I have a canon rebel 2000. I take most, 75%, of my pictures outside. Half are portraits, while half are on the full auto/P setting. I have a 28-105 canon lens. The vast majority of my pictures come out with harsh black shadows on the subject's faces, exactly where I don not want them. I use the "fill flash" with the integrated flash and this still happens. I have read many articles and have attempted to learn E-TTL and TTL and all that stuff. Is there a Canon or other lens that I can just stick on the camera, use portrait or full auto/P setting, and have it work just like my integrated flash? In other words, I am looking for an "idiot" flash, for an idiot, me, that will work without my input and produce a flash to eliminate the shadows.

Please just tell me the flash to buy and if it is idiot proof for me.

thanks so much john

-- john chaconas (jchaco@lsusd.lsumc.edu), April 03, 2002

Answers

>Is there a Canon or other lens that I can just stick on the camera, use portrait or full auto/P setting, and have it work just like my integrated flash?

You mean flash, not lens, presumably.

>Please just tell me the flash to buy and if it is idiot proof for me.

Any external flash which can be used to bounce light from another surface (ie: swivels and tilts) can help minimize shadows. Though you may want to carry some reflectors if you're shooting outside where there are no convenient walls and ceilings off which to bounce the light. External flash units also can be attached to flash brackets, which lowers flash shadows behind a subject.

>I have read many articles and have attempted to learn E-TTL and TTL and all that stuff.

Have you? You say you're using the camera's internal flash - it doesn't support E-TTL at all. I'm being nitpicky, but my point is that flash photography is a difficult subject to master well. Automation promises great results in the brochures, but it can only go so far.

Anyone can turn on an integral flash or slap an external flash on a camera, but the results will probably be harshly lit, as you've found out. If you want well-lit results I'd say drop the flash idea altogether and use available light or else buy an external flash unit capable of tilting and swivelling and spend some time practising.

You sound frustrated, and I can appreciate that, but I don't think there's any magic solution out there that will answer your wishes without some effort on your part.

http://teladesign.com/photo/eos-flash/

-- NK Guy (tela@tela.bc.ca), April 03, 2002.

Hi Guy

My problem is the other way round. I use EOS3 and 420EX. I get pictures which looks like the flash was more. Some times in a group photo people with light flesh tones comes as full white with over flash while people with medium flesh tone come correctly. Why is it so? Is it because of the distance from where I took the photo was so close? Should I keep a minimum distance between the camera and subject to avoid this? I have this question becasue I found in some pictures where in the people who were near to the camera were over exposed by flash and those who were standing away were exposed correctly. Does FE Lock can help me in this case? What happens if I use flash with Stofen Omi bounce pointed directly towards the subject instead of bouncing it as you said in your article?

By the way your article is very good and I have gone through it completely. I took a hard copy of the same and kept in my files for my future reference. Thanks for writing that very valuable article.

-- John (eosquestions@yahoo.com), April 04, 2002.

First, to John Chaconnas: Its usually better to take portraits under softer/better light (open shade, cloudy day, early morning, late afternoon), but if you insist on taking portraits in harsh mid day conditions, fill flash will help soften shadows. The problem you may have is that the tiny pop-up flash and 1/90 sync speed on your Rebel severely limits the effective range of your fill flash in full harsh daylight (certainly no further than 5 feet). A higher powered accessory flash (as discussed on NK Guy’s wonderful web site) would help. Also, turning your subjects around (so their backs face the sun and they are not squinting) and using fill flash may help.

Second, to John _______:With print film, its practically impossible to tell if the flash is overexposing your main subject. With direct flash, subjects closest to the camera will receive more exposure than subjects in the background (If you main subject is 5 feet away, a person 7 feet away would receive 1 stop less light than your main subject and a person 10 feet away would receive 2 stops less light than your main subject.). The simplest solution is to bounce your flash off the ceiling, which should produce relatively even, soft light on all subjects within a normal sized room (12’ x 14’). You don’t need a Stofen, just attach a white index card to the back of your flash with a rubber band and fire away.

For simple people photos using print film, I find that FEL is overkill. Just keep the active focus pt on your (middle tone) main subject and the 420EX should do the rest.

A Stofen pointed directly at your subjects is not much better than straight flash. Bounce flash with a Stofen works real well (so does the white index card),

-- Kenneth Katz (socks@bestweb.net), April 04, 2002.

RE overexposed faces in a group shot with flash:

It is helpful to use spot or partial metering, so that dark clothing does not throw off the exposure. Take the meter reading from a person who's face is a middle tone.

It is also possible that the lab has just produced a lousy print. I took a shot of two women--one very fair, the other very dark--with flash on a sidewalk at night. When the print came back from the lab, the lighter face was completely washed out (I had metered intentionally for the darker face). I had an enlargement made at a pro lab, and the print was beautiful--everything correctly exposed and all details clear.

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), April 04, 2002.

i would suggest never to use auto/P mode with fill-in flash on rebel 2000 since it has very low X-synx.

regarding better exposure with eos 300/rebel 2000, if you have a zoom lens (as in your case)

* zoom to its maximum focal length, * point the focussing points (automatic or manual selection) to the subject of main interest, * press shutter button halfway to focus, * press partial metering (*-button) to lock the exposure, * zoom back to cover the subject as desired, * press the shutter button halfway again (since the subject will be out of focus due to re-zooming) and then fullway to take the picture.

this will ensure that that actual subject of interest is properly exposed. it may not be useful in all situations but can be given a try. the problem with your lens is that the max focal length is just 105mm (or so) which is standard for a portrait. so you need to move closer to the subject to do this i.e. instead of zooming the lens you move closer to the lens to lock the exposure, move back and proceed as above.

apart from N.K.Guy's site you can also find some useful tips here. it is also cited in N.K.Guy's site.

-- sajeev (chack74@yahoo.co.in), April 05, 2002.