Please help I just can't seem to get my lighting right.

H

hanzy101

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Hi,

I am using a Nikon D80, with either a 18-135 lens or 50mm f1.8 lens with a Jessops 360afd flash head.
I am hoping for advice please, I feel fairly confident with my photography until it comes to lighting and I just can not seem to get it right.... If I am taking wedding shots in door, I find the lighting from the flash just too harsh, or dull however I angle or fiddle with it, or if I do not use the big flash gun, or flash it blurs or shakes. I never seem to get the Soft natural looking light I see on everyones photographs... please help!!!

Also if I do a portrait shoot (I use Interfit INT182 EX150 MkII Starter kit, with a White backdrop) Again I either get to harsh or too dull never just right... If I use natural light I get the resuly I want but just seem useless with artificial light... I bought the 50mm F1.8 lens as I thought I would help but still struggling.

Any advice would be very appriciated!!

Thanks x
 
can you post some examples with EXIF intact please
 
Are you bouncing the flash? The easiest way to get soft light with the flash on-camera is to bounce it off a (preferably white) ceiling or wall.
 
Hi, could you possibly tell me how to upload them please sorry very new to this site... also how would I know if the exif is intact?

Thanks
 
Hi,

Are you shooting TTL as is or are you dialing down the flash power?

Are you using a diffuser on the flash?

Is the flash on or off camera?
 
Unfortunately a 50mm lens will have no effect on lighting I'm afraid - always handy to have though. Like awp says, post some examples of shots your not happy with and include EXIF data so we can see what your doing :)

EDIT: cross posted with quite a few peeps.
 
Sammy and John I have tried on the camera, off the camera, diffusing, not diffusing bouncing, direct, just can't get it right!

Rob can you tell me how to post an example and check the Exif is on it?
Thanks
 
The 50mm 1.8 will help you shoot in low light without the flash but you may well still need to raise the ISO to get sharper shots without flash, but this will lead to increased noise in your photos.

If you post a link to a file on Flickr we will be able to see some of the EXIF metadata.
 
Your first two links are broken. You are better linking directly using the 'insert photo' icon:

4234013463_cf3168b093.jpg

picture by hanzy101

HTH


EDIT: links are working now - try linking as above!
 
I cant make it work sorry... can you do it from the links and help? Thanks
 
here are your photos
4234795176_cdcabc36de.jpg

Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 44 mm
Focal Length: 43.6 mm
ISO Speed: 1000
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Auto, Fired, Return detected
4234017251_6c9de3abd2.jpg

Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.3
Focal Length: 62 mm
Focal Length: 61.7 mm
ISO Speed: 1000
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Auto, Fired, Return detected
4234013463_cf3168b093.jpg

Camera: Nikon D40X
Exposure: 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 55 mm
Focal Length: 55.0 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
 
hanzy101 said:
Bump? Can anyone help please? Thanks x
Click to expand...

Hi & Welcome aboard the TP vessel!

I made a very basic and a bit of a cak vid explaining how you use your flickr links in a TP thread:

[YOUTUBE]<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pu7OwJV7Xnk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pu7OwJV7Xnk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

As for the help with lighting, I recommend starting here.

Digest the information slowly and above all, put into practise what your reading.
There's very little point in simply reading everything you can without actually experiencing the practical elements.

The example pictures seem to be mostly underexposed and looking at the shadows, the light is on camera.

You've mentioned that you have experimented with off camera flash too, can you describe what you did, what you used and provide some examples?
 
As far as I can tell from your photos, the flash looks a little direct, were you bouncing the flash of roof?
Another problem you have is your subject nearly against the background, and with any directional light source, the subject will cast a shadow if to close to say wall/curtain etc.
 
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