Need advice

[Canonman47]

Could anyone who feel the urge, please give me some hints as to how this strange shadow in the middle down part of this picture can be corrected using i.e. Photoshop CS2 or any other editing software. It's a mystery how it got htere in the first place also - any possible explanations would be welcomed. I sort of think that the flash have created a shadow from the fingers of the hand that holds the camera? But I'm not certain at all!

[Robert_Lay]

Only you know how you normally hold your camera, but your suggestion that it might be a finger looks plausible. It does look like a shadow from something blocking the flash, not an object blocking the lens field of view.

[Canonman47]

Thank you for your response. Have you any idea as to how it can be corrected? My plan is to buy Photoshop CS2 and this would be a good test case.:p

[Radtech1]

I concur with Bob on this. It looks like a finger in front of the flash. Alternatively, but less likely, it could be lens shadow. From your gear, though, I could not imagine that 17-85 kit lens would cast a shadow from a 430. I assume no lens hood, so a lens shadow is less likely.

Then I thought, "How do you get a finger in front of the 430?!?!" Only then did I see that you list a Powershot S3. I would wager that you used THAT camera for the shot, and not you 30D.

In that case, the correction would be change how you hold the camera. Hold the camera the way you normally would and face a mirror. Look to see where your fingers hit. If it looks as though one is close enough to partially cover the flash, there is the problem. Change that and you wont have any more shadows like this. OR, shoot only with the 30D.

Rad

[Jon, The Elder]

I agree - my wife does this frequently with our little S2.

[Benji]

When you crop out all the excess stuff at the extreme left and right (tables and chairs and the dark wood thing at camera right) very little of the shadow will be left. Vignette the two sides to match the shadow in the middle and it will appear that it should have been there all along! I believe it is a shadow from the lens hood.

Benji

[Robert_Lay]

I concur with Bob on this. It looks like a finger in front of the flash. Alternatively, but less likely, it could be lens shadow. From your gear, though, I could not imagine that 17-85 kit lens would cast a shadow from a 430. I assume no lens hood, so a lens shadow is less likely.

Then I thought, "How do you get a finger in front of the 430?!?!" Only then did I see that you list a Powershot S3. I would wager that you used THAT camera for the shot, and not you 30D.

In that case, the correction would be change how you hold the camera. Hold the camera the way you normally would and face a mirror. Look to see where your fingers hit. If it looks as though one is close enough to partially cover the flash, there is the problem. Change that and you wont have any more shadows like this. OR, shoot only with the 30D.

RadDear Rad,
You win that wager. The File Info on the shot does say that it was the Powershot S3 camera.

[Titus213]

it would have been quite a trick to get a finger in front of either the lens or the flash on a 30D.....

[Canonman47]

It was my father in law who borrowed the S3-camera and took the photos. I have thought of cropping the pictures, but there must be a more elegant way of doing this - I thought! To Jon the Elder: How do you fix your vife's pictures like this one?

[RuggerJoe]

I could try making to layers in photo shop and try to bring up the levels in the shadow area on and mask and blend the 2, but I doubt you would get satisfactory results. Even if you were to get the levels right to match the rest, the airea would mostlikely be very noisy. and getting the two areas to blend seamlessly would be very difficult. your best bet is just to crop it.