Denis if you have a chance to shoot these again, use a tripod ( if they will let you in with it ) use the natural light in the house and set flash exposure to - 2 stops under. shoot AV mode and let the shutter speed fall where it may. Try shooting at f 5.6 at ISO 100 . Shutter speeds will be slow . Right now your flash is the main light source, you want a balance of natural and flash . In doing so you can get results like this . Keep trying . Use self timer or shutter release.
thanks for the tips tom,but i like shooting hand-held,and my flash is always set at -1,or -2 stops under,plus i use a soft box on it.i shoot in manual mode,at the lowest ISO i can,and use minimum f/8,to f/16 if possible to maximize DOF.plus they dont allow tripods in there.your blue morpho is nice,but could of benifitted from more DOF the second one is a tad soft,probably due to too low of a shutter speed.
it,s a tough call sometimes,but i much prefer flash,as it freezes the action,and not the shutter speed.perhaps the best solution would be to slave another flash off the main one to use as fill light for the BG.,which is something i,m thinking of doing next time out.
denis55 wrote:
perhaps the best solution would be to slave another flash off the main one to use as fill light for the BG.,which is something i,m thinking of doing next time out.
An intermeditae step would be to use a small reflector to bounce some of the light from the flash.
Do they allow a monopod for photographers? I would hope so since it doesn't take up any more floor space than the camera. Perhaps they're more concerned about photographers blocking sidewalks, regardless of how it happens?
Another approach when handheld is required, is to use a high-quality DSLR at higher ISO speeds. It is surprising how much lower image noise is with the latest model cameras, especially the full-frame models. Using one of the better noise reduction plugins with Photoshop will then reduce the high-ISO noise further. Although the final results are not exactly the same as a pure ISO 100 shot, the difference may not be large enough to discourage you from using the technique. In other words, YMMV. With my Canon 5DII camera, I can work at ISO 800 without becoming too annoyed, and even ISO 1200 is worth considering for photos that can't be obtained any other way.
I've personally had the best success with Imagenomic's Noiseware and with Picture Code's Noise Ninja. I've had less success with the Topaz plugins. These work much better than Photoshop's built-in noise reduction algorithms, which make subjects look too much like "plastic" as well as degrading fine detail. Again, YMMV.
thank you.
yes i also have the 5d mark11.in the past i,ve shot up to ISO 3200,to get a flight shot of a rare bird,just before dark.managed to clean it up pretty good,but not something i would recommend.the 1d mark11,and mark111,which i,ve owned were pretty good for noise.
i have all the NIK plug-ins,so use define as my main noise removal.i also had less success with the topaz plug-ins,and have used many different noise removal softwares,especially when i did astro-photography,which sometimes required a fairly high ISO.
