Posted: 6/9/2004 11:13:58 AM EDT
Often, when I take a pic under an awning with the Canon G3 it doesn't seem to fire the flash like it should. The area outside the awning has plenty of light, so I guess that fools the camera into thinking there is just as much light under the awning. The end result is below. I always use AF mode because I'm a newbie.  In the second pics from the thread below... Link I am shooting from the area outside the awning (plenty of light) into the area shadowed by the awning, and it came out okay. The third pic was shot under the awning and it came out fine too. So, sometimes it works and other times it does not. What am I doing wrong? Can't the camera determine when it needs to fire the flash? |
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Pssst...don't mean to sound like a jerk, but read the owner's manual. They DO serve a purpose. I have a Pentax K1000. Bottom of Pentax's line, NO automatic features whatsoever. After reading the owner's manual, I can usually take National Geographic quality photos. In a lot of instances you can take BETTER photos when you use the camera on MANUAL mode rather than automatic. Give it a try. |
I am not familiar with your particular camera equipment so I can't tell you how to operate it, but I DID used to be a commercial photographer. The one thing that stands out in my mind in this case is that the camera does not know that you are photographing a black object. It's probably programmed to assume that the scene contains "average" light values. To get an optimum exposure you'll either have to operate the flash unit manually, or open up the lens aperature by one stop (if you're shooting film).
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You can get and e version of the manual from the Canon site...there is a 'fill flash' mode that forces a flash. I have an S50 which is very close to your model. The manual will help alot, I had to look up the light metering feature last week for mine for a refresher. ByteTheBullet (-: edited to add:Manual |
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Check to be sure the auto fillflash is turned on. Some cameras you have to set it others it;s just automatic depending on settings. Also what is the type of metering the camera uses. Sometimes the meter can be fooled into thinking the flash does not need to be used becuase it is picking up plenty of light. I'm not familiar with the G3 from cannon, though I shoot canon equipment. I can;t really see the phto all that good on this computer I'm on so I'm not sure exactly whats up. Give me a chance to see it when I get home and I might be able to tell ya a little bit more. Better than using a flash especially outside is to use some white cardboard to reflect light ontwhat you want to light. That way you ge any flash glare or the like. That doesn't always go as a rule though it all depends on what your photographing too. I'm a sports photographer though, I don't shoot a whole lot of studio type stuff, but if I do it's guns and stuff related to guns. |
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mattja: My brother in St. Louis has an AE-1 and I showed him how to use it in the manual mode. (it's been years-don't ask me how now) It takes GREAT pics, and when he was using it exclusively on auto he was so frustrated he was about to throw it away. Like BTB says, get a manual from Canon. It'll make life easier. PLUS, when you learn to use it in manual you'll learn to set it for AMAZING sunsets and other things that AUTO won't let you do. |
It's a PHD camera, ya Strike that the G3 does let you manualy set aperature and shutter speed. Think he still may need to manualy set the flash though. Go to the canon website and DL the owners manual. it will tell you what you want to know. |
Did you check the linked pic? The cool red heat shield isn't visible... Also, Photoshop can do as kinds of sweet things to the pictures. I always take full resolution(not RAW) then reduce, if necessary, with Photoshop. The CS version has some very good Shadow/Highlight adjustments. ByteTheBullet (-: |
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Not intending to flame but my, hopefully constructive, criticism might help. First you don't have enough depth of field IMO. IIRC, that's a function of aperture settings, so if you can set it to a more open position that may help. OTOH, if you didn't want very much depth of field on the rifle then the picture would be OK. My other criticism is the red reflection off the rifle, but assuming that you wanted that then you are OK. To get away from the redness, just shoot the pic in the open, or in a shaded area. I think that you are really saying that the shot is underexposed, right? If so, it may be as a result of the light weighting of your built in light meter. I used to have overexposed pictures sometimes because mine is center weighted for light. Yours may be the same thereby resulting in a dark shot when shooting a dark object that is centered in the lens. IMO, however, the exposure is good. If you want a fill flash, & your flash is adjustable, you could point the flash at the ceiling thereby bouncing the light off of the ceiling. I think that you would probably get more red reflection off of a red awning however. If you bounce the flash off a white ceiling it has the effect of "filling" the shadows & giving a softer appearance to your subject. Hope this helps. It's very old info based on an amateur’s photography with an old SLR. |
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I think the camera may have done the best it could... Looking at the shadows it seems that the "good" light is on the other side of the rifle. So if you want the right side of the rifle to be well lit in that circumstance, just turn the thing around and shoot from the other side.  Otherwise you'll have to set the camera to force the flash to fire when you take the picture. I'm not familiar with your camera, but mine has a button with a lightning-bolt-like flash icon. Each time I press it the flash goes into a different mode, i.e. Auto, Fill, Red-eye-reduction, Manual, etc. So see if the G3 has such a thing and set it for manual. Also, as has been mentioned, if you close down the lens aperture to f8 or f11, you'll get better depth of field. Also, also, the closer you are to the subject, the shorter your depth of field will be, so maybe step back a little if possible? Nice AR, BTW  Alpine |
Why didn't I think of that? 
Mine has a similar button, but when I pressed it there was no flash at all. Guess I'll have to read the manual again.
I don't know if it can set the aperture, but I'll check.
Thanks. It's a Frakenrifle, but it shoots well. |