Photography using flash..

[Lastoadri]

Guys! I got a question. Tell me, how to use flash in a closed place at night?
Look, I got few paintings for my grandpa, and want to take few shots of it. Yet, whenever I try to photo them barely without flash, the pic looks very poor, pale and dark. On the other hand, when I try the flash, a bright circle appears right in the middle :S
I tried decreasing the flash intensity, but no use..

So any suggestions for a nother technique either for dealing with the camera's flash, or placing light somewhere else... etc..

[mdwsta4]

two suggestions

1. use a tripod and set a slow shutter speed
or
2. bounce the flash off the ceiling

[Saralonde]

What kind of camera and flash are you using?

[Lastoadri]

What kind of camera and flash are you using?


I have "point and shoot" camera "Casio Exilim ex-z120 (http://www.exilim.com/intl/ex_z110_z120/)" with a built in flash.

[Saralonde]

I'm not familiar with your camera, but it doesn't seem you can change your flash to bounce off the ceiling. Definitely use a tripod and if you can change the shutter speed, slow it down as mdwsta4 swuggested. If you can change the ISO, set it at a higher number to compensate for the lack of light. Can you move the paintings to a place with more light? Can you bring more light into the area with lamps and such? Maybe someone else has ideas. Perhaps if you posted a sample shot someone could help.

[Nicole]

Guys! I got a question. Tell me, how to use flash in a closed place at night?
Look, I got few paintings for my grandpa, and want to take few shots of it. Yet, whenever I try to photo them barely without flash, the pic looks very poor, pale and dark. On the other hand, when I try the flash, a bright circle appears right in the middle :S

two suggestions

1. use a tripod and set a slow shutter speed


Considering you're taking pictures of paintings and not people in this situation, I'd definitely say use a tripod and no flash in as bright a room as is possible. Also, use your camera's timer function so that you're not shaking the camera when you press the button.

One caution though is you may still need to adjust the colours afterwards because the lights will cause the colours to change (e.g. have an orange cast, etc). Don't know if your camera has white balance settings, but if it has these settings, try different ones to see which capture the most realistic colours in the light that you're using.

[smc1377]

Lastoadri,

You are not going to believe this!!!

Out of all the cameras out there, I was hoping that you'd say that you had a Casio Exilim. Believe it or not, your Casio has a mode that is specifically designed to take the exact kind of pictures that you are having trouble with!

In your BEST SHOT modes, there is one called "White Board, Etc." When you take a picture in this mode, the camera will attempt to find all the rectangular lines in the picture. What it's doing is trying to recognize the borders of your picture. If there are multiple rectangles, press the right or left button until you have the frame selected. Then press the "ok" button, or whatever it's called.

Now let me explain the logic behind this mode. This mode was implemented by Casio because they realize that when you are at a museum, you are rarely ever directly in front of the painting, nor are you level with the painting. This mode will take a skewed picture and stretch, rotate and twist a picture so that it looks like you were standing directly in front of the picture.

So what you'll have to turn the flash on (the flash is set to off by default since museums don't allow flash photography). Then instead of standing directly in front of the painting, move to the side so that when you take a picture of the painting, the flash won't reflect back at you, nor will you get a flare on the painting. Then once the picture is taken, the camera will find the borders of the frame and then stretch it accordingly to make the picture appear as if you took the picture from directly in front of it.

[Nicole]

In your BEST SHOT modes, there is one called "White Board, Etc." When you take a picture in this mode, the camera will attempt to find all the rectangular lines in the picture. What it's doing is trying to recognize the borders of your picture. If there are multiple rectangles, press the right or left button until you have the frame selected. Then press the "ok" button, or whatever it's called.


Now let me explain the logic behind this mode. This mode was implemented by Casio because they realize that when you are at a museum, you are rarely ever directly in front of the painting, nor are you level with the painting. This mode will take a skewed picture and stretch, rotate and twist a picture so that it looks like you were standing directly in front of the picture.


That is a cool feature :) Does it make breakfast too? ;)

[smc1377]

That is a cool feature :) Does it make breakfast too? ;)

I wish it did. Haha, cause I'm hungry!

Anyhow, I was going to take pictures of my Casio Exilim EX-Z50 in action, but I realized I left it at work sitting on my desk. So no pictures to show. If people are interested, I could do it tomorrow if I remember to bring that particular camera home. (I carry between 1-3 cameras with me almost all the time.)

**EDIT**
As a point and shoot, I absolutely love the Exilim camera line. Once I show people, amateurs and semi-pros alike, how neat these cameras are, they yearn for one for themselves. I've sold at least 10 of my family/friends on these cameras and they all love them. And the other family/friends that don't buy them, are always borrowing one of my two Exilim cameras.

[Lastoadri]

@ SMC1377 !
That's AMAZING! I've tried the "White Board, Etc." feature now on a dummy board, and yes, the photo was as if i am directly looking at it...
Now one can use flash soo easily, it won't mark this irritating bright spot...
You made me LOVE my camera even more.... Big thank you..
I'll try to upload my grandpa's paintings once I got them photographed, hopefully.

thanks mdwsta4 & Saralonde for the advices..

And Nicole, The timming thing is awsome too! I always turn mad from the camera shake as I press the shutter, and never thought of adjusting the timer before.. so thank You for the tip :)

[smc1377]

I'm glad you could understand what I wrote above. I wrote that while watching TV so my mind wasn't completely focused on what I was writing. I'm glad I could be of some help. Isn't it amazing that the camera does this for you? Post a picture once you have it.