Help with adjusting lighting in the following

Chaoslillith

Hello all,

I attended a Japanese tea ceremony today and we were allowed to take pics. I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 on camera flash no extra equipment. The ceremony was in a replica teahouse so had the screen walls and it was early monring on a cloudy day. (Yeah hellish for a mere newbie like me to shoot). I ended up using a lot of flash as I could NOT get the apertture and shutter to expose how I like usually. My camera goes from f/2.8 to 8 and up to 2600 shutter speed. I will post the settings I shot these at. They are not bad shots but I want better. Any ideas?

Exp: 1/250 f/2.8 ISO 100 Flash fired exposure bias -200/100EV


1/128 f/3.2 ISO 200 same bias with flash:



1/15 f/2.8 ISO 400 ( This was on Int ISO) no flash



All input would be appreciated!!

Art Scott

EXPOSURE LOOKS OK to me but the angle of attack leaves a lot to be desired.......shoot from a lower perspective on especially 1 & on 3 I think a higher perspecive might be better..........also the electric cord needs to be hidden on #1....

Chaoslillith

Art,

Thanks for the ideas. I did take some of the table from a lower perspective.



As far as the cord, if I crop it everything will look very off centered.

Thanks for the advice though.

Jeremy Winterberg

I think Art means clone out the power cable. I took a quick go at it for you to show what he means. I also got rid of the distracting highlight on the one pot.

Chaoslillith

Thanks for doing that!! It does look better. I have Picasa for editing and that is about it.

Editing software is on my list.

Any tips on getting the pic better in this type of situation? Is the composition Ok? Should I have diffused the flash?

Jeremy Winterberg

Chaoslillith wrote:

Thanks for doing that!! It does look better. I have Picasa for editing and that is about it.

Editing software is on my list.

Any tips on getting the pic better in this type of situation? Is the composition Ok? Should I have diffused the flash?

Well a lower point of view like Art said would be more ideal. The lower vantage point would allow you to use the white wall as the background, getting rid of the distracting chair and shelving.

ALWAYS diffuse your flash. Softer light (diffused light) would've made the highlights less harsh and the overall lighting would look more even.

I looked up your camera and you're using a point and shoot. They make diffusers for those pop-up flashes. Look into getting one of those. I think you can even make a DIY diffuser for them. save money!

Chaoslillith

I have found a couple of cool ideas for a diffuser. I am going to rig one up.

Thanks for the tips!!

pathfinder

I have a few frames from a tea ceremony my wife attended in Arrowrock Missouri in April 2007.

They were shot with a flash bounced off the ceiling if memory serves.....

I suspect you could use your 'on camera flash' to trigger a separate 'off camera flash', optically, to raise the ambient light level, and bouncing it off a white ceiling or wall would create the larger, softer light that Jeremy was suggesting.

Chaoslillith

Great shots...

I will try the idea of bouncing the flash off a white wall. Good idea