DON'T Read This TRIP REPORT If You're a Princess Hater!

[Tinkermom76]

Thank you!

Yes, I made it.

You are very talented!!!

 

[mom2rtk]

You are very talented!!!

Thank you!

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

I did forget to note that I did have my flash set to rear curtain sync.

I did end up with my aperture set at 5.0, but don't remember why. I might have even put it on program mode and the camera decided!

It makes a little sense to me. How's that for wishy washy???

I guess my big question has to do with the difference between fill flash and regular flash. Can you explain how you select when it's just using fill flash? I'm thinking maybe it has to do with whether you are in aperture priority, shutter priority or auto or program modes??????

I'm thinking next time I'm at CRT or one of the other restaurants without a lot of natural light, I might go shutter priority and dial it down to 1/30 and try that (keeping it on rear curtain sync). My biggest frustration is having the subject brightly lit sometimes, which the background is too dark.

For the most part reg flash and fill flash are really the same thing...
The fill term is just used when your subject has a bright background and so when you take a photo without flash they are dark, so you use the flash to FILL in where the light is not hitting. It is hard to give advice on flash since I never use my flash manually I always have it on TTL. So basically it does all the thinking for me. When I just want to fill a subject I have the flash power reduced. many times at indoor events I will do this as well so the subjects, like you said don't get blown out. I say practice different settings and find your happy place, so that way you will have a base point to work from then in all indoor settings for they will all be pretty close to those settings, just a few tweaks here and there.

hmm.. hope that helps (probably not) I suck at explaining things in writing

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I'm certainly not sure of what the right approach is. But I'm not sure I'd go much higher than 800 if you don't have to. I used to set mine at 1600 in these restaurants, but have been really unhappy with the noise. I will say that even at 800, I was really surprised by just how much noise there was in the shots straight out of the camera.

Best rule of thumb is to use the lowest ISO possible. If you can get a lot of light (via flash or window light) you could likely get away with 500/640.

keep in mind the aperture setting is how you expose the flash, I use an external flash at have it set on TTL, with the shutter at f.4.5-5.4

Pretty much exactly what I do too.

The shutter speed is how you expose for the background, I usually have it set at 1/30, maybe lower if it is really dark.

Reminder that distance to the subject and your f/stop control the amount of light on your subject.

--------

Dialing down the shutter speed will only help a bit. In theory (in a perfect world as one Rand Molnar would always say...), the subject will be "frozen" on the image by the flash. Any extra time (longer than the duration of the speed the light actually travels) will pick up any remaining ambient light. BUT you run the risk of having a blurry backdrop or extreme color shifts between the color temperature of the flash and the color temperature of the ambient light. You have to find a happy balance in between.

I did forget to note that I did have my flash set to rear curtain sync.

Rear curtain sync causes the flash to go off at the END of the exposure, exposing the frame for the ambient first.

Now, this is all good and fine unless you have a quick-moving subject. You could easily lose your fine focus point using rear curtain.

I guess my big question has to do with the difference between fill flash and regular flash. Can you explain how you select when it's just using fill flash? I'm thinking maybe it has to do with whether you are in aperture priority, shutter priority or auto or program modes??????

Like E said, the fill part is just that... it's filling in the parts that aren't lit enough.

For example, you want to take a picture of Katie on the beach with a GORGEOUS sunset behind her. If you were just to put the camera into auto mode, the camera would expose for the bright sky and sun behind her, leaving her completely in the dark (a silhouette). To properly expose for Katie, you would expose the camera for a stop below the correct exposure for the sun and sky, and then use a flash to "fill in" the proper exposure on her face.

Does that make sense?

"Regular" flash is used when the sole purpose of the flash is to illuminate your scene. For example, photographing a wedding reception. Usually the lights are low, there are candles, but you have to take pictures of the bride and groom. The flash becomes the sole provider of light, making it the "regular" flash.

The distance and f/stop rule still applies here, and sometimes you can create some crazy motion in your image if you dial your shutter speed down, but overall, shutter speed has little to no bearing on the actual flash light on your main subject.

I'm thinking next time I'm at CRT or one of the other restaurants without a lot of natural light, I might go shutter priority and dial it down to 1/30 and try that (keeping it on rear curtain sync).

Shutter priority will only help you for sports. You should use shutter priority when you know you need to shoot at a certain speed to attain the look that you want. That will allow the camera to adjust the f/stop when you have to jump from light to shadow and back (like shooting baseball). I have to keep my camera set on a minimum of 1/1000 for high school baseball, otherwise, I don't catch any balls on film (stifles giggle like I'm a middle-schooler...). The same approach goes for aperature priority. You only really need to use it when you know you need to have your camera set for a certain look.

