[geofftelforduk]

Hi all!

My dad sells natural stone flooring! He recently did a fantastic job in a house with cream marble and he wants me to take some pics of it for his portfolio!

It will be this evening so it will be dark outside, but there will be lamps/normal room lighting in the room!

You can see what kit I have and more than likely will use the 17-35mm (for angle reasons). What settings would you suggest and how best should I use the flash!

Many thanks!
Geoff

[SSB]

I would use a bounced flash (off ceiling or wall) and stick the camera on a tripod. I'd also put something in one shot which is neutral grey so you can white balance it if it comes out the wrong colour.

You'll probably want a reasonably small aperture, maybe f11 and a shutter speed to suit. You might need to play with flash compensation to get the level of flash exactly right. I always use a timer when doing this sort of thing as it gives you time to get out of the way and cuts out wobbles.

[geofftelforduk]

SSB - yeah that all sounds very sensible. Not sure how to do flash compensation with the 380EX!! Is this an in camera thing, or flash!?

[SSB]

Flash compensation can be done from the body or the flash or both.

It should be on page 96 of the 20D manual ...

[geofftelforduk]

SSB, your a star! Thanks for that!!

I willl give it a go and post some later and you can tell me what you think!

Thanks again for your time!

[SSB]

No problem - hope you get on OK. It should be plain sailing.

[Ray]

While you're there you may as well try some longer exposures without flash. Remember to adjust the WB to whatever the lighting is. I think you may also want to try going back in the daylight when I think the job will be easier for you.

Ray

[barongreenback]

Originally Posted by Rayfin

While you're there you may as well try some longer exposures without flash. Remember to adjust the WB to whatever the lighting is. I think you may also want to try going back in the daylight when I think the job will be easier for you.

Ray

I'd agree with this. Bounced flash will work to an extent but you may still get unattractive reflections or light variance. Given that the white balance presets may not be exactly right use a piece of white card first to set a custom WB.

[geofftelforduk]

Guys, thanks for the advice! I think I will just see what happens! Try the things that you all have mentioned and hopefully something good will come out of it!

Just a query - when doing custom white balance, does it not cos problems if you dont have the correct lighting when takin the photo of the white card! To me it just seems that there are too many variables if you know what i mean! Maybe I am just being stupid!

Thanks

[barongreenback]

You're basically telling the camera that the card should be white, so it adjusts the white balance to a level where the image looks white as well. I'm not entirely sure that makes sense but I know what I mean!

[geofftelforduk]

Yeah I see what you mean, but what happens in the situation where for example a shadow is cast on a pure white card. You set this in your custom white balance, but then you shoot something pure white with no shadow e.g. a wedding dress! Surely the wedding dress will not be exposed as white if your original "calibration" is incorrect because of the shadow!!??

Hope this makes sense! Like yourself, I know what I mean! HAHA!

[barongreenback]

The idea is that you set your white balance for the conditions, not for the subject. What you're doing is taking the temperature of the light falling onto your subject.

[geofftelforduk]

Ah right! I get ya! Thanks for all the help!

Hopefully, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating!!!

[Ray]

Better make sure you shoot RAW so you can (to some extent) recover from WB and exposure problems.

Ray

[geofftelforduk]

Well guys, this is the results of this evening!

What ya reckon! OR

Have to say I am rather pleased with the outcome (apart from the seriously blown highlights in the lamp - suggestions welcome!)

Thanks

[bowenjones]

A couple of great shots there Geoff
You're dad should be proud to have them in his portfolio. They have a glossy home interiors magazine look about them. You know what I mean, the ones you find in the dentists waiting room next to the car and gardening mags .
A little work in photoshop can reduce the highlights in the lamps but apart from that, excellent work

[bowenjones]

Oh, and another thing, your dad did a superb job on that floor

[SSB]

They look lovely. So what worked for you technique wise?

[geofftelforduk]

Thanks guys!

Yeah I ended up going on M mode with an aperture of about f11 and then a shutter speed of between 1 and 2.5 sec on ISO400!

I have to say though, I was greatly for white balance control with the RAW files!

Hopefully they will look well when they are printed.

BTW - what technique would you suggest for removin the highlights! I tried the Burn tool, but it was too harsh!

[Zone]

Good results Geoff and those floors are very nice indeed.

As for the highlights why not have a go at cloning them out.

[geofftelforduk]

Zone - thanks for the comments! Yeah I will try the clone thing this evening!!

[Ray]

I wouldn't worry too much about the highlights - they are not that off putting. The human mind expects a lamp to be bright so it doesn't look out of place. But if it worries you and cloning doesn't work try an adjustment layer with either curves or levels and just adjust the area with highlights. May work. The worst thing about digital over film is the risk of overexposure. You may find there is just no detail in the highlights to bring back.

Play around and let us see the results.

Ray

EDITED due to the last sentence (now removed) being complete bo***cks

[geofftelforduk]

Ray, I think there will be too much noise even at ISO400! I have had very acceptable results right up to ISO1600 with the 20D!

I will play around this evening and see what happens!

[geofftelforduk]

Guys,

Well I just got back my A4 print from Photobox today of the first of the two shots above, and I have to say I am extremely impressed!

I just wish I could replicate the results on my Epson!!