Flash?!

[stevebuk]

Hi all,

To be honest, I never really use flash but was inside a sports hall for my sons presentation day. It was low light and I wanted a few pics of the occasion. I got some, but to be honest they are poor. I used my X10 and tried using ISO 1600 wide open but couldn't keep the shutter fast enough to freeze motion. So I popped up the built in flash and took some. It seemed to be that I still got lots of blurred shots with low shutter speeds. I'm guessing as it was trying to use the ambient also. So I increased the flash and reduced shutter speed. This gave me lots of very bright flash photos with little ambient, dark backgrounds.

End result was they were just snaps, so I have a few memories, but can anyone advise how to best approach these types of events? Probably the X10 was the wrong choice due to the built on flash but I am sure if I had half a clue I could have made a much better job.

FYI, I also have a 50D and have just bought a 430exii. Didn't take either as I've not used the flash yet!

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks
Steve

 

[ams99]

My approach with flash is go to Manual mode and then open the aperture as wide as possible. I will then set a shutter speed of around 1/100 sec and take a sample shot with the flash set TTL.

I will then use Flash exposure compensation to reduce / increase the flash on the subject.

To increase the ambient i will increase the ISO first and then look at slowing down the shutter speed if i still need more ambient.

 

[Mani Gill]

I would go with what has just been advised, I was in the same boat as you, had never used flash apart from the pop up, but I now have the 430ex ii and have been using it as bounce and on TTL.

I'm not sure how much it would help but there are ways to diffuse the flash by using a diffuser to get a more natural look.

 

[stevebuk]

Thanks. Must admit I never use manual. Either AV or S. thanks for the advice.
Steve.