click to expand...

The lack of sharpness, despite using flash, indicates camera shake, Michael...

Replacing the peanut flash with a dedicated external one won't improve your photos much: you would still have only one light source, slap bang on top of the cam. I would add a wireless (= remotely triggered) dedicated external flash – off-camera! (on its own tripod) – to the mix (triggered by your onboard peanut flash, which may also add fill light to the scene).
Of course two dedicated external flashguns – off-camera! (on their own tripods) – would be even better.
 
I do understand that having the camera on a tripod and having these added external flashguns on tripods would be the perfect setup, however it would be quite inconvenient to set it all up as it would get in people's way and there are loads of children running around etc.
Is there no other way of improving the setup so I can still use it handheld but improve the lighting? Apart from shooting during the daytime on a sunny day :p
 
I just bought a Canon 430EX and it HAS improved my indoor shots. The best thing about it for me is that you can direct the flash, so you WON'T have overexposed faces. You can bouce the flash off the ceiling, or off a wall which will give much better lighting for you indoors.

I am currently at work but I will post some example shots of built in flash, 430ex facing forwards and also some of the light being bounced off walls and ceilings later. If that helps?

For the price it was a definite worthwhile purchase, and I am still yet to fully explore everything it can do.
 
Suggest you get yourself a flashgun and a diffuser then experiment indoors with the swivel/tilt head/diffuser.
I'm not saying my method is perfect but it gets me results:-
Camera= Manual, 1/60 sec, f4, ISO 400. Flash on ETTL and use FEC if needed.
Hope this helps.
Tom
 
michaelho said:
it would be quite inconvenient to set it all up as it would get in people's way and there are loads of children running around etc.
Is there no other way of improving the setup so I can still use it handheld but improve the lighting?
Click to expand...

Yes, but it isn't easy: use a handheld external flashgun off-camera, in your outstretched left arm/hand, lighting the scene, while holding the camera with your right hand. Use the peanut flash for fill-in.

This m.o. is used a lot by pros. But requires experience. In the beginning it may be a drama until you learn how to hold/point the external flashgun.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for advice guys, I have come across the Gary Fong Puffer. This seems like a very cheap alternative to help diffuse the light from the built in flash more, has anyone had experience with it?
 
The diffuser for the built in flash may help a little but it won't be a big change. If you can stretch to it, getting a flash that you can tilt to bounce the light will make a dramatic difference. In the future you would then be able to try using it off camera which is perhaps the ideal solution. If you have time have a look at the strobist blog for off camera lighting tips.:)
 
Yep, even mounted on top of the camera if you aim up at 45 degrees and bounce the light then you'll have far better shots. It doesnt take much experimenting to get good results either but wireless is best, and each time you add another flash you just get even better shots!
 
Just wanted to say I LOVE my flash lol. It's so good to know that you can use whatever settings you want indoors on a gloomy day like today.

I made one of them 'better' bounce card too and what a difference that made. Flash was definitely a worth while purchase.
 
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