My biggest frustration is having the subject brightly lit sometimes, which the background is too dark.

It can get really tough. Sometimes, I try to bounce my flash off the ceiling, but if it's a dark ceiling, you are S.O.L. (shooter outta luck...). You can dial down your shutter speed, but be careful going too low or you'll blur your image from camera shake. I wouldn't push it much lower than 1/15.

 

[mom2rtk]

For the most part reg flash and fill flash are really the same thing...
The fill term is just used when your subject has a bright background and so when you take a photo without flash they are dark, so you use the flash to FILL in where the light is not hitting. It is hard to give advice on flash since I never use my flash manually I always have it on TTL. So basically it does all the thinking for me. When I just want to fill a subject I have the flash power reduced. many times at indoor events I will do this as well so the subjects, like you said don't get blown out. I say practice different settings and find your happy place, so that way you will have a base point to work from then in all indoor settings for they will all be pretty close to those settings, just a few tweaks here and there.

hmm.. hope that helps (probably not) I suck at explaining things in writing

Thanks! Actually that all does make sense. Mine is always set to TTL as well. I'm sure manual would REALLY make my head work. I'll keep plugging along and looking for my "happy place". I think that's really been my problem....... I'm getting settled with a "happy place" for non-flash stuff, but this is just new territory for me on anything other than auto or program.

 

[Orbitron]

Fantastic trip report, I really enjoy it! We have never been to Disney World, but we are planning to go in September. Even though I'm a guy, I love the Disney princesses and all the other characters, it is amazing how many of them you met on your vacation. The dresses you have made are awesome, love them all! How many suitcases did you bring to fit in all of the outfits? I'm looking forward to reading more!

 

[jenseib]

Best rule of thumb is to use the lowest ISO possible. If you can get a lot of light (via flash or window light) you could likely get away with 500/640.


Pretty much exactly what I do too.


Reminder that distance to the subject and your f/stop control the amount of light on your subject.

--------

Dialing down the shutter speed will only help a bit. In theory (in a perfect world as one Rand Molnar would always say...), the subject will be "frozen" on the image by the flash. Any extra time (longer than the duration of the speed the light actually travels) will pick up any remaining ambient light. BUT you run the risk of having a blurry backdrop or extreme color shifts between the color temperature of the flash and the color temperature of the ambient light. You have to find a happy balance in between.


Rear curtain sync causes the flash to go off at the END of the exposure, exposing the frame for the ambient first.

Now, this is all good and fine unless you have a quick-moving subject. You could easily lose your fine focus point using rear curtain.


Like E said, the fill part is just that... it's filling in the parts that aren't lit enough.

For example, you want to take a picture of Katie on the beach with a GORGEOUS sunset behind her. If you were just to put the camera into auto mode, the camera would expose for the bright sky and sun behind her, leaving her completely in the dark (a silhouette). To properly expose for Katie, you would expose the camera for a stop below the correct exposure for the sun and sky, and then use a flash to "fill in" the proper exposure on her face.

Does that make sense?

"Regular" flash is used when the sole purpose of the flash is to illuminate your scene. For example, photographing a wedding reception. Usually the lights are low, there are candles, but you have to take pictures of the bride and groom. The flash becomes the sole provider of light, making it the "regular" flash.



It can get really tough. Sometimes, I try to bounce my flash off the ceiling, but if it's a dark ceiling, you are S.O.L. (shooter outta luck...). You can dial down your shutter speed, but be careful going too low or you'll blur your image from camera shake. I wouldn't push it much lower than 1/15.

Ok. I have a question about the external flash. I must first say that I swear I have alzheimers (sp?) I seem to be having a heck of a time retaining info anymore.
Anyways, when using the external, how do you take a verticle shot? I don't have one of those fancy arm things to move the flash around. Is that basically the only way to get a good shot with out makeing it bright on one side and shadowy on the other?

I have lost so much info ove the last two years. I used to kind of know my stuff to some degree, now I feel like I am clueless anymore.

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Ok. I have a question about the external flash. I must first say that I swear I have alzheimers (sp?) I seem to be having a heck of a time retaining info anymore.
Anyways, when using the external, how do you take a verticle shot? I don't have one of those fancy arm things to move the flash around. Is that basically the only way to get a good shot with out makeing it bright on one side and shadowy on the other?

