Focus and indoor flash

[jrigdon112]

So I want to be able to hand over my DSLR at my son's bday party and throw it on auto because my friend doesn't know much about cameras. Well... I did this and most of the pictures have a focus spot here and focus spot there. How can I just get the whole picture into focus??

Also, I take a lot of pictures inside of my son since it's winter. What's my best option... buying a bounce flash? or is one of those mirror things that go over the on-board flash a good option??

Thanks!

[Elmo]

I would fix the focus point to the center spot only as the "Knows little about cameras" person will most likely put the primary point of interest in the center.

An external flash will give much better results if used indoors as a bounce. It will also work better outdoors if it can be mounted on a bracket to avoid red eye.

As for getting it all in focus you might try Aperture priority setting the f-stop around f:8 and leave the flash on all the time

[EmyB]

In regards to your last question - I have one of those Lightscoop mirror thingamajigs and I love it!! I am planning to eventually save up for a speedlite but this was only 20 bucks and so good to learn about bouncing flash.

[jrigdon112]

Originally Posted by Elmo

I would fix the focus point to the center spot only as the "Knows little about cameras" person will most likely put the primary point of interest in the center.

An external flash will give much better results if used indoors as a bounce. It will also work better outdoors if it can be mounted on a bracket to avoid red eye.

As for getting it all in focus you might try Aperture priority setting the f-stop around f:8 and leave the flash on all the time

Thanks! For the tips. I actually had it set on the middle focus point but a lot of pictures picked up on the presents that were sitting between the photographer and my son. Oh well! There are some good ones but next time I'll have to give her a bit of a lesson on the focusing beforehand. I could also try throwing it on Aperture setting and try the f:8 and flash like you suggested - great idea!

Any suggestions on an external flash for my Canon rebel T3? Seems as though you can get an affordable one that's not any particular brand name but then the Canon one is so much more expensive.

Originally Posted by EmyB

In regards to your last question - I have one of those Lightscoop mirror thingamajigs and I love it!! I am planning to eventually save up for a speedlite but this was only 20 bucks and so good to learn about bouncing flash.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm probably going to order one now, I wanted to know if it actually worked and would be great to use in the mean-time until I can muster up the moola for an external flash!