Just reading Digital SLR for Dummies, and this has confused me a little.

I understand that half pressing the button focuses the image and by holding the button keeps this focus setting that you can readjust the picture layout. But just got me thinking about metering and how the camera catches this in relation to the focusing.

e.g. like if you point the camera at the sky, do you press the button for a meter reading, then move camera down to trees and focus, but will that not change the meter reading?

:confused::confused:

Metering occurs with the shutter unless you use the lock metering button. Only focus should lock with the half press?

Edit: Unless you're in evaluative metering mode I think?

Scuff’s your man for this one, but I have used exposure lock before. If you were using say spot exposure and did your ‘half press shutter button’ you could zoom in on something and expose the important bit, zoom out and if you have the * button pressed at the time of the’ half pressed shutter button’ it will remember the exposure setting. So you can get the important bit correctly exposed and the surround will be forced either high of low in terms of exposure.

I have played about with it when there is a strong backlight and I didn’t want to use a flash. I exposed for a face and took the picture with that in mind. The background was a bit burnt our however, but the bit I wanted looked fine. The Pros will have a better use for it no doubt, but it is useful and if you really get into photography in a big way I bet it is invaluable sometimes.

Just reading Digital SLR for Dummies, and this has confused me a little.

I understand that half pressing the button focuses the image and by holding the button keeps this focus setting that you can readjust the picture layout. But just got me thinking about metering and how the camera catches this in relation to the focusing.

e.g. like if you point the camera at the sky, do you press the button for a meter reading, then move camera down to trees and focus, but will that not change the meter reading?

:confused::confused:

It depends on the camera, but generally the exposure will alter as you move the camera about. But, as the others have mentioned, you will probably have an exposure lock button. Use this by pointing the lens to the area/lighting that you wish to lock. Press the button. Recompose and then take the shot.

This is important enough that I generally have my camera set up so that the exposure will lock on half press of the shutter button, my focusing is done with a different button. Thus I am able to separate and control the focus and exposure as I want, not what the camera wants.

Of course this varies depending on what I am shooting. I have many sets of settings that I can load off of the memory card to configure the whole of the camera to my subject. ie: dumbo mode, which turns it into a point and shoot. Airshow mode - Manual exp, and specific A/F settings that I use. Birds in flight , studio, wildlife etc etc. Saves me loads of time setting up the camera and remembering the specific settings - that suit my way of shooting different subjects. Clevver innit!!!

It depends on the camera, but generally the exposure will alter as you move the camera about. But, as the others have mentioned, you will probably have an exposure lock button. Use this by pointing the lens to the area/lighting that you wish to lock. Press the button. Recompose and then take the shot.

This is important enough that I generally have my camera set up so that the exposure will lock on half press of the shutter button, my focusing is done with a different button. Thus I am able to separate and control the focus and exposure as I want, not what the camera wants.

Of course this varies depending on what I am shooting. I have many sets of settings that I can load off of the memory card to configure the whole of the camera to my subject. ie: dumbo mode, which turns it into a point and shoot. Airshow mode - Manual exp, and specific A/F settings that I use. Birds in flight , studio, wildlife etc etc. Saves me loads of time setting up the camera and remembering the specific settings - that suit my way of shooting different subjects. Clevver innit!!!

I knew you would be along eventually:D. One day I will get to grips with all this stuff. I fancy a light meter……………if only I knew what to do with it:D

I knew you would be along eventually:D. One day I will get to grips with all this stuff. I fancy a light meter……………if only I knew what to do with it:D

Ahhh grasshopper - point it at the light.

You can steal mine when you nick my 500mm - a sekonic 758D

Ahhh grasshopper - point it at the light.

You can steal mine when you nick my 500mm - a sekonic 758D

I think you will find that it is my 500mm that I am continuing to let you borrow.

Spent an afternoon running round the house like a loon playing with my flash today. still can't get to grips with it quickly enough. I've got an Omni-bounce which apart from blinding everyone I am not sure if I like the results. also have tried firing the flash backwards (my rooms are mainly white or light in colour)

and the effect is great, the problem is all the clever TTL magic doesn’t work (it also looks horrible straight on anyway), so I put the flash into manual and fiddled about with flash exposure if I need more light, or shutting the flash output down if the Ceiling was a bit too low for instance. I found that if I set an imaginary shutter speed or aperture for my virtual shots of a christening type thing, I had to play with the flash settings and ISO settings to get the overall exposure I wanted. Is there an easier way to do all this (Funnily enough I don’t have a light meter anyway and wouldn’t know how to interpret it in any case) or is it down to experience and judgment. It does seem that once in a room and firing the flash of an indirect surface that is constant in it’s angle and distance to the subject, once I have a settings that work, the whole thing is a bit more stable and I can get constant results. But I don’t think I have ever seen a proper snapper shooting like a loon till he/she finds the balance that works for the occasion. Am I being a bit thick???