I have lost so much info ove the last two years. I used to kind of know my stuff to some degree, now I feel like I am clueless anymore.

Ah excellant question, all you have to do it turn the camera normally It will work exactly the same

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Ok. I have a question about the external flash. I must first say that I swear I have alzheimers (sp?) I seem to be having a heck of a time retaining info anymore.
Anyways, when using the external, how do you take a verticle shot? I don't have one of those fancy arm things to move the flash around. Is that basically the only way to get a good shot with out makeing it bright on one side and shadowy on the other?

It's not very easy. There is no real way to prevent such a hard force of light on vertical shots.

I try to bounce light when I can, especially on the verticals (you should be able to turn the head of your flash upward and on an angle) but if I can't bounce the light, I still angle the flash toward the ceiling slightly to knock down some of the intensity. You may have to adjust your exposure slightly, but it can help at times.

Another thing I could suggest is using some type of diffusing material over the flash. If you don't have a cap (that sometimes come with your flash), a piece of printer paper or even kleenex over the flash can help reduce in the intensity in a pinch.

They do make these little contraptions that you velcro around the head of the flash to bend or bounce the light around too, but they are a PITA to get used to. I'm trying to find a link to show you what it is but being that I don't know the exact name, this could take a while...

Found it... I've seen variations of this exact same thing, but here it is.

 

[jenseib]

Ah excellant question, all you have to do it turn the camera normally It will work exactly the same

I'm sorry, that doesn't make sense?

 

[jenseib]

It's not very easy. There is no real way to prevent such a hard force of light on vertical shots.

I try to bounce light when I can, especially on the verticals (you should be able to turn the head of your flash upward and on an angle) but if I can't bounce the light, I still angle the flash toward the ceiling slightly to knock down some of the intensity. You may have to adjust your exposure slightly, but it can help at times.

Another thing I could suggest is using some type of diffusing material over the flash. If you don't have a cap (that sometimes come with your flash), a piece of printer paper or even kleenex over the flash can help reduce in the intensity in a pinch.

They do make these little contraptions that you velcro around the head of the flash to bend or bounce the light around too, but they are a PITA to get used to. I'm trying to find a link to show you what it is but being that I don't know the exact name, this could take a while...

Found it... I've seen variations of this exact same thing, but here it is.

I should get a difuser. I do twist my flash around, but it just never seems to work right in real life. At home I can bounce it off anything, anytime I put a subject in it seems to have a mind of its own.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

Happy Easter!

 

[jenseib]

Happy Easter Janet!!

 

[mom2rtk]

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Janet!!

Thanks Amy and Jen!

Happy Easter everyone!

 

[mom2rtk]

Fantastic trip report, I really enjoy it! We have never been to Disney World, but we are planning to go in September. Even though I'm a guy, I love the Disney princesses and all the other characters, it is amazing how many of them you met on your vacation. The dresses you have made are awesome, love them all! How many suitcases did you bring to fit in all of the outfits? I'm looking forward to reading more!

First....... you need an official

September at Disney is great. It might be one of the true slow times left at Disney! My daughter and I have loved hunting characters for a long time. I hope you find some too!

We each brought our limit of free baggage on Southwest, 2 suitcases each.

Hopefully life will slow down a little this week and I can update again!

 

[mom2rtk]

Hey guys! Sorry I've been sort of MIA this week. It was crazy with track, my oldest turning 18 and now Easter. I'm hoping for a more routing sort of week this week......

Best rule of thumb is to use the lowest ISO possible. If you can get a lot of light (via flash or window light) you could likely get away with 500/640.

Well, mine only goes from 400 to 800, so I'm guessing 800 is probably the lowest I should go?


Pretty much exactly what I do too.


Reminder that distance to the subject and your f/stop control the amount of light on your subject.

--------

Dialing down the shutter speed will only help a bit. In theory (in a perfect world as one Rand Molnar would always say...), the subject will be "frozen" on the image by the flash. Any extra time (longer than the duration of the speed the light actually travels) will pick up any remaining ambient light. BUT you run the risk of having a blurry backdrop or extreme color shifts between the color temperature of the flash and the color temperature of the ambient light. You have to find a happy balance in between.


Rear curtain sync causes the flash to go off at the END of the exposure, exposing the frame for the ambient first.

Now, this is all good and fine unless you have a quick-moving subject. You could easily lose your fine focus point using rear curtain.

But for a situation like photos with a character at a meal, would you use rear curtain? Or do you just save this for special situations, like pictures in front of a Christmas tree or something?


