Any idea on bouncers? More lighting exercises --c&C always

[ggt]

I got to play alot last night --first the grapes, which I already posted. And then the bowl of garlic and tomatoes. With the Sony Cybershot it is difficult even to figure out how to use the DIY bouncer idea I found on-line. There is just no room to attach it. I have tried aiming the flash at a white board or the wall--even covering the flash with my finger to dull it. I still got tons of bright spots on the tomatoes and nothing in PSE seems to help without looking awful. I tried moving far back, that didn't help. I'm so confused at this point . . . .HELP!!

1- I thought the distortions in the green stems and the garlic were interesting!



2- THis one seemed to have the most items in focus-not a great composition, but I liked the colors. . .



3- This is my favorite --close cropped --weird, I know!



Thanks for taking the time! I really appreciate it.

[Andrew1]

Without being able to move or bounce the flash about the only way you are going to get rid of hot spots is to diffuse the light a bit more. Kleenex, paper towel, cotton material, etc will do that but you'll have to try it out. On a pop-up flash I once used one of the opaque canisters from a role of film. How about eliminating your flash and use other lights to get the ambient where you need it? Lots of options.

[Carl in Louisiana]

Hey Gretchen,

Try without flash and near a window for softer lighting or if you can set your flash for much softer flash if it has that capability. I know I have read about that in the book I'm reading now but not sure just where at right now. It is the same one Mike is reading and posting his practice shots of. "Light: Science & Magic" An introduction to Photographic Lighting It has opened my eyes a little more into the use of light in photography and how to use it.

[Ken Curtis]

Gretchen, don't know how you had the camera set. Did you set exposure on manual and adjust aperture and speed as if you were not using a flash, and then use the flash to fill in the darker areas? I am still learning how to use my flash and letting the camera control the settings "through the lens" to do the fill. If you did not use that technique, give it a try. I don't know whether that would solve the problem or not.

Sometimes with bright spots like this, I clone a section from the non-reflection area into the bright spot using 20 to 40 percent opacity. Doing this often solves my bright spot problem. It should work well on tomatoes because of their texture, or rather lack of it.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Gretchen,

You already have plenty of suggestions, so I'll just say that I don't find the highlights that overpowering on these.

I do find the bowl edge a distraction though, esp. in #1, until I saw it in #2 and figured out what the line was

Can you arrange them on a plate, or chopping board next time? (i.e. something flat)

Cheers,

[Mike Buckley]

Gretchen,

I really like that you have a particular goal and that, regardless of what any of us think of your images, you have determined that your images do or don't accomplish that goal.

I probably won't be able to follow this thread for more than a couple of days due to my schedule, but I am going to suggest that you thoroughly study your manual as it pertains to using your camera and your flash settings. If yhou are using anything other than the on-board pop-flash, you need to understand both the camera manual and the flash manual.

As an example, rather than using a TTL flash setting and perhaps combining that with flash exposure compensation, you might want to control your flash using manual settings. As another example, you need to understand the relationship between the flash's exposure compensation and the camera's exposure compensation. (On my camera system, the flash exposure compensation and the camera exposure compensation are added together, resulting in an overall exposure compensation.)

I can't tell from your posts whether you are using the camera's pop-up flash or a separate flash. If it's the latter, I can't tell whether you are mounting that flash in the camera's hot shoe. Lots more questions than answers coming from my end.

Sorry to be so ambiguous, but the relationship between your camera and its flash unit is relatively complex, especially if you haven't thoroughly delved into the settings and when to use this or that particular setting.

[ggt]

Wow, Everyone, thanks for all the ideas! I played around alot with the manual and "intelligent auto" for these shots. I was mostly trying to figure out how much the glass bowl affected the lighting --if it amplified, reflected or whatever . . .. My camera has an flash built in --not a pop-up, but a little bulb on the left corner just above the lens. I've tried taping things over it, but I never thought of cotton. Or a 3D type of material. That's a thought.

I am also travelling for the next few days, so I won't have time to do much more with it. I'm taking the book "Light Science and Magic" to study while in the car --so hopefully some of this will congeal in my brain.

THANKS SO Much for all the ideas and the support!