On a positive note as I am to be a Godmother at the forthcoming christening, I won’t have to take any pictures if I don’t want and there will be a semi-pro there (friend of the family). Sadly he is a grumpy sod who won’t tell me anything.

Sorry to hijack the thread a little and sorry to burden you again Graham. Don’t feel you have to answer.

I use 2 580ex's if I have a large area to light.

But one works just fine pointing at a ceiling or behind - ETTL still works.

Try to imagine that the flash will compliment existing light - not be the sole source.

SO experiment with getting the ambient light about right, maybe just a little under exposed. Stick the flash on and point it at the ceiling. You may have a slow shutter speed, but open the lens up (another reason for wide aperture lenses). The ETTL mode should take care of the rest.

One thing to watch with the Canon units on ETTL, is that they are VERY susceptible to a bright or highly reflective item in the frame - and will under expose at the drop of a hat. Try shooting in manual at 1/60 or so wide open. Whack up the iso if the shutter speeds get below 1/30th. You will probably find that that will give better results.

Ditch any form of light modifier - all a waste of time !!!! They all throw too much light directly onto the subject.

Save some dosh and do this - you will be amazed. ABetterBounceCard.com

I hope that helps.

I use 2 580ex's if I have a large area to light.

But one works just fine pointing at a ceiling or behind - ETTL still works.

Try to imagine that the flash will compliment existing light - not be the sole source.

SO experiment with getting the ambient light about right, maybe just a little under exposed. Stick the flash on and point it at the ceiling. You may have a slow shutter speed, but open the lens up (another reason for wide aperture lenses). The ETTL mode should take care of the rest.

One thing to watch with the Canon units on ETTL, is that they are VERY susceptible to a bright or highly reflective item in the frame - and will under expose at the drop of a hat. Try shooting in manual at 1/60 or so wide open. Whack up the iso if the shutter speeds get below 1/30th. You will probably find that that will give better results.

Ditch any form of light modifier - all a waste of time !!!! They all throw too much light directly onto the subject.

Save some dosh and do this - you will be amazed. ABetterBounceCard.com

I hope that helps.

Thanks Graham:thumbup:. So I am not totally wrong in the fact that I do have to juggle several things in order to get the balanced result I am after. The link you sent me yesterday is amazing. Some of those pictures look like natural light . I imagine the aperture will be a necessity of the shot I require and hopefully I can keep the shutter speed to a reasonable degree. But I didn’t realise the TTL still worked accurately if the flash was pointing up or backwards. Very clever stuff. I was thinking of making sure everything was at least in RAW to help exposure ****-ups. But as I said, I may be on baby holding duties so may not get the chance to play at a ‘proper’ event were the outcome really matters. I will certainly watch the semi-pro (he lectures in media with a special interest in photography) and try to glean some useful tips. Thanks for the link by the way, watching it now. Really interesting stuff and friendly delivery form the chap.

WOW:eek:

Just watched the Glossy paper trick……………incredibly simple and so clever. Can’t wait to start cutting up my photoprint paper. Stunned how clever it all it.

Glad it helps a little.

Remember that when doing fill in flash. The shutter speed controls the background exposure, and the aperture controls the subject exposure.

Here is an interesting example (not an interesting subject).

First without flash....

Then with fill to lift the shadows.

The shutter speed was kept about the same to make sure the sky and background trees were exposed as I wanted. The aperture was varied to give the right exposure to lift the subject shadows.

Just received notification of taking 2nd place in a photo comp.

No flash was used :rofl:

MMmmmm - got to spend £150 prize on tractor bits from vapormatic :eek:

Here's the shot.....

Canon 1DsMkII - Canon 300mm f2.8Lis 1/400sec @ F4 - 100 iso

Sorry Gaff, seemed to have nicked your thread. Hope you get the info you need from it.

Thanks for letting me hijack your thread Gaff and Graham…………….

……………I hate you………………but in a good way:D

Well done on the prize, the picture looks great. as always:rolleyes:

How often do you take a flash shot that doesn’t work compared to a natural light shot. It seems so much harder to make a picture look exposed nicely and not lit by a flash.

Thanks for letting me hijack your thread Gaff and Graham…………….

