50mm and flash

[Dave_s]

I have a question regarding indoor shooting.
I bought a 50mm f/1.8 lens and it does great in low light.
But how do you take photos with the flash in close proximity under extremely low light?
I mean, it's 50mm so you have to be pretty close to the subject to fill the frame.
But in doing so, the flash totally blows out the whole picture.
So, how do you take close picture indoor with flash?
I have a white dog and when I photograph him within 4' it totally turns out white. And I know it's not the shutter speed, it's the flash being too close.
Thanks,
Dave

[inkista]

Is this an external flash unit? Or the pop-up one?

The pop-up one shouldn't be doing that, since it's using e-TTL and metering on the pre-flash. Unless you've got the FEC (flash exposure compensation) set to +2EV or something (check your camera-2 menu, it's the second option down, underneath AEB).

If it's an external flash unit, how are you controlling the power?

[Dave_s]

It's the built in popup flash on the Eos XTi. And it's set normal, right in the center.
Thanks

[inkista]

Ok, then try dialing it down to -2EV, and seeing if that works for you. Otherwise, the only other way I can think of to cut the power down is to stick neutral density gels over the pop-up.

I'd also make sure that you're not overexposing the ambient. Take a picture without the flash, but using the same iso/aperture/shutter speed. It should be dark or black. If it's also overexposed, then you want to adjust those setting first, before adding flash.

[nobbies]

I had this happen to me the other week also when using this lens, I found that by dialling the power down on my flash gun this achieved the result I wanted

[inkista]

Ah. Sussed the problem. It's because the EF 50mm f/1.8 II is so damn old, it doesn't send distance information to the camera for eTTL calculations. (I.e., if you got that close with your kit lens, it wouldn't happen). There's a list of the creaky oldsters that don't do the distance info thing in the EOS flash bible.

[Austin_HXC]

And plus, while using that f/1.8 aperture, there's a ton of light coming in -- natural and flash.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by Austin_HXC

And plus, while using that f/1.8 aperture, there's a ton of light coming in -- natural and flash.

exactly,, stop down and it wil be fine..
(i'm presuming you are shooting maunual settings and TTL ?)
its possible at f/1.8 and at a high enough iso./shutterspeed you are letting in too much light..

drop the ISO and Aperture, and you'll see magic happen (those are the only two paramaters that affect flash... totally unrelated to shutterspeed.

as "stupid" said, the TTL pulse from the flash cant fire "low" enough based on your massive aperture and high ISO.

(post an exaple with EXIF)

[inkista]

Canon pop-ups aren't nearly as nice as the Nikon ones--we don't get a choice between manual and eTTL--eTTL is forced upon us. Only the 7D gives you the choice to set the pop-up to manual.

[Chip]

You could soften the power of the flash some, by putting something like a layer or 2 of tissue paper in front of the flash. Looks a bit odd, but if it's just you and the dog, and if the dog doesn't tell, then no one will ever know.