Macro with flash

[gandini]

I have a G1 with 420EX flash. I use macro often to get close to my 4 week old daughter. I use the flash as I am hand-holding and taking photos indoors. I also prefer bounce flash (ceiling) since I am so close to the subject. When I set the camera to P, it usually chooses F2.2 at 60th sec. The photos are well exposed. But my depth of field is horrendously small. Is there a way to set a smaller aperture in Av mode, and still have the photo come out with a reasonable shutter speed? I have set f8.0 but the camera chooses 1 sec, and all the photos are blurred. Is my flash too whimpy?

thanks for any input, suggestions.

[Trav]

I have a few suggestions that may help, and others may have more:

You are right that the camera chooses a small aperture when using the flash. Normally, you still get pretty good depth of field - unless, of course you are doing macro photography like you are attempting.

So, your primary concern is increasing depth of field while using the flash. In Av mode, the camera will choose a shutter speed based on ambient light only (fill flash). It doesn't take the flash into account and the flash will only fire lighty to fill in the light. Usually, this is a good thing and it works very well, except when you want larger depth of field!

So you can either go to Manual mode and set your own exposure, which will work, but requires you to do some experimentation. Also, the flash will always fire full-strength. I have gotten some good macro shoots using this method though, so it's worth a try. It just takes time and patience!

Another trick you can try is going to Tv mode and setting a shutter speed > 500 (100 for example). If you do that and then half-press the shutter, it will automatically choose a shutter speed of 1/250 and F8 (largest flash sync). This works pretty well too and allows you to have large depth of field with a faster shutter speed.

Also, if you have pressed the macro button, you will automatically have less depth of field than if you were shooting from the same distance in normal focus mode. So if you want larger depth of field, you might try going out of macro mode, moving a little further away and zooming in a bit.

Of course, if your subject (ahem) can be pretty still, you could always use a tripod! If you're shooting a sleeping baby for example, it might work, but NO WAY for a toddler! hehee.

Of course, adding more light to the situation always helps! Perhaps shine some lights on the child or take the pictures outdoors. Adding light will result in faster shutter speeds, and the flash can still add a lot to the photo by filling in shadows.

I'm sure there are other suggestions!
Travis