Can I have some help with this shot please?

[EmmaR]

I don't know how to fix what I've done here so I'm hoping you can help me.

My setup:
Doll on white wall (clearly too close to the wall)
430ex speedlight on light stand with shoot through brolly up at camera right, around 45deg angle.
Flash is set on manual, 1/16 -0.3
flash zoom is 80mm
2nd curtain is activated

EXIF:
1/100 ss
f6.3
auto WB
shooting in RAW.

What I don't understand is clearly there is not enough exposure, however the light from the speedlight casts a very strong shadow. Now, the shadow I can deal with with a reflector, but I don't understand what I'm doing wrong with the light settings.

And when I increase the speedlight in power, it just washes it all out.

I understand that there is something quite obvious, but I'm missing.

Any help??

[candleman]

#1 i'd set flash zoom wider.. like 14mm, or as wide as it will go... this will fill the umbrella more and get you more even diffusion. and reduce the shadow a bit. (moving the doll away from the wall is a good start too.. so is the reflector)

#2 shoot in manual mode and (dare i say it) ignore the light meter..
because you're exposing for flash instead of ambient (unless you want to get into blending.. but its best to save that for later)

#3 to adjust the exposure... simply open up on the aperture.. f/6.3 is obviously underexposed.
if you dont like it.. go to f/4 or something... and that will let more light in via the flash

remember: "aperture controls the flash, shutterspeed controlls the ambient"

ok ok .. ISO controls both... but again.. foget that for now
stick to iso100 and 1/100th and figure out how to adjust exposure by "riding" the aperture.. yuo dont even need to get up and go over to the flash.

if you get to "wide open" on the aperture.. and its stil not bright enough.
all you do is bump the flash power up a bit.
thats "roughly" how i work anyhow when thinking about flash only and ignoring the ambient.

#4 dont use auto WB
set your WB to "flash" .....because thats your dominant lightsource (Key light i guess)
the reason being...
if you slow your shutterspeed down to say 1/40th you will start including some orange incandescent light.. meaning the autoWB will read that over your flash... it will select a "cool" setting to combat the incandescent.. then suddenly your flash will look neon blue.
yuk

i use a Kelvinscale setting of 5300-5600K depending on my mood



thats an amatures approach anyhow.

[zona5101]

Candleman, excellent points as always. I'd proceed as he has ennumerated but also want for you to understand that the distance between your light and the subject is another variable. So for example, you "run out" of aperture you can change the power setting on the flash or move the flash. Changing the distance of the light also impacts how the light interacts with the subject (the way the light wraps or doesn't) Recognizing how all those things work together will make setting up the next opportunity that much easier.

[EmmaR]

awesome, thankyou so much for your replies.

I'll give it a try and post the results.

Also, can anyone point me in the right direction to learning more about using flash as fill? I have a large window and I want to get some even light with the sun belting through the window. I can't seem to get the flash power low enough - maybe it's as simple as moving the flash back further...?

[Trader]

You definately have some very good advice on how to improve your next shot. Here is what I would do with the current one:

Load the image into Photoshop and duplicate the layer (Ctrl-J). Apply a Shadows/Highlight adjustment of 50%. Add a Levels Adjustment layer to brighten up the adjusted layer. You could further add a Brightness adjustment but I think that would add a little noise so I quit when the image looked reasonable. Hope that helps.