Sunset with things that can't stand perfectly still.

[Stapler123]

Yeah.. what can I say

I have no idea what to do in this sort of situation.

http://home.earthlink.net/~miltonisking/Sunish.JPG


300d with built in flash
20 second exposhure


I was thinkin mabee a 420 or 550 ex or whatever, combined with putting the subject below the line of the mountains. And Exposing it so the mountain and whatnot is black. Can anybody point me in the right direction?

[Calis]

There is a night portrait mode on the 300D (last mode but 1 turning the dial clock wise) that is supposed to expose for the background scene and fire the flash for the subjects. I've only used it a couple of times (prefering to shoot RAW), buy have got reasonable results.

Doing it manually I'd probably expose for the sky (so it isn't blown) and make the flash fire. (Were you close enough for the flash to light the group?) 20 seconds seems like a very long time anyway so I guess you exposed for the mountains - that is always going to blow the sky, and no one can stand still that long.

Another thought - set the ISO to 800. That will drastically reduce the exposure time.

So to sumarise the above gabble:

1) Try in using the night portrait mode.

If that doesn't work, got to the P mode:

2) use a higher ISO
3) expose for the sky
4) 'Pop' the flash

If that doesn't work fiddle around in M mode using the settings that the auto exposure gave you above as a starting point.

If all else fails take two shots one exposed for the scene with no flash (and without the people in it). then move them in and take a 'normal' flash photo of them. Merge the two in your photo editing tool of choice.

* I don't think spending money on an external flash would have helped you here as the exposure was just too long, and you would have got the bluring anyway.

[Volatile]

Or, shoot Av mode and pop the flash manually. The camera will automatically set exposure for the ambient light, and the flash will be fill flash. Same is true for Tv mode.

[Stapler123]

right on! thanks I'll give it another shot.

[Malok]

If you used a Graduated Neutral Density Filter at the top of the photo you could have preserved their heads and still had them look like ghosts. :)