Either go outside in the daytime (bright overcast for best lighting), or in a room with lots of ambient light so you don't have to use the flash. Try turning the ISO to 200 or 400 and if you have to run the file though a noise reduction program. Make sure if you are indoors to set your camera to tungsten light or florecent light (depending on what you are under - most likely tungsten), Auto White Balance doesn't get it right all the time.
Good Luck
Ken
Either go outside in the daytime (bright overcast for best lighting), or in a room with lots of ambient light so you don't have to use the flash. Try turning the ISO to 200 or 400 and if you have to run the file though a noise reduction program. Make sure if you are indoors to set your camera to tungsten light or florecent light (depending on what you are under - most likely tungsten), Auto White Balance doesn't get it right all the time.
Good Luck
Ken
if you gotta do it indoor then use the flash but back up it avoid a wash-out. you can also cover the flash temporarily with a piece of tissue to diffuse the light - it should look alot better than a bare, direct flash and can also help with refections from pets' eyes. if diffusing the flash blocks out too much light and you cannot increase flash output manually, then it's usually just a matter of getter closer or increasing the ISO. i would steer clear of ISO 400 as it is too noisy.
... you can also cover the flash temporarily with a piece of tissue to diffuse the light ....
A similar thing that worked for me is to bounce the flash using a piece of cardboard. I hold my camera in my right hand and the cardboard in my left, angled in from of the flash. Combining this technique with custom white balance, maximum aperture, and reasonably quick shutter speed, I can actually get good action shots of my pet rats in a very dark room.
The rats won't sit still for long, so I can't just use long exposures to get my shots. If I don't bounce the flash off of the cardboard, it reflects off of the wall behind the cage, the rats' white fur, the rats' toys, and the cage bars yielding a nasty white mess.
A similar thing that worked for me is to bounce the flash using a piece of cardboard. I hold my camera in my right hand and the cardboard in my left, angled in from of the flash. Combining this technique with custom white balance, maximum aperture, and reasonably quick shutter speed, I can actually get good action shots of my pet rats in a very dark room.
A similar thing that worked for me is to bounce the flash using a piece of cardboard. I hold my camera in my right hand and the cardboard in my left, angled in from of the flash. Combining this technique with custom white balance, maximum aperture, and reasonably quick shutter speed, I can actually get good action shots of my pet rats in a very dark room.
The rats won't sit still for long, so I can't just use long exposures to get my shots. If I don't bounce the flash off of the cardboard, it reflects off of the wall behind the cage, the rats' white fur, the rats' toys, and the cage bars yielding a nasty white mess.
The cardboard trick is used when you don't have a real bounce flash. You can use an envelope or business card too.
BTW: the combination that worked for my rat pics was 1/40 and f2.8
i use an external flash for bouncing off a ceiliing or card, but with the kind of flashes attached to most point and shoots (non swiveling external flashes too), how would you keep the flash from firing directly at the subject while bouncing it at the same time? do you have to block the direct flash or reflect it towards the ceiling or card? or are you using an external bounce flash? thanks
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Originally Posted by ktixx
