Do I need a Flash ?

[RobbieW]

Hi,

I have taken a few photo's recently at car museums, and I am finding that I am getting the colouring all wrong. I use a 350D with a Sigma 17 to 70mm. When I have used the built in flash I have found the colours are slightly better in the very near foreground.

A few people have told me I need to buy an external flash such as the Canon 430 or the 580. Would this make much difference to what i am trying to achieve? If so can anyone point me in a direction of where I can get some info on using a flash from? by reading posts on here they don't seem the easiest of things to use.

Thanks for any help and advice.

Rob

[Vinny]

external flashes are obviously far better than their internal counterparts - mainly because they are larger, fire brighter, charge quicker and can flash at much faster shutter speeds.

Have you tried altering your ISO settings when inside the museums?

[RobbieW]

I have adjusted the ISO to 200 but do tend to get the same problems, the worst part is its not easy to see what the end result will be like untill its on a pc at the end of the day :(

[Jonnyreb]

I have adjusted the ISO to 200 but do tend to get the same problems, the worst part is its not easy to see what the end result will be like untill its on a pc at the end of the day :(

Hi Rob - you can crank up to 400ISO on the 350 without losing too much :)

If you're going tomorrow, bring your camera and i'll bring the 430 and 580 so you can have a play and see how easy they are to use on Auto settings ;)

[DoubleT]

sounds to me it could be your WB setting, using the wrong setting will more than definatly change the look of the photos, especially in a museum...

ill get some examples up

When I have used the built in flash I have found the colours are slightly better in the very near foreground.

from what it sounds like there , your W/B is set up for flash or brighter situations, thats why the colouring is better in the areas where the flash has bounced to.

a flash wont do you much good in large museums, ive never liked car photos taken with flash. longer exposures is all thats needed

[DoubleT]

sounds to me it could be your WB setting, using the wrong setting will more than definatly change the look of the photos, especially in a museum...



a flash wont do you much good in large museums, ive never liked car photos taken with flash. longer exposures is all thats needed

this was in a museum with artiticial lighting.

w/b set at 2800K
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/DoubleT/DSC_3697.jpg

w/b/set at 6000k
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/DoubleT/1.jpg

i dont think the 350d lets you select your w/b by K ratings, but im sure you may be able to find in the preset functions something to help you out.

otherwise shoot in raw and get them right when you process them

HTH

[RobbieW]

Thanks for all your comments and help today

[ps2user]

If you shoot in Raw then you can correct the white balance quite easily otherwise grab a white balance card. I've just brought one of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=010&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=200102760361&rd=1&rd=1 to try even though i shoot in RAW but thought what the hell since its only about £4 :)