Best settings for inside photography

SacrificeTheory

Senior Member
My nieces were in my house today and I was using the automatic "Child" setting under Scene mode. The problem is, with the lighting inside, the flash kept on wanting to come up. Without the flash, a lot of times the focus would be too blurry because the shutter speed was so low.

If I was to do it in manual mode, what do you think the best settings would be for inside profile shots? or is there really no good setting without a light-box.
 

SacrificeTheory

Senior Member
Here is one decent shot, without flash:

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And these were done with flash, but I hate the shadows, etc. :

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Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
First off, I don't understand why using flash is a problem. ??

​Secondly, there's no such thing as "ideal settings" so you're just going to have to try a some different things. I'd suggest trying "A" or "P" for this, personally, depending on your level of experience and comfort with using Aperture Priority. You don't say what lens you have or what ISO you're trying to shoot at but if light is low you're going to have to either open up the aperture, decrease you shutter speed, use a higher ISO or use flash.

Edit: Sorry, missed your comments between pictures about the flash shadow. Can you bounce your flash or get a diffuser? If you can't buy a diffuser you can use a coffee filter or tissue or toilet paper over the flash. Secure it with rubber bands or something, it doesn't need to be a neat install, it just needs to diffuse the light. That should help a lot with getting rid of the shadows if you can't bounce the flash.
 
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SacrificeTheory

Senior Member
I used the 35mm 1.8G lens.

I'll have to try out the coffee filter over the flash. See if that helps.

To me, without flash, the shadows just look more natural. With the flash, although it makes the image sharper, it just becomes more flat and unnatural.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I don't like using flash either, so yeah... I hear ya. The coffee filter should help a lot. Paper towels are not out of the question either.

​Also, are you using the pop up flash or a hot shoe mounted flash?
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
The pop up flash.

Although I do have a separate flash attachment, but never used it before.
The pop up flash is a little less versatile. If your other flash unit uses Nikon's iTTL this might be the time to try it out. Mount it, turn it on, set your camera to Auto and give it a go. You might find the hot shoe mounted flash has some kind of built in diffuser that would help, or might let you bounce the flash. Bouncing helps a lot but so does a diffuser and you can use the coffee filter trick on a hot-shoe mounted flash just as effectively.

Sounds like you have options, anyway... Good luck!




....
 

WayneF

Senior Member
When your rotate your camera up on end into portrait orientation (vertical), the pop up flash makes the shadow on the side of your subject (like your #2 and #3). Your D7100 has 24 megapixels, which is more than plenty of pixels to waste. So, by keeping the camera horizontal, and then cropping it vertically later, the flash is directly over the lens, which it will generally hide the shadow directly behind the subject, instead of being so prominent at the side of the subject (but you do have to do the cropping step then). Most pictures are helped by cropping anyway. :)

Or, if using an external hot shot flash, you can simply use bounce flash, and achieve much better lighting, less direct glare, and any shadow is diffused and below the subject. Much more pleasing, extremely worthwhile to learn.

As to manual settings, you set some aperture, and the automatic TTL flash reacts to that aperture (and ISO) by automatically setting flash power level to whatever it needs to be (if it has enough power to do it). TTL is automatic flash, even in camera Manual mode. Normally we give consideration to select the aperture to be appropriate for the available flash power. Maybe f/8 for direct flash, maybe f/4 for bounce (but it depends on the distance). The little popup flash is low powered, not always a lot of choice.

The flash could not care less about the shutter speed. Any shutter speed is the same to the flash. Because, the flash is faster than than the shutter speed. The shutter simply has to be open when the flash fires. The room ambient is continuous light however (slower than slow, no motion stopping ability at all), so the background ambient is affected by shutter speed, in the normal way. Indoors, we can often just ignore the weak ambient, because we are using flash.

You would normally use low ISO however. Auto ISO with flash in dim ambient will always use very high ISO (with most current camera models). High ISO helps the little flash, but it is high ISO. You can just turn Auto ISO off with flash, and set ISO to some reasonable low value you desire to use. With high ISO, the ambient is the main light and the flash is weak fill (and ISO is about maximum, as evidenced by the weak side shadows in #2 and #3). With low ISO, the ambient is ignored and the flash is the main light (and the side shadow will be much darker, needing attention). This is speaking of flash indoors. Outside, the sun will determine ISO.

If we use camera A mode, we set the aperture manually (as above, for flash power) and indoors in A mode, the camera normally will set 1/60 second shutter (which the default Minimum Shutter Speed With Flash). Not because 1/60 has any special meaning, but just because we are using flash, and do not need it to be slower. Indoors in auto modes, it likely always is 1/60 second. Outdoors, the sun and ISO will set shutter speed.

If we use camera M mode, we still set the Same aperture whatever we want to use), and so as far as the flash is concerned, there is zero difference in A and M mode. We set the same aperture either way. But in camera M mode, we can also set the shutter speed. The flash does not care at all about shutter speed, but we can set a speed for the ambient.... either fairly fast to keep out the ambient (is often orange under incandescent lights), or slower to allow some of the ambient into the picture. It is our choice in camera M mode.

I refer you my signature link for more, specifically Part 4 there "Flashes Are Double Exposures".
 
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gqtuazon

Gear Head
Invest on a speedlight such as the SB700 or maybe a 3rd party flash such as the yongnuo flash. Not only it saves life on your camera battery, it can also eliminate harsh flash on your kids, minimize shadows if you bounce flash it (point the flash to the ceiling), and provides better exposure to name some of the benefits.

Amazon.com: Yongnuo YN-560 III Speedlight GN58 Flash for Canon and Nikon. Direct compatibility with RF602/RF603 ultra long range 2.4wireless system, bundled with EdisonBright 3-in-1 Keychain Laser Pointer, UV Light & LED Light: Camera & Photo

Get out of Auto mode.