……………I hate you………………but in a good way:D

Well done on the prize, the picture looks great. as always:rolleyes:

How often do you take a flash shot that doesn’t work compared to a natural light shot. It seems so much harder to make a picture look exposed nicely and not lit by a flash.

The ones you have to get without time to be more careful have been known to look garish, but in those cases, getting the shot is more important than the tecnical side. I will often 'grab' a shot to guarantee getting it, instead of faffing around and missing it. If time and circumstances permit, I will then take more time and get it righterer(!)

I mostly use it for fill in outside, the easiest way, is to use your flash exposure compensation and under expose your flash by a stop or 2 (experiment here). Use aprerture priority and let the flash and camera work it out. (this doesn't work indoors or in low light as you tend to get a long exposure with aperture priority).

Just received notification of taking 2nd place in a photo comp.

No flash was used :rofl:

MMmmmm - got to spend £150 prize on tractor bits from vapormatic :eek:

Here's the shot.....

Canon 1DsMkII - Canon 300mm f2.8Lis 1/400sec @ F4 - 100 iso

Doing a bit of hijacking myself.........

That's a cracking shot, but for me it's the tight cropping that makes it. I wish I could improve my composition skills, as I always have far too much dead space around the subject.

Phil

Personally I don't like the exhausty poley thing sticking out of the frame. It dissects the image too much for me, making the left hand side seem incoherent to the right.

But a) I'm not a pro, I come from an art photography background not a commercial one c) to crop that close you can't avoid it and d) I can't do any better. Therefore I propose that people ignore me.

Hi Mort

Thanks for your observations. They are just as valid as anyone elses.

We all have our own likes and dislikes. So fire away....

Don't get me wrong; I like the shot. But that bit just annoys me. If I have a spare minute or two I may photoshop it out and see if it works better for me or see if it is just my head being strange.

Don't get me wrong; I like the shot. But that bit just annoys me. If I have a spare minute or two I may photoshop it out and see if it works better for me or see if it is just my head being strange.

Have you had a look at the Flash guy in Scuffs above link.

I am currently in the fourth month of my 'resisting buying a 580exII on eBay' phase. Having been, on many occasions, 1 click away from owning one in that time I don't visit flash-photography sites any more. The only flash I have is built into the camera and that never sees any use unless I really need fill-in flash.

Did a quick photochop and I do prefer it without the tube, but not sure if it's just the high contrast or the tangent it creates. But, yeah, still a top shot - just not my cup of cocoa for unexplainable reasons in my brain.

I am currently in the fourth month of my 'resisting buying a 580exII on eBay' phase. Having been, on many occasions, 1 click away from owning one in that time I don't visit flash-photography sites any more. The only flash I have is built into the camera and that never sees any use unless I really need fill-in flash.

Did a quick photochop and I do prefer it without the tube, but not sure if it's just the high contrast or the tangent it creates. But, yeah, still a top shot - just not my cup of cocoa for unexplainable reasons in my brain.

As I said Mort, no problem....

This one has earnt me around £500 in sales last year with the agencies - just think how much I would have made with a proper chimney

You'd top a grand easy. You really must think of these things if you want to make it in the world of Photogrpahy Scuff. It's ok, keep practising and I'm sure you'll get there in the end

Cheers for the advice guys, I think I was under the impression that the 1/2 shutter press locked both and hence my confusion. I have seen the * button exposure lock and the AF (IIRC) button. Messed about with the * one and can see the difference, so that will make it a little clearer in my head.

Of course this varies depending on what I am shooting. I have many sets of settings that I can load off of the memory card to configure the whole of the camera to my subject. ie: dumbo mode, which turns it into a point and shoot. Airshow mode - Manual exp, and specific A/F settings that I use. Birds in flight , studio, wildlife etc etc. Saves me loads of time setting up the camera and remembering the specific settings - that suit my way of shooting different subjects. Clevver innit!!!

You wouldn't happen to have these written out would you? I'd love to see what type of things people change in doing various shoots.

I seen that some can be put on the 40D but the higher end ones seem to have space for more user settings (from looking at the youtube clips posted above).

Thanks for letting me hijack your thread Gaff and Graham…………

No problem I'd done it myself loads of times (only problem I have found with stuff I put up that its a lot harder to refer back to it at a later date due to being in a different topic).

I seen that some can be put on the 40D but the higher end ones seem to have space for more user settings (from looking at the youtube clips posted above).

We only get 3, but they are very easy to set up thankfully.

I started a thread just about Flash photography and wondered if it could be made a sticky in here as I’ve put a couple of useful links from this thread in it and the Planet Neil one has since been added.