What Did I Do Wrong - Too Much Shadow in Pics

JewelJewel Registered Users Posts: 4 Beginner grinner
edited May 12, 2004 in Cameras
Just took some pics of my friend and her 2 kids this weekend. There is too much shadow in the pics. It was early morning. I just bought the Canon Eos 10d and Canon EX550 flash. The flash did flash but did not fill in the shadow.

Any advice would be much appreciated:
a) what to do in future shooting situations like this, and
b) can I fix this in Photoshop Elements

I am a beginner (obviously).

Picture is attached (hopefully).

Jewel

Comments

  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2004
    Jewel, no piccie. Perhaps the shot is too large to attach. Did you wait and see if the attachment was successful?

    If the attachment worked, you should see this message:

    3127455-M.jpg



    If the attachment's too big, you should see a message similar to this, instead.

    3127454-M.jpg
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • fishfish Registered Users Posts: 2,950 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2004
    Hi Jewel,

    Welcome. A lot of it has to do with which part of image you metered. If you are metering off the bright sunlight, the shadows will be very dark. If you meter off the shadows, the light parts will be blown out.

    You might want to play with partial metering and exposure lock (check your manual).

    fish
    "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk." - Edward Weston
    "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."-Hunter S.Thompson
  • JewelJewel Registered Users Posts: 4 Beginner grinner
    edited March 29, 2004
    Picture Attached
    Okay, got picture attached. This is not the worst one, but still shows some shadow problems I had. Flash did not fill in the shadows.

    Jewel
  • JewelJewel Registered Users Posts: 4 Beginner grinner
    edited March 29, 2004
    Fish,
    Okay, thanks for the suggestion. Ya, I think part of the problem is that it was early morning and I had a lot of light coming in on the right side.

    I just thought the flash would "fill" in more shadow.

    I have a couple more pictures that were taken in the shade and the light filtering through shows up in "blotches" basically.

    Jewel
  • fishfish Registered Users Posts: 2,950 Major grins
    edited March 29, 2004
    Jewel, one other thing you can try is bumping up the flash compensation by 1/2 stop or so.
    "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk." - Edward Weston
    "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."-Hunter S.Thompson
  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited March 29, 2004
    It's hard to shoot something in direct sunlight, for the reasons that you've demonstrated.

    Patch29 (a pro around here) likens digital cameras to shooting with slide film - not a lot of range, easy to blow out the highlights. It would be interesting to see if Fishy's suggestion, metering for a midpoint between shadow and sunlight, works.

    For what it's worth, Zero-Zero (yet another pro around here!) suggests shooting in the shade. The shade on a sunny day gives pretty nice, even lighting. Dunno if the trees in the background provided enough complete (as opposed to patchy) shade to make that possible. ne_nau.gif I've made the patchy shade mistake many times - looks awful!

    I don't think Photoshop can help you. There are a number of places where the lighting is pure white. The side of the boy's head, for example, parts of the mother's face, the bottom part of her shirt, maybe even the daughter's arm, her hair. I don't think you can recover from that. There's no detail left to capture. Everytime I try, it turns gray.

    Nice shot, tho - good looking looking family.
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • Max PowerMax Power Registered Users Posts: 17 Big grins
    edited March 29, 2004
    Hey Jewel, If I was to repeat that exact shot I would use my hand held light meter to help me. From the meter the numbers I would start with are as follows: shutter speed of 1/200 which is the sync speed for your flash, an aperture of f/11 and an ISO speed of 50. These numbers are for direct sunlight, no clouds.
    "Um... Sir... Your lens cap is still on"
  • tmshotstmshots Registered Users Posts: 59 Big grins
    edited May 12, 2004
    Fill Lights?
    I would try using a fill or slave flash to take out the shadows. I use a cheapy flash on pod for fill and metering is always a nice way to go. This may help pull out some of those nasty outside shadowing problems.
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