What should I have done?

[Jarrell Conley]

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

 

[shudderbug2]

Based on my limited experience, I'm not sure the D100 has enough dynamic range to properly expose the hair without losing detail in the shadows.

I'm not sure you could have done a better job at all. Also going from 5.6 to 11 the background might not have looked as pleasing.

I'm sure others that know much more then I do will weigh in.

Keep shooting my friend. I'll have a few "suprises" to post soon.

Kind Regards,

David

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and
I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm
satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy
about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I
believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the
f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the
flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten
the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a
shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

 

[Gavin Cato]

I think what is far more important is to tell that lady to go find a different hairdresser, then worry about blowing out highlights!

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and
I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm
satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy
about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I
believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the
f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the
flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten
the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a
shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

 

[Patrick Love]

Yeah, but if you stil want to control DOF and keep the blurred backgroud (@5.6 or wider). You might try spot metering, or CW metering. The thing that you don't want is overexposures, like your blown highlights (virtually unfixable). So, it you spot metered on the highlights, you MAY have gotten a slight underexposed face (fixable).

One of the easiest things to do is moved to a shaded area when the sun is beaming.

I am still learning myself, so take my comments lightly!

PLL

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and
I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm
satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy
about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I
believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the
f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the
flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten
the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a
shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

 

[digislr]

Its tough to get perfect exposures in situations like this with digital. I think your d100 images you have posted so far have been terrific, keep it up.

Also, gavin, lets leave the rude remarks to the poeple over in the Canon forum..no need for that here. Lets be nice

Steve

One of the easiest things to do is moved to a shaded area when the
sun is beaming.

I am still learning myself, so take my comments lightly!

PLL

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and
I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm
satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy
about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I
believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the
f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the
flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten
the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a
shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

 

[h Shahani]

The Range of a D-100 or any other 6 megapixel DSLR is not as wide a medium format digital or negative film... But we can over come that.

I'll list several ways that I know

1. Shoot the flash manually so that the stop difference between the highlights and shaded areas are closer. Don't forget to stop down on the camera. You will probably underexpose the background slightly.

2. spot meter the highlights and bring back the shadows post-production... the new shadow highlight adjustment in Photoshop CS will do a great job of this. Its also a new feature from Kodak and in Nikon Capture 4.

3. Use transulent material such as a transulent reflector over your subject. This does require an assistant, however, it is the best way to achieve what you are looking for.

Personaly I think the image you shot is very nice and the highlights do not bother me, however, I understand you want to be more in control and I welcome your pursuit of technical mastery.

best of luck

H

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and
I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm
satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy
about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I
believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the
f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the
flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten
the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a
shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

 

[Yves P.]

Exposure compensation -0,7 EV
Flash compensation +0'3 EV

Use the Rear curtain Sync mode in D-TTL with the fill flash (inboard flash I assume).

From there, you will lower the exposure a little bit avoiding some blown out highlights. You can also vary the Exp compensation accordingly. It is quite hard to comment without being there but I would still give it a try.

The blown highlights are not very distracting BTW. It is a very good shot.

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and
I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm
satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy
about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I
believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the
f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the
flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten
the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a
shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

--
Yves P.
PBASE Supporter

Some pictures I like:
http://www.pbase.com/yp8/root

 

[Jarrell Conley]

Based on my limited experience, I'm not sure the D100 has enough
dynamic range to properly expose the hair without losing detail in
the shadows.

I'm not sure you could have done a better job at all. Also going
from 5.6 to 11 the background might not have looked as pleasing.

I'm sure others that know much more then I do will weigh in.

Keep shooting my friend. I'll have a few "suprises" to post soon.

Kind Regards,

David

 

[Henry Goh]

From there, you will lower the exposure a little bit avoiding some
blown out highlights. You can also vary the Exp compensation
accordingly. It is quite hard to comment without being there but I
would still give it a try.

The blown highlights are not very distracting BTW. It is a very
good shot.

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and
I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm
satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy
about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I
believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the
f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the
flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten
the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a
shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

--
Yves P.
PBASE Supporter

Some pictures I like:
http://www.pbase.com/yp8/root

 

[Jarrell Conley]

that very constructive comment.
Jarrell

I think what is far more important is to tell that lady to go find
a different hairdresser, then worry about blowing out highlights!

 

[Jarrell Conley]

The Range of a D-100 or any other 6 megapixel DSLR is not as wide a
medium format digital or negative film... But we can over come that.

I'll list several ways that I know

1. Shoot the flash manually so that the stop difference between the
highlights and shaded areas are closer. Don't forget to stop down
on the camera. You will probably underexpose the background
slightly.

2. spot meter the highlights and bring back the shadows
post-production... the new shadow highlight adjustment in Photoshop
CS will do a great job of this. Its also a new feature from Kodak
and in Nikon Capture 4.

3. Use transulent material such as a transulent reflector over your
subject. This does require an assistant, however, it is the best
way to achieve what you are looking for.

Personaly I think the image you shot is very nice and the
highlights do not bother me, however, I understand you want to be
more in control and I welcome your pursuit of technical mastery.

best of luck

H

 

[Jarrell Conley]

The woman was sitting on a porch so it would've been easy to move her forward a few feet. Problem solved.
Thanks,
Jarrell

Yeah, but if you stil want to control DOF and keep the blurred
backgroud (@5.6 or wider). You might try spot metering, or CW
metering. The thing that you don't want is overexposures, like
your blown highlights (virtually unfixable). So, it you spot
metered on the highlights, you MAY have gotten a slight
underexposed face (fixable).

