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khaz
24th of April 2008 (Thu), 23:08
I have started using an external flash a little (older Vivitar 600), and woke up this morning to take some pictures of my boys opening their birthday gifts, and they came out much darker than previous photos that I have taken with the flash. Any thoughts on what I can do next time?

#1 ISO 200, Av 2.8, 1/80 (flash was set to ISO 200, Av 2.8)
#2 ISO 200, Av 2.8, 1/100
Lotto
25th of April 2008 (Fri), 03:03
Don't know anything about that flash, but since your camera was already in manual mode, you can increase power on the Vivitar. If your flash can't provide enough light at f2.8 iso200, time for an upgrade :)
Rellik
25th of April 2008 (Fri), 03:10
Looks like you are maybe bouncing the flash? If so, then bouncing will eat a stop or two of light. Also, distance is a factor too.
Kruzkal
25th of April 2008 (Fri), 03:52
Shots taken in AV, tune up exposure compensation?
René Damkot
25th of April 2008 (Fri), 04:51
The flash was in "Auto" mode, right?

Set the flash to ISO 200; f/4.0
It will put out a stop more light then. (might be too much).

The flashes metering probably saw the white t-shirt and was fooled by that.
Matt30D
25th of April 2008 (Fri), 11:09
Here..its a little lighter.
shutterfiend
25th of April 2008 (Fri), 11:36
Matt30D has a winner IMO. I like the bokeh on this one better. This should make the nifty archives, IMO.
khaz
25th of April 2008 (Fri), 12:51
I did lighten them up in PP for saving, I was just suprised that it came out dark with the original. I know very little about taking pictures, and even less about flash, but it is fun to mess around with. Just found this old flash and have been trying to bounce it off everything. It was bounced, but I may have been too close for the light to show up?

And lotto, you are right, it is time for an upgrade.
shutterfiend
25th of April 2008 (Fri), 12:56
It was bounced, but I may have been too close for the light to show up?

No, I see shadow under the chin. Just needed more power I think.
khaz
25th of April 2008 (Fri), 13:04
Ok, that makes sense. Thanks.
SkipD
25th of April 2008 (Fri), 13:34
It was bounced, but I may have been too close for the light to show up?If you were close to the subject and had all the light bouncing off the ceiling, that would explain what I saw in the shots. You need to roughly calculate where light is going to go when you do a direct bounce.

Using something like a LumiQuest Promax System (http://www.lumiquest.com/lq931.htm) makes a tremendous amount of sense for shots like the ones you posted. You can bounce all the light toward the subject or only 20% of it, depending on how you configure the kit at the moment. The 20% would probably have made a very significant difference in those shots.