Portraits With Integral Flash

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

I find that indoor informal portraits using integral flash can be very
satisfactory - except for the inevitable shadow behind the sitter where
the background is a wall. Shots using a window as a background can
solve this problem, but the window frame can be intrusive.

I have a recently purchased a Digital Rebel/EOS 300D and the built in
flash extends quite high which helps to avoid the other portrait
problem - redeye!

I am thinking of buying a separate flashgun - a 380EX would be adequate
for me and although out of production they can be bought second-hand at
a reasonable price: the tilt facility would be useful especially with a
diffuser attached. Another solution is to use bounce flash off the
ceiling but I have found in the past that this can produce a very flat
image lacking adequate contrast.

One problem that neither built in flash nor a flash attachment can
avoid is that if the camera is held vertically - the most suitable
position for portraits - the lighting is to one side of the
face.Something like a Stroboframe attachment can solve this problem but
it is rather cumbersome to use.

Another solution is to use the camera horizontally and then crop the
image to produce a vertical format: this has the disadvantage of losing
pixels - but hopefully with the Digital Rebel';s 6 MP they can be
spared!This seems the simplest way of using either the integral or an
external flash and is perhaps the way to go - I would be interested to
know what other members think please.
Denis Boisclair
Cheshire, England.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On 27 Dec 2004 00:01:28 -0800, denis@boisclair.freeserve.co.uk wrote:

>I find that indoor informal portraits using integral flash can be very
>satisfactory - except for the inevitable shadow behind the sitter where
>the background is a wall. Shots using a window as a background can
>solve this problem, but the window frame can be intrusive.

Or a dark background, far enough away not to pick up the flash at all.

http://www.xmastree.34sp.com/images/monalisasmall.jpg
http://www.xmastree.34sp.com/images/monalisa.jpg (original big version)

(I know, I just posted that last week...)

That was taken with a D70, using auto mode and the built in flash. No setting
up, I just snapped it... Guess I got lucky.

--
Chris Pollard


CG Internet café, Tagum City, Philippines
http://www.cginternet.net

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On 27 Dec 2004 00:57:44 -0800, dkaloyanov@gmail.com wrote:

>the camera. The portrait is really good, in my opinion, take a look
>here, http://heximal.hit.bg/PICT0001.jpg It would be nice to hear what
>you think!

It works, doesn't it? What aperture did you use?

--
Chris Pollard


CG Internet café, Tagum City, Philippines
http://www.cginternet.net

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

denis@boisclair.freeserve.co.uk writes:

> I find that indoor informal portraits using integral flash can be very
> satisfactory - except for the inevitable shadow behind the sitter where
> the background is a wall. Shots using a window as a background can
> solve this problem, but the window frame can be intrusive.
>
> I have a recently purchased a Digital Rebel/EOS 300D and the built in
> flash extends quite high which helps to avoid the other portrait
> problem - redeye!
>
> I am thinking of buying a separate flashgun - a 380EX would be adequate
> for me and although out of production they can be bought second-hand at
> a reasonable price: the tilt facility would be useful especially with a
> diffuser attached. Another solution is to use bounce flash off the
> ceiling but I have found in the past that this can produce a very flat
> image lacking adequate contrast.

I generally feel on flash diffusers to be too small to make much difference
(either the Lumiquest or Sto-fen varieties), until you get to something like a
Photoflex x-small litedome (12x18" ), but then you would need to mount the flash
on a large bracket, or on a sepate lightstand. Have you considered using an
umbrella with a flash mounting just like they use for studio strobes?

For that matter, have you considered going up to studio strobes? The problem
with flashes is they aren't that powerful, particularly after you are diffused
or reflected the light.

Here is an album I made when I wanted to test all of the flash modifiers I had
at my disposal using my Promaster 5750DX flash. Note, a DSLR has much less
depth of field than prosumer cameras, and often times the cheaper consumer
lenses are slower as well, which means while I can get by shooting at f/2.8 on
my camera, you might need to go to f/4 or f/5.6 on a DSLR, possibly boosting up
the ISO (which is less noisy granted).

http://www.the-meissners.org/2004- [...] index.html

> One problem that neither built in flash nor a flash attachment can
> avoid is that if the camera is held vertically - the most suitable
> position for portraits - the lighting is to one side of the
> face.Something like a Stroboframe attachment can solve this problem but
> it is rather cumbersome to use.

I dunno, I find my two Strobo's to be extremely handy and very easy to use. I
use the small Stroboflip for everyday use (my camera is in it just about all of
the time), and the larger Pro-RL when I'm going to shoot more deliberately.

> Another solution is to use the camera horizontally and then crop the
> image to produce a vertical format: this has the disadvantage of losing
> pixels - but hopefully with the Digital Rebel';s 6 MP they can be
> spared!This seems the simplest way of using either the integral or an
> external flash and is perhaps the way to go - I would be interested to
> know what other members think please.
> Denis Boisclair
> Cheshire, England.
>

--
Michael Meissner
email: mrmnews@the-meissners.org
http://www.the-meissners.org