Photographing sun/shadow contrast

[FishPix]

The other day our Golden Willow was basking in a strip of sun. I loved the play between sun and shadow. Grabbed my camera and was disappointed with the results. I tried to override the exposure but didn't quite catch, what I wanted (thank goodness Willow was in a lazy mood). I think the shadows are too black. Do you have any tips how to soften shadows without overexposing the dog?

[bigarchi]

can i just say that i love the second shot! i don't think it needs any tweaking at all! getting down to eye level with him made all the difference in the world to me. as for getting a better exposure, the first things that jumped to my mind would be do diffuse the windows a bit if possible or use just a touch of flash fill. but i really do like that second shot..

[seaside]

If you had IMAGE EDITING on I'd give it a try and let you know what I did. That would probably be the best way. Go to User CP to turn the feature on if you'd like.

[FishPix]

Thanks Bigarchi and Chris for your help. I was always wondering what 'image editing ok' ment. It's turned on now.

[Litespeed]

Definitely like the second one a little better-- great shots.

[tdodd]

You could use a reflector to return some light back onto the dark side of the dog. If you don't have a "proper" reflector then you might be able to improvise with a white sheet/towel/shirt/dress/paper/card etc.. Maybe you would need someone to hold it in position or you may get away with leaning/draping it just out of shot.

[FishPix]

Last week I started with ordering a speedlite for my camera. So far I always wiggled my way out of learning how to use a flash properly. Thank for the suggestion Tim. I will recruite one of my daughters.

[tdodd]

Good on you, FishPix. Mastering flash can be a little tricky, especially as Canon's engineers have made some things work in ways you would not expect. It may look a bit overwhelming but you might browse this sticky thread....

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=138907

I expect there is a link in there somewhere, but if not then this is a great site for explaining flash....

http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

If I can try to digest what little I know into as few words as possible I'd say something like this....

Using flash is like controlling two exposures at once. There is the ambient light from the surroundings, which the camera will record. Then there is the additional light from the flash. You can manage both independently and thus you can adjust the balance between the two - lots of ambient, just a little flash, or vice versa.

In my opinion, it is usually easiest and most reliable to set the exposure for the ambient light manually. That will "lock" that exposure in place so it doesn't bob around as you adjust your composition. You can then control how much contribution the flash makes by adjusting the FEC (Flash Exposure Compensation) setting.

Pointing the flash straight at your subject will often cast unpleasant shadows, give red eye or steel eye, and potentially create nasty shiny hotspots or specular highlights. Usually flash will look far nicer if you can bounce it off another surface (ceiling, wall, reflector) to enlarge the apparent size of the flash light source and change the angle of the light as it strikes the subject (and surroundings).

If you must use direct flash, because there is nothing to bounce off, say outdoors, then try to use only a modest amount of flash (FEC at around -1 to -2) so that it gives a subtle lift to shadows and just puts a glint in the eye. Try to avoid making the flash too strong in relation to the ambient light exposure. If you do that it will look obvious that you used flash and will not be appealing.

p.s. some good vids here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnn5nzPvoIM

Good luck :)

p,p,s - some examples of how bounced flash compares with direct flash - http://picasaweb.google.com/EezyTiger/Flash#

[FishPix]

Thanks Tim, now you really scared me.;)

[tdodd]

Not trying to scare you, just give you a head start. My first experience of trying to use flash properly was at a friend's wedding. I'd only had the camera for three months and the flash for a week before the wedding. There was no pro hired - wedding party was only 22 people in total - and I took on the role of main tog, but all the guests pitched in. I have to say that if you learn by your mistakes I must have learned an awful lot that day. :)

Thread here - http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=286091

[FishPix]

I started to read some of your recommendation. They are great. I appreciate it. Still looks like a huge hill in front of me, but I'm looking forward to it.