Lighting for Beginners

[lizaroth]

Have had my Nikon D60 for about 4 months now and am still very much a beginner. It came with the standard 18-55mm kit lens and I also purchased a 50mm f/1.4G lens. I mostly take pics of my 10 month old daughter.

I just got the 18-200mm lens as a x-mas gift and am getting this half moon shadow at the bottom of some of my pics. I'm told by our local camera store that this is because the built-in flash causes some reflection against the longer lens... hence, the unattractive shadow.

Questions:

- How can I minimize this without having to buy a separate flash?
- If I should buy a separate flash, what is a good starter lens for the type of pics I take (again, mostly of my daugher, both indoor/outdoor)? Also, what is a diffuser and do I also need that?

Thanks!

[i speak in math]

If you don't want to buy a flash, use the 50mm and crank the ISO. You should be able to get natural light shots pretty easy at f/1.4 and ISO 1600.

Yes, one problem with larger lenses (or sometimes smaller lenses with the hood on) is that the onboard flash hits the top of the lens and casts a shadow below the camera. If you focal length is wide enough, you get a crappy shadow across the bottom of the picture.

An external flash is an option if the pictures are worth the price (Its your child, if you can afford it, they're worth it). I'm not familier with Nikon flashes but I'm sure you could do a quick search and find a mid-range one. Plug it onto the hotshoe and bounce off the ceiling. This lights up the whole room as well as makes the ceiling into a giant soft light source. Here are some shots from my family christmas party where I set up a bounced flash in the room (using some radio triggers) and took some pictures.

A diffuser, like these basically just redistributes the light from the flash so you don't have one nasty hot spot, but instead, light coming from around the room. I don't have one but have thought about it for indoor stuff. I don't know if its worth it compared to just bouncing.