5D Mark III AF settings

dynamitetony wrote in post #14236574
So is it better to not let ambient in and have a dark or black background?

That only really happens when your shooting with direct flash. We are talking about bouncing it off a ceiling. Bouncing off a ceiling is just like a big light in it.

Fricks wrote in post #14236584
That only really happens when your shooting with direct flash. We are talking about bouncing it off a ceiling. Bouncing off a ceiling is just like a big light in it.

I was just testing the flash and your are absolutely correct. First I tried direct flash and the background was almost dark but bouncing it did the trick.

themadman wrote in post #14236577
When indoors, a well bounced flash can create the illusion of ambient light. Depends on the room I guess.

Fricks wrote in post #14236584
That only really happens when your shooting with direct flash. We are talking about bouncing it off a ceiling. Bouncing off a ceiling is just like a big light in it.

ok that makes sense..

thanks guys

dynamitetony wrote in post #14236574
So is it better to not let ambient in and have a dark or black background?

Depends on the situation. In a smaller room, the flash bounced off a wall or ceiling can light the rest of the room up as you can see in the cat photos someone posted.

In a bigger room, like a reception hall, you would have to light the rest of the room up with OCF or strobes. Otherwise, yes, you'll get that dark background.

Why embrace ugly ambient lighting. I'm not saying all ambient lighting indoors is ugly, but they often times tend to be. At the same time, it'd be silly to strobe a room in a house when shooting snap shots and candids, so of course there's always a balance.

Fricks wrote in post #14236584
That only really happens when your shooting with direct flash. We are talking about bouncing it off a ceiling. Bouncing off a ceiling is just like a big light in it.

Well, not always true.

In a bigger sized room, at 1/200 and in a dimly lit room, you are essentially killing off almost all of the ambient, so even if you bounce, you will still get darker backgrounds, which is why you use OCF or strobes to light the rest of the room up.

Well my intention is to get the shot. So, if I'm to choose between dark background and getting the shot, I'd go for the later.

Sniper258 wrote in post #14236694
Well my intention is to get the shot. So, if I'm to choose between dark background and getting the shot, I'd go for the later.

You mean between a sharp and correctly exposed subject with darker background or a blurry shot with some ambient lighting?

I'd go for the sharp shot.

But then again, you don't have to settle anymore since you know how to take these types of shot right?

nicksan wrote in post #14236661
Well, not always true.

In a bigger sized room, at 1/200 and in a dimly lit room, you are essentially killing off almost all of the ambient, so even if you bounce, you will still get darker backgrounds, which is why you use OCF or strobes to light the rest of the room up.

Yeah of course

I was just speaking in terms of the size of room he is shooting in.

Sniper258 wrote in post #14236694
Well my intention is to get the shot. So, if I'm to choose between dark background and getting the shot, I'd go for the later.

you would get the shot in both cases

1) faster shutter, less ambient
2) slower shutter, more ambient

and as pointed out, bounced flash would still light the room too

And of course since the OP was in Av mode, the flash wouldn't be the main source of light, so consequently it wouldn't do anything to stop motion at 1/50, hence the motion blur.

Someone already outlined how to shoot something like this, including setting the camera in M mode.

Basically, the more ambient lighting is hitting the subject, the more prone you are to motion blur at those slow shutter speeds. You can shoot in a very dark room, drag the shutter and still come away with crisp images because flash would be the main source of light on the subject.

didnt realise he was in AV mode, my bad

all my comments were assuming using M mode

dynamitetony wrote in post #14237160
didnt realise he was in AV mode, my bad

No worries. I actually didn't realize it too until my last reply!

I use my flash in Av mode to fill light for stills though.

For a decent balanced image, I usually shoot manual meter for about 1 stop under exposed and bounce the flash. Works very well for most of the environments I shoot my assignments in.

Thats an interesting website you have Andrew,

is that built from flash ?