too much fill and light throught the shirt

I was taking some pix of my wife this evening and used my 580 to fill. When I looked at the pix on my comp, in all of them you an see her bra through her shirt.

I've seen this before in pixs. Is there any easy way to avoid this when shooting and using a flash?

Thanks,

I am not sure because i have not had this problem, but i am assuming that you would just have to stop the flash down and use more ambient light, unless you needed that much flash due to the lack of available light.

-Jon

Is the photo overexposed? or is it the location of the fill causing the see through effect? Try changing the location of the 580 and see if that helps.

The problem is those darn bras. Tell her to stop wearing them.
(sorry)

Anything you can do to move the flash further from the lens will help some. Bouncing the flash, using a flash bracket or a reflecting type attachment like the Lumiquest products or Joe Demb Flip-it.

Post some pictures to help us understand (just kidding)

It may also be the fabric she is wearing, try a different shirt.

- Diffuse the light by bounce, etc.
- The color of the bra makes a difference. She should be aware what color bra to wear with a certain color shirt.

It has nothing to do with 580 EX... it has to do with the shirt. I bet you could see the bra with ambient light as well.

Change the shirt.

Bouncing the flash may not make a difference.

I was shooting photos of my SIL as she needed shots in her gym gear for her "The Biggest Looser" application (she didn't make the cut).

When we viewed the shots in CS2 she was extreemly shocked to see that her gym bra top had become transparent. I fact when viewed closely on the screen it could have been lingere. Without the flash there was no indication that it could have been so as it was fairly heavy material.

It seems that the flash reflected off her skin through her top and no matter what we tried we could not stop the effect. The only solution was natural light (daylight) or a different top.

Wardie

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #2781979
I bet you could see the bra with ambient light as well.

Certainly the fabric is a factor, but I've seen a lot of pictures with on-camera flash that made women's tops appear more transparent than with ambient light. The weave of the fabric and the direct angle of the light passing through it combine to make undergarments more visible. Of course the color of the bra makes a difference, too. This is why they make bras in beige and brown.

in the ambient light it was not visible.

thanks all for the comments.

Most cloth is weaved, meaning it has thousands of small "holes" in between the strands of fabric. If a powerful light source is aimed directly into the fabric, the light will travel through these holes, strike whatever is behind them and bounce back into the lens. If the area behind the holes is white, it will bounce white back, if it is skin, the color of the skin will bounce back. The contrast between the two allows the viewer to "see" the undergarmet.

Also some blouses (especially white ones) are rather see through all the time, regardless of the lighting.

Benji

Get thee to thy local burka dealer....

(What a thread for my first post.) If it was a satin bra, that would make things worse(reflective). I'd say keeping your flash off axis from the camera is a good tip. After that I think this problem may be better fixed in wardrobe than in lighting.

Try bouncing flash.

Titus213 wrote in post #2803841
Get thee to thy local burka dealer....

It seems very bad remark. Not the one coming from a professional in photography forum. Sad.