More Dumb Photo Questions

[Staranais]

Hey there knowledgeable camera people!

So, if I'm taking a photo in the sun with my subject backlit (with my point & shoot CanonPowershot), it's pretty hard to see details in their face (especially if they have a black face like my dog does). Should I use the flash? I've tried that a few times, but things can get overly bleached out, & I can get red eye with it.

Or is there something else I can do? I can adjust the exposure, would that help?

I know the obvious answer is to turn them around so they're not backlit, but sometimes they're posing in front of a nice bit of scenery (or if they're the dog, they're unlikely to pose again nicely if I make them move).

Also, how do you prevent red-eye when you're photographing dogs with a flash?

:p

Ta very much!

[kja]

Yes, use the flash if you want to see their faces :p It's called fill flash. I use it a lot at the beach with the doglets so I don't get really dark shadows on their faces, for instance.

Or you can put your exposure selection on spot and set that on the faces (if your camera has this feature). This will expose for the subjects dark face. Remember that doing this will blow the background as it is already bright and you are telling the camera to expose for the dark areas. I can do this with my baby Canon SD1200 - I just put the focus box over the part of the scene I want to expose for and then move the camera to reframe the scene the way I want it to be. Note that you need to make sure your subject is on the same focus plane as what you focused on!

If your camera will let you, try lowering the power on the flash if it is frying everything you are trying to shoot. If not, then back up a bit so your light has to travel further and is less intense when it hits your subject.

It's tough to balance exposures with a point & shoot that has limited adjustments and with a fixed flash, but it can be done. Just takes some experimenting and practice.

The only way to prevent red eye is to not have the flash go straight into the eye, really. It's a bear with pets as there's no good way to remove it once it's there. Experiment with angles and I've also heard that a piece of the kinda cloudy sticky tape will diffuse the flash just enough and still give you the power you need, but I haven't tried that.

Edited December 27, 2010 by kja

[persephone]

..a small piece of clean tissue.. and a bit of spit - place over the flash ,and you get a lesser amount of light emitted :p

red eye is a pain.... :/

Edited December 27, 2010 by persephone

[Staranais]

Thanks heaps, Kja & Persephone! I can't adjust the flash strength or brightness but I'll try sticking something over the flash & playing around with that.

I can do spot exposure I think, but I guess since it will make the background super light that's not really what I'm after? Want to be able to see the nice scenery too.

:p