Hey, can someone help me with this photography question, with my camera settings?

Question

Hey,

I would like to ask a question about my digital camera and it's settings. I would like to know what settings to set it on to get my pictures to come out like the human eye is seeing. I don't know how to explain, I mean when I take a picture it's like the flash picks up too much of the object I'm taking, I would like to know how far away should I be from the target to get the picture to come out like the human eyes sees it. For example if you take a close up of someone, with the camera and the flash you tend to see the pores of the person of some small mark, which you don't see with your eyes. My questions is what seetings (ISO, White Balance etc..) and how far away should the camera be from the object. Do you think without the flash you take more "human eye" pictures, because I think that with the flash the picture comes out better. Thanks for your help I hope you understand my question!

Answer 1

Yes, flash is tough. It's very easy to have the flash overwhelm the subject. One alternative is to shoot without flash, using high ISO and low (wide open) aperture. But I know you prefer flash.

I know 4 ways to improve flash results:

. Some cameras have a "Slow Synch" flash setting. This changes the timing the of the flash very slightly, and results in the background looking nearly as bright as the subject.

. Some cameras have a flash adjustment setting in the Menus, where you can turn it down slightly, giving a softer impact to the flash.

. Some cameras will let you add an auxilliary flash unit that will bounce the flash off the ceiling or side wall. Indirect flash works better.

. Some people buy or make a flash "diffuser" or a "light box", both of which send the flash's light through a transluscent filter to soften the light.

Sometimes you can also set up lamps and other lights in the room to even out the overall light.

Good Luck

Answer 2

Here's the problem, the camera does not see like the human eye. The reason why is that the human brain will adjust our phsyology to match the situation (ie pupil dialation, color adjustment, etc). It's a protective mechanism so we can see better yet not lose our sight.

Flash vs. No Flash: If you didn't know, different light bulbs give of different color lights (incadencent and halogen: yellowish orange / fluorescents: bluish green). Notice the photos you take and you'll see the hues based on the lighting. We don't see this hue with our eyes because eyes adjusted to the light. Sunlight is always best because it's pure white (at least to the camera). This brings me to my conclusion; flash can make a photo look good because of t he whiteness of the light. Try this experiment: in a room lit with a halogen lamp, take a photo of any subject (person is usually ideal). Normally, the flash will have gone off. Now take the same photo with the flash off (lightning bolt crossed out). You'll see a world of difference and this is what the camera sees.

With this lesson, I think you've learned, unintentionally, what is known as "flash burned". Here the subject is pure white and the backgraound is almost black. Basically, you came to close to the subject. I find most point and shoot cameras' flashes as Best effective about 6-10 feet away. External flashes may require more distance. One trick to compensate flash burning is to take the photo a few feet away but zoom in on the subject.

As for settings, most programs are good enough for the general populous. But if you wanted to do NO Flash photography, the one thing I may recommend using is the "white balance". You're going to have read how to use it but what you're telling the camera is "this is white, so adjust your coloring to make this white". If the place is well lit this will give you, or at least close to"WYSIWYG".

Answer 3

Set it on auto but make sure the flash is off. The flash is what messes it up. Natural lighting is what you're used to seeing, not a flash. The flash for my camera is broken so I have gotten used to not using it, and my pictures have all come out better than before when I did use a flash.

Use lighting from a window or go outside for your lighting, instead of a flash, and you'll get a picture that looks like what you see.

Answer 4

You might want to consider choosing a smaller aperture, or large f/number, maybe between 4 and 10, also direct light from the flash is almost always too harsh for lighting your subject. Try using reflectors in the absence of sunlight, or diffusers when you have sunlight. If you use a speedlite, try angling it to about 45 degrees. For a portrait you should bank on about 4-6 feet from your subject, if you're using an SLR type camera, use a macro lens (60mm) for best results or a screw on type macro lens that you screw onto a standard 17-80mm lens, if you don't use an SLR type you can use the automatic portrait feature to allow the camera to automatically set things.. Typically you can allow your camera to choose the best ISO speed for the level of light available to you but unless you have a higher end DSLR you won't have as much creative control over what you shoot. I can't really offer much more advice without knowing whether you use a p/s camera or a DSLR.

Answer 5

The camera I have I set the Pixel setting to as high as I can.
When there is reasonable light I turn off the flash.
In bright sun there is a setting for that so it is not too light.

Most of the time it is set on auto because most of the pictures I take does not allow time to make settings. I would miss the shot.

I will admit that many do not come out natrual looking and I do have to alter then some in the photo9 editor. I just got a filter for the camera and took a few shots and it seems to help a lot to make things look natural. You might look into that.

Answer 6

not an easy question to anser, threes alot of things to look at. are you indoors or outdoors.Weres the sun facing compared to the camera lens? A basic camera mounted flash will in most cases only limit the amount of shadows in daylight pictures. If you are tring to do portrits and still indoors then you ll mostly like need to invest in some lighting equipment.

Answer 7

This is a tough one. I still use my film camera but caved in and got a digital SLR last year. Digitals are certainly a lot easier to use, particularly if you keep them in fully automatic mode, or idiotproof mode as I like to call it. But you can set them to replicate the settings of a non-digital SLR. I guess it really depends on what you want to do and how much of a purist you are. Here's a short list of pros and cons for each: Digital: - easier, faster results - can 'fix' or alter results to your liking with graphics packages (some see this as a pro, personally I'm a purist and see this as cheating) - can save digital files and send to people or print on your own printer if you like Non-Digital - expensive to have film developed, and you have to carry extra cannisters of film with you - if you want to get back to pure basics, you'd have to learn about setting the aperature and film speed and light etc. Which I think is kind of fun - you can have the pictures digitalised but not as easily as with a digital SLR - if you really want to get creative, you can learn to develop your own film, and you can get some pretty incredible results I would say that if you don't have a lot of extra money to spend, get yourself a digital SLR and practise using it in completely manual mode. That way you learn the basics and ready yourself if you chose to get a film camera someday. Hope this helps!

Answer 8

i think what u r asking bout is whats called "the focus" which allows u to specify an object u wanna shoot, focus is in the lence options , not all digital cameras r added with portable lences , so u gotta get a proffisional one or simply check out :
www.nikon.com
good luck
ciao