N00b using flash outside

[DorsetDude]

Hi all

Trying to photo a swan sunday evening, it came really close so I thought the in built flash on my 450D would light it ok. I was in Av mode at F4 and shutter speed went to 0.5 second. ISO 800. I thought the flash would freeze the movement on the swan so can somebody tell me what I am doing wrong and why its still blurred? What do I do to stop the blur next time? Any help welcomed really.

Many thanks

 

[kasperoff]

The problem with the blur is that your exposure was too long at .5 second. You really need to be shooting at 30 m/s of faster to stop motion, I believe.

Now the problem is that Av mode would not let the camera shoot any faster than .5 seconds at F4, which I'm guessing we the widest your lens will go.

Next time, try using Tv and setting your speed to 30 m/s with the flash popped and see how it comes comes out. If its too dark, then I think it means your flash just isn't up to the job.

You could also try bumping the ISO to 800 perhaps?

 

[Mike Jackson]

In AV mode the camera meters for ambient and uses the flash as fill. Because the swan is white it shows up better and you can see the movement blur. Because of the long exposure there's a lot of camera shake going on as well.

In TV mode the camera will also meter for the ambient and may not let you take the picture as the aperture won't go large enough.

If you stick the camera in manual and choose something like 1/125 and f/4 the camera will use the flash in E-TTL mode and attempt to give you a good exposure. You may find that the background appears overly dark doing this though and the inbuilt flash may not be powerful enough.

Have a read of http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index.html to understand how flash photography works with Canon cameras.

 

[DorsetDude]

Thanks guys. A dark background would have been good