One of the easiest things to do is moved to a shaded area when the
sun is beaming.

I am still learning myself, so take my comments lightly!

PLL

 

[Regit Young]

This setting is completely new to me (the only fill-in flash setting I know is from Thom's book) .... Can't wait to give this a try

Happy holidays

From there, you will lower the exposure a little bit avoiding some
blown out highlights. You can also vary the Exp compensation
accordingly. It is quite hard to comment without being there but I
would still give it a try.

The blown highlights are not very distracting BTW. It is a very
good shot.

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and
I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm
satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy
about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I
believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the
f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the
flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten
the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a
shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

--
Yves P.
PBASE Supporter

Some pictures I like:
http://www.pbase.com/yp8/root

--
Regit Young, FCAS Member, PBase Supporter
42 species caught, 808 species to go ...
'Seeing and interpreting are entirely personal processes' - Steve Parish
http://www.pbase.com/regit

 

[Jarrell Conley]

Its tough to get perfect exposures in situations like this with
digital. I think your d100 images you have posted so far have been
terrific, keep it up.

Also, gavin, lets leave the rude remarks to the poeple over in the
Canon forum..no need for that here. Lets be nice

Steve

 

[Jarrell Conley]

different flash modes on this camera. Thank you for those tips, I'll try them out!
Jarrell

Exposure compensation -0,7 EV
Flash compensation +0'3 EV
Use the Rear curtain Sync mode in D-TTL with the fill flash
(inboard flash I assume).

From there, you will lower the exposure a little bit avoiding some
blown out highlights. You can also vary the Exp compensation
accordingly. It is quite hard to comment without being there but I
would still give it a try.

The blown highlights are not very distracting BTW. It is a very
good shot.

 

[Jarrell Conley]

working with this camera any little tip is appreciated. I've not used the rear curtain sync mode yet but that's next.
Thank you,
Jarrell

Exposure compensation -0,7 EV
Flash compensation +0'3 EV
Use the Rear curtain Sync mode in D-TTL with the fill flash
(inboard flash I assume).

From there, you will lower the exposure a little bit avoiding some
blown out highlights. You can also vary the Exp compensation
accordingly. It is quite hard to comment without being there but I
would still give it a try.

The blown highlights are not very distracting BTW. It is a very
good shot.

 

[Regit Young]

never use rear sync and don't really know what it is for!!!

BTW, I don't think the highlight is a problem in this pic.

working with this camera any little tip is appreciated. I've not
used the rear curtain sync mode yet but that's next.
Thank you,
Jarrell

--
Regit Young, FCAS Member, PBase Supporter
42 species caught, 808 species to go ...
'Seeing and interpreting are entirely personal processes' - Steve Parish
http://www.pbase.com/regit

 

[Sandra Jackson]

Aren't you being a nasty person! There's no need for a comment like that one. That's extremely shallow of you. For shame...... your comment has nothing to do with photography.
--
Sandi http://www.pbase.com/sjackson
FCAS March Winner
'Too short alive, too long dead - live life!'

 

[Duncan C]

Yves,

I know you're a big fan of rear curtain sync, but what difference would it have made in this situation? Rear curtain sync also enables slow sync, but that wouldn't be an issue here, since the picture is no doubt bumping against the FASTEST sync speed. I don't see how popping the flash at the end of the exposure instead of at the beginning would make a difference however.

Duncan C
---

From there, you will lower the exposure a little bit avoiding some
blown out highlights. You can also vary the Exp compensation
accordingly. It is quite hard to comment without being there but I
would still give it a try.

The blown highlights are not very distracting BTW. It is a very
good shot.

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and
I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm
satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy
about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I
believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the
f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the
flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten
the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a
shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

--
Yves P.
PBASE Supporter

Some pictures I like:
http://www.pbase.com/yp8/root

--
dpreview and PBase supporter.



http://www.pbase.com/duncanc

 

[Regit Young]

A question if you don't mind... say if the ambient light is low and the resulting speed is slow, would rear curtain sync makes a different given that the subject is static? Thank you.

I apologies if I'm missing the obvious.

I know you're a big fan of rear curtain sync, but what difference
would it have made in this situation? Rear curtain sync also
enables slow sync, but that wouldn't be an issue here, since the
picture is no doubt bumping against the FASTEST sync speed. I don't
see how popping the flash at the end of the exposure instead of at
the beginning would make a difference however.

Duncan C
---

From there, you will lower the exposure a little bit avoiding some
blown out highlights. You can also vary the Exp compensation
accordingly. It is quite hard to comment without being there but I
would still give it a try.

The blown highlights are not very distracting BTW. It is a very
good shot.

My one week old D100 seems to have a very good built in flash and
I've been trying to improve my fill flash technique with it. I'm
satisfied with the below photo... somewhat, the part I'm not happy
about is the blown hilites in the hair ...



I was using aperture p mode with the lens at around f/5.6 and I
believe that is where my mistake was, I should've dropped the
f/stop down to f/11 or f/16 to properly expose the hair and let the
flash fill in the shadows properly. Then, I wouldn't have gotten
the background exposed right. But, as always.. I had time for a
shot or two and then my victim had to leave.
Anyway, is my thinking correct on this?
Thanks,
Jarrell

--

My Personal Favorites
http://www.pbase.com/jarrell/personal_favorites&page=1

--
Yves P.
PBASE Supporter

Some pictures I like:
http://www.pbase.com/yp8/root

--
dpreview and PBase supporter.



http://www.pbase.com/duncanc

--
Regit Young, FCAS Member, PBase Supporter
42 species caught, 808 species to go ...
'Seeing and interpreting are entirely personal processes' - Steve Parish
http://www.pbase.com/regit