Like E said, the fill part is just that... it's filling in the parts that aren't lit enough.

For example, you want to take a picture of Katie on the beach with a GORGEOUS sunset behind her. If you were just to put the camera into auto mode, the camera would expose for the bright sky and sun behind her, leaving her completely in the dark (a silhouette). To properly expose for Katie, you would expose the camera for a stop below the correct exposure for the sun and sky, and then use a flash to "fill in" the proper exposure on her face.

Does that make sense?

Well, I can make sense of it sitting here reading through it. But I get all flummoxed when I'm actually trying to decide settings in real time. So sometimes I still just throw it in program mode and dial the flash down a bit.

"Regular" flash is used when the sole purpose of the flash is to illuminate your scene. For example, photographing a wedding reception. Usually the lights are low, there are candles, but you have to take pictures of the bride and groom. The flash becomes the sole provider of light, making it the "regular" flash.

The distance and f/stop rule still applies here, and sometimes you can create some crazy motion in your image if you dial your shutter speed down, but overall, shutter speed has little to no bearing on the actual flash light on your main subject.


Shutter priority will only help you for sports. You should use shutter priority when you know you need to shoot at a certain speed to attain the look that you want. That will allow the camera to adjust the f/stop when you have to jump from light to shadow and back (like shooting baseball). I have to keep my camera set on a minimum of 1/1000 for high school baseball, otherwise, I don't catch any balls on film (stifles giggle like I'm a middle-schooler...). The same approach goes for aperature priority. You only really need to use it when you know you need to have your camera set for a certain look.


It can get really tough. Sometimes, I try to bounce my flash off the ceiling, but if it's a dark ceiling, you are S.O.L. (shooter outta luck...). You can dial down your shutter speed, but be careful going too low or you'll blur your image from camera shake. I wouldn't push it much lower than 1/15.

I try to bounce light when I can, especially on the verticals (you should be able to turn the head of your flash upward and on an angle) but if I can't bounce the light, I still angle the flash toward the ceiling slightly to knock down some of the intensity. You may have to adjust your exposure slightly, but it can help at times.

So let's use CRT as an example. There's a really high oddly shaped ceiling. Would you just use your flash directed square at the subject?

1900 PF is different. I think there's a fairly uniform ceiling, but I'm not certain of that. If it is, would you do your character shots bouncing the flash off the ceiling?

Another thing I could suggest is using some type of diffusing material over the flash. If you don't have a cap (that sometimes come with your flash), a piece of printer paper or even kleenex over the flash can help reduce in the intensity in a pinch.

They do make these little contraptions that you velcro around the head of the flash to bend or bounce the light around too, but they are a PITA to get used to. I'm trying to find a link to show you what it is but being that I don't know the exact name, this could take a while...

Found it... I've seen variations of this exact same thing, but here it is.

I've seen a number of photographers with what looks like a notecard strapped to the flash just pointed up. Will that do enough to bounce the flash toward people out in front of you?

Thank you so much for patiently answering all my tons of questions!

If you get a chance, could you pick a couple of flash scenarios and walk me through your decision making process (in terms of camera settings and flash usage)?

I should get a difuser. I do twist my flash around, but it just never seems to work right in real life. At home I can bounce it off anything, anytime I put a subject in it seems to have a mind of its own.

Jen, can you remind us which flash you have?

 

[Orbitron]

First....... you need an official

Thanks a lot, that is very nice of you!

September at Disney is great. It might be one of the true slow times left at Disney! My daughter and I have loved hunting characters for a long time. I hope you find some too!

I hope so too! I would love to meet a lot of characters!

We each brought our limit of free baggage on Southwest, 2 suitcases each.

Well, that explains everything!

Hopefully life will slow down a little this week and I can update again!

I can't wait for the trip report to be continued!

 

[jenseib]

I'll have to go look what I have. I can't for the life remember. I think it might be one step up from the bottom when I bought it. I want to say 430 ex or something along that, but I'll have to look

 

[jenseib]

I have to add that I shot all my Easter shots in Raw today. Now to see what I can do with them. I have to admit most were not taken with much care or thought though.

 

[JessicaFaye508]

I just found your TR tonight and I read the whole entire thing I can't wait for more updates!

I can't believe you make all of those dresses. Oh my Goodness they are so legitimate. That really is fantastic!

Also, you are an EXCELLENT photographer! The pictures of all of the parades and fireworks are phenomenal. WOW!