Unnatural lighting!

[Alis]

[Colin Southern]

Looks good to me - have you been giving the 580EX II a bit of a workout?

(And how come just about everytime we see a photo of your son he's got a "western diet" ice cream close at hand )

[Alis]

Looks good to me - have you been giving the 580EX II a bit of a workout?

This is taken using a 580 EXII but it has a little bit of sunshine throught the leaves and also a little bit of selective adjustment in PS. I was not sure if the end result looks natural or not...

(And how come just about everytime we see a photo of your son he's got a "western diet" ice cream close at hand )

Well, for him, that is the diet. He does not consider it Western! He is Western. But this was his birthday and he is eating the cake, a homemade cake; his mom does not expose the kids to commercially made cakes!

He likes fire trucks so he got a fire truck cake:




And the fact that you always see him eating western diet is because the person who takes those pictures is not able to enjoy that kind of diet that often and this is a good way of compensating for the deprivation! and I am not even overweight, just trying to prevent sudden death!

[Colin Southern]

This is taken using a 580 EXII but it has a little bit of sunshine throught the leaves and also a little bit of selective adjustment in PS. I was not sure if the end result looks natural or not...

It looks pretty good to me - perhaps needing about -1 FEC though; the kids look just a touch bright compared to their surroundings.

And the fact that you always see him eating western diet is because the person who takes those pictures is not able to enjoy that kind of diet that often and this is a good way of compensating for the deprivation! and I am not even overweight, just trying to prevent sudden death!

Spoken like a dedicated cardiologist!

[Colin Southern]

PS: Being the good-looking young man that he his (getting his good looks from his Dad of course), I'm assuming that the three young ladies to his left are his girlfriends?

[Alis]

PS: Being the good-looking young man that he his (getting his good looks from his Dad of course), I'm assuming that the three young ladies to his left are his girlfriends?

Right, I remember well growing up, I had four five girl friends around me all the time

But about the picture, can't I be one stop dramatic once in while?

[Colin Southern]

Right, I remember well growing up, I had four five girl friends around me all the time

And you probably still do, not that your wife is too impressed I'll bet!

It's just not fair - all the best girls only want to marry a doctor

[carregwen]

What's the girl on the right looking at - more food?

Nice shot, Alis. You can see the look of seriousness on their faces!

[Colin Southern]

What's the girl on the right looking at - more food?

I think she was the guard!

[Alis]

What's the girl on the right looking at - more food?

Nice shot, Alis. You can see the look of seriousness on their faces!

Thanks, Rob. I am actually lucky that she turned her face away for a few seconds. Her parents do not like her pictures to be anywhere online yet she is free to "contaminate" my shots where ever I go They consider these personal information which I think is really extreme. I think living here in US makes people a little bit paranoid about these things.

I told them once that I am willing to put a picture of my passport online for a month and that IS personal information!

[Alis]

...all the best girls only want to marry a doctor

Not sure about the "best" part and not really true about me anyway, you have seen my bald head

[Antonio Correia]

Alis
For a long time now I have been, reading, experimenting and trying to get good flash pictures.
And what do I consider to be a good flash picture ? A good flash picture - I mean a picture where one uses flash - is the one which we can't immediately perceive the presence of this device.
Or at least a trained eye can see it but not a "common" one.
You do know what I mean. I hope so.
In the pictures I post I have used this procedure:

I was using a G9 which returns the flash speed sync at 1/500, an advantage regarding the 1/200 on the 5D.s Manual flash, no TTL.

I explain what I have done (please look at the table at the same time):
* To begin with I have measured the light using manual mode and adjusting the speed and aperture so it would fit in the middle of the scale. (first shot)

* I under exposed using a faster speed and allowing the flash to fire at 1/3 of it's power (second shot)
* As I saw that the flash was not enough to make the leaves on the right to pop, I turned the flash to 2/3 ( third shot)
* As I saw that the leaves were too bright for my taste I stepped back a little (fourth shot)
This is called dragging the shutter. Anyone correct me if I am wrong please.

Changing the ISO or/and the aperture would alter the background and its exposure. We don't want that, do we ?

So, when I want to underexpose the background and enhance the foreground with the flash I have to increase the speed to the limits of my camera’s HSS and adjust the flash to my likings on the foregrounds.
If I can’t fine tune the flash - as I couldn't - one steps back or forward decreases or increases the flash power.

Watch carefully: on the 3.ed and 4.th picture the background has the same exposure.

Alis, I know you will understand what I mean by this explanation, won't you?
Now, go to the "field" feed your young with a nice ice cream and experiment, experiment and experiment

I almost forgot to say:
As the HSS is low and the conditions in the Park are very bright you should consider the use of HSS considering however that the power is less that normal flash as the light appears longer. You can even use a ND or a CP filter if you have one.
I wish I could explain this better. Oh my English Brrr...

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All photos from raw and whith out any treatment.

[Alis]

Thanks a lot, Antonio! This is very helpful. I have been trying to do the same thing with some success but my subject still moves a lot randomly and it is almost impossible to adjust settings and go back and try again.

The only way to keep kids still as you said is to give them something like ice cream to eat, but then Colin has issues with that kind of diet