What am I doing wrong shot.

[Dooglla]

The quality of the 20D of the picture taken is of bad quality and I know it is probably me who is doing things wrong. So, I was wondering if the experts could look and tell me how to get clear pictures taken inside with flash to have the quality it is suppose to have. Outside the pictures look great. It is just when I take pictures outside the quality is terrible with the 550EX flash attached.

Warning: Picture is 3.85MB so you must have fast broadband to view.

http://geda-online.com/allen/help.jpg

[charlesu]

The picture is fine. What's the issue?

[pcasciola]

The picture is fine. What's the issue?I was thinking the same thing. Where's the bad picture? I only see a good one.

What are you looking for to be different?

[swoop1156]

I agree, I see nothing that would warrant unhappiness with the shot.

[Dooglla]

I guess it is me then and not the camera. Well, I know it is me and I just expected quality to look like taken with studio lights and sharper pictures. I have seen better picture quality than what I have taken with the 20D. Also the skin tone...how to make it look better?

[michael.luczkow]

dude that picture looks great for indoor.

[pcasciola]

Did you do any post processing on the image? Photoshop could give this shot the extra pop you are looking for. You could sharpen it with a little USM (Unsharp Mask), and then adjust the skin tones to your liking.

[klynam]

I'll take a stab at this because I "think" I know what you're looking for with a "studio" effect...

1. Don't shoot with a light on the camera - either built-in flash or speedlight - because they throw light either: 1) directly on your subject; or 2) omni-directional all over the room (if you point it up and bounce it off the ceiling.) You probably want a more dramatic side-lighting.
2. If you can, use the speedlight as a strobe slave off to the right or left.
3. If you can't do that, shoot with 'hot lights'. Anything can be a 'hot light', even that little desk light you have. Better yet, get a couple of cheap clamp-on work lights (with the big round aluminum reflectors) from the local hardware store.
4. Try to work in a deeper space area. The distance from foregroud to background in your shot is very close, and everything is relatively in focus.
5. OR...at least open up your lens aperture (lowest possible f-stop number) and get closer to your subject. Focus on the eyes and let everything else go fuzzy.
6. Then have some fun with level adjustements and unsharp masking in Photoshop. You'll be amazed at the results.

Let us know if this is the kind of advice you're looking for and others will chime in with even better ideas...

Ps. I understand your 'sharpness' concern. Canon d-slr's are typically softer than an equivilant Nikon. (nothing against Nikon, just an observation) What you DO get is a smooth (noise-free) image. Just look at the top left wall of your image at 100% size - it's AMAZINGLY free of any noise. That just blows away Nikon.

[Dooglla]

I'll take a stab at this because I "think" I know what you're looking for with a "studio" effect...

1. Don't shoot with a light on the camera - either built-in flash or speedlight - because they throw light either: 1) directly on your subject; or 2) omni-directional all over the room (if you point it up and bounce it off the ceiling.) You probably want a more dramatic side-lighting.
2. If you can, use the speedlight as a strobe slave off to the right or left.
3. If you can't do that, shoot with 'hot lights'. Anything can be a 'hot light', even that little desk light you have. Better yet, get a couple of cheap clamp-on work lights (with the big round aluminum reflectors) from the local hardware store.
4. Try to work in a deeper space area. The distance from foregroud to background in your shot is very close, and everything is relatively in focus.
5. OR...at least open up your lens aperture (lowest possible f-stop number) and get closer to your subject. Focus on the eyes and let everything else go fuzzy.
6. Then have some fun with level adjustements and unsharp masking in Photoshop. You'll be amazed at the results.

Let us know if this is the kind of advice you're looking for and others will chime in with even better ideas...

Ps. I understand your 'sharpness' concern. Canon d-slr's are typically softer than an equivilant Nikon. (nothing against Nikon, just an observation) What you DO get is a smooth (noise-free) image. Just look at the top left wall of your image at 100% size - it's AMAZINGLY free of any noise. That just blows away Nikon.

Thanks for the help. I lefted the picture as is out of the camera without touching it to see if the quality looked ok just as it. To me the quality didn't look up to par as to some of the pictures I have seen on here so I just thought I was doing something wrong. Thanks for the feedback and will take everyones advice.

[Hellashot]

Probably just needs sharpening, and that image was too big to post here. Maybe give people the option for normal size and then original.