Use M mode, 1/60 - 1/80, f2.8 with your 35mm f1.8G DX lens, ISO 400. Adjust your flash output as necessary.
 

SacrificeTheory

Senior Member
My mom has the Nikon Speedlight SB-800. I guess I can start practicing on that.

Question, should I still use the toilet paper/coffee filter trick on this external light?
 

WayneF

Senior Member
My mom has the Nikon Speedlight SB-800. I guess I can start practicing on that.

Question, should I still use the toilet paper/coffee filter trick on this external light?

You will love the SB-800. Indoors, aim up at white ceiling for bounce at say f/5, with the builtin flash card pulled out. Low ISO. Don't stand too close, 6 or 8 feet. Zoom in if necessary.

Try it (NOT for bounce), but the coffee filter won't help much, the flash head is still small, not enlarged. It will just reduce your flash effective power (and make the flash slightly more reddish, which you might in fact like, for warming). If you could mount a 5 inch coffee filter a few inches in front of the flash, so the flash could illuminate all of it, then that becomes double size, and would help slightly, at close distances. Soft lighting is about Large lights.

Diffusion - is good, because of coming from Large lights (umbrellas, softboxes), which scatter the outer light inward, to hit the subject from different angles. Different angles soften the shadows from all the other angles.

Diffusing a tiny light only has dimension to just scatter it outwards, missing the subject. Soft requires Large.
 
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SacrificeTheory

Senior Member
You will love the SB-800. Indoors, aim up at white ceiling for bounce at say f/5, with the builtin flash card pulled out. Low ISO. Don't stand too close, 6 or 8 feet. Zoom in if necessary.

Try it (NOT for bounce), but the coffee filter won't help much, the flash head is still small, not enlarged. It will just reduce your flash effective power (and make the flash slightly more reddish, which you might in fact like, for warming). If you could mount a 5 inch coffee filter a few inches in front of the flash, so the flash could illuminate all of it, then that becomes double size, and would help slightly, at close distances. Soft lighting is about Large lights.

Diffusion - is good, because of coming from Large lights (umbrellas, softboxes), which scatter the outer light inward, to hit the subject from different angles. Different angles soften the shadows from all the other angles.

Diffusing a tiny light only has dimension to just scatter it outwards, missing the subject. Soft requires Large.

So if I am the light (SB-800) towards the ceiling, you think that will be enough light to give a natural look?
 
So if I am the light (SB-800) towards the ceiling, you think that will be enough light to give a natural look?

Bounce flash is a great way to use flash indoors. If I have a ceiling that is the only way I will shoot. Just take your camera out right now and put the flash on. Shoot the wall opposite of you with the flash pointing directly at it. Not flip the flash up and try it again and look at the difference,
 

WayneF

Senior Member
So if I am the light (SB-800) towards the ceiling, you think that will be enough light to give a natural look?

Well, maybe not ISO 100. Sorry, I said "Low ISO" wrong for bounce. I meant, maybe ISO 400, but specifically meant NOT Auto ISO with an astronomical high limit, not if using flash too. And you don't want the orange incandescent in there anyway. (Some do think TTL BL fill flash into ambient at high ISO is reasonable, but not me - tough White Balance without a CTO filter on the flash). I choose TTL Mode (not TTL BL) indoors, if offered the choice. Some don't offer it though. TTL BL may need up to +1 EV Flash Compensation.

SB-800 TTL and ISO 200 f/5.6 should do a 10 foot ceiling (a normal white ceiling). Depends some how high you are, if standing, or sitting on the floor with the kids may need ISO 400. My normal routine failsafe preference is ISO 400 f/5 for a fast recycle. That is with a f/2.8 lens, which is great at f/5, and the 2.8 lens is the best accessory for bounce, as it is not wide open.

If an 8 foot ceiling, you can drop back a stop, either ISO or aperture, maybe even both, but ISO 400 f/4 probably does up to a 12 foot ceiling (standing, commercial white ceilings). For higher reach, you will need a little more ISO.

Watch the Ready LED. If it takes 2 or 3 seconds with NiMH, you are skating on the edge at maximum power. If it instead blinks three times immediately after the shot, it was limited at maximum power, and the top right corner of flash LCD tells you how much it was underexposed (so you know how much to correct).

The SB-800 manual is at
http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/Speedlights/SB-800.pdf

You need to know page 33 about the Ready LED. All the flash manuals have a page about the Ready LED warnings.

Otherwise, just set TTL, aim it up, pull out the white bounce card (maybe only half way out if it is a bit much), and shoot at ISO 400 f/5.
 
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nikon_mike

New member
Not sure how many are familiar with the results that the Puffer Plus can give. Here are 3 photos demonstrating the difference. BTW, I am in no way affiliated with G Fong or his company. I just like the softer lighting effect it gives. I know some people have used cut plastic milk bottles to provide a similar effect. This device (as you see in the video link above) is easier to place and comes with a small bracket holding the puffer in place.
The subject is my son. Photos taken in our basement (while he played Minecraft on PS4). I have overhead spot halogens above (in the ceiling). They provide crappy lighting in my opinion. I prefer simple incandescent lights. Anyhow we all know basements are lousy for photo taking. These photos are straight shot, no editing, and I was not trying to compose anything special. I used my 50mm f1.8 with AF-C d9 focusing and auto WB +ISO.

Photo 1, camera flash only. Photo 2, camera flash through Puffer Plus. Photo 3, no flash.

DSC_0087.jpgDSC_0088.jpgDSC_0089.jpg

I like Photo 2 best.
 
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