Fixing indoor flash shots!

[laurabel]

Most tutorials I see, in print and in videos, deal with outdoor pictures. I've taken some pretty bad outdoor shots, but NOTHING will ever beat the hideous quality that's a lot more typical of almost any digital picture shot indoors on a regular consumer camera with that tiny, little flash. Fixing those is much more of a challenge. I'd love to see a newsletter that talks in length about the special problems with indoor flash photography and maybe some down-and-dirty fix-'em solutions. Outdoors? Easy. Indoors with a flash? My brain hurts to think of it. :)

[Wendy]

good idea for a tutorial !!


Wendy

[virgo1]

Laurabel,
I've gotten ugly colored shots indoors also. What are you able to do as far as settings on your camera? If you have the settings, play around with the white balance and sensitvity. I've been experimenting with 3 shot brackets using manual focus and no flash, sensitivity adjusted accordingly.
Don't forget a tripod or a steady hand (I usually need the tripod).
Try out different settings and experinent with lighting. You can always ditch what you don't like. I just had as idea, use a cool medium grey card to help adjust the light meter. Place it where your subjects will be and frame it.
Then frame and focus your subjects. I think it's called using a grey card. Wendy..did I get that right? Eva

[Wendy]

Eva ...

... sounds good to me :)


Wendy

[laurabel]

Hi, Eva:

I'm using a Canon Powershot A80 and I shoot photos as large and as fine as the camera allows. For those indoor shots I typically fumble with the settings that allow me to choose the kind of lighting I'm experiencing, such as fluorescent, incandescent, sunny, cloudy, etc. They can help, but even set properly they don't seem all that terrific when you're talking about, say, an indoor party at night. Picture fluorescent lighting in the kitchen, lots of table lamps lit elsewhere, people moving around a lot, etc. A tripod would be swell, but it really isn't practical if you're interested in candid shots, for instance. (I haven't fooled with bracketing, but maybe I will.)Naturally, my better indoor shots are those in which I'm able to get up "close and personal" to my subjects. But that's usually when they make a face or move because they're conscious of the camera. Add to that the shutter lag in a digital camera and . . . well, those indoor shots just don't behave nicely. Thus, my larger interest is in fixing them after the fact, when people aren't moving anymore. <gg>

[Wendy]

Flash shots seem to cause more problems than any other sort ... well they do for me :)

By the time I have got the shot set up ... something or someone has always moved. I really wish I could find a good tutorial on this subject ... but I suppose that it is difficult as there are so many different cameras. I use a Canon 300D


Wendy

[virgo1]

Laurabel and Wendy,
I'm getting lousy indoor flash shots with the coolpix. The kitchen has fluoresent lighting and is painted yellow. What isn't yellow is a hideous green. Elsewhere indoors everything has a blueish cast.
I've been experiment with the brackets using our cat as a subject. When I try to get shots at her level, it won't work. The cat want's to scmooz the camera. I'll have to catch her sleeping.
I haven't had the camera long enough or the opportunity to use it at parties. Our first vacation with it is coming up and I can't stop day dreaming.
Eva :D

[Wendy]

Eva,

I did have to laugh at you using the cat to set your shots up ..

I got my camera a few days before we got Tansy so for most of her life she has been my model and as soon as she hears the shutter click she comes into the room and poses !! She has even let me take shots whilst resting the camera on her tummy :)


Wendy

[virgo1]

Wendy,
Our Monster loves attention and can be quite the poser. She will pose for attention. I did a 16 shot buffer that caught a yawn and another one has 16 images of the same pose, one her back with the front paws bent. I haven't figured out what to do with a 16 shot buffer yet. :oops: :lol:
Eva

[Wendy]

Eva,

Ummm ... that is quite a lot :)

Still they are such adorable creatures


Wendy