What am I doing Wrong??

[LynneKovan]

Hi,

I don't claim to be anything but a basic amateur photographer. I do it because I love it. However I am flummoxed by what happens when I try to take an indoor flash with my Nikon D3000. The shot comes out (always) with a half moon shadow at its base. I've tried taking the lens hood off thinking that was bound to be it, but it still happens. I have a Tamron 18-270mm lens, which I use all the time.

Any of you experts out there can shed some light on my problem?

Thanks
Lynne

[Jim Poor]

The lens can cast a shadow just as easily as the lens hood.

Another thing to check is your sync speed, but that should result in a rectangle rather than a half moon.

[Skoropada]

I believe that you where in the right track.

A 18-270 lens is a big lens. The hood causes a shadow but the lens body also.

I believe that this shadow appears when using the on-camera flash and short focal lenghts.

To solve this you should use an external flash, a longer focal lenght or a physically smaller lens.

Hope this helps.

[LynneKovan]

Thanks for that...I knew it must be something simple. Just tried a shot with my Nikon 50mm lens. Guess what? No shadow. So simple when you know the answer!