Troubleshooting Photos –
Dark Shadows Around Flash Photo's SubjectÂ
Problem
The subject of your picture is surrounded by dark shadows.
The first two photos show a pot of flowers immediately in front of a background and lit by direct, built-in flash (direct 1), direct, separately mounted flash (direct 2) while the third (direct 3) shows the use of direct, separately mounted flash with the background some distance away. bounce 1 and bounce 2 show a flash bounced off the ceiling, with the subject close to, then far away from the background.
The flowers and camera were not moved during the session; the apparent movement is due to the change in modeling of the flowers caused by the different lighting. Color shifts are caused by slight differences in background color and in the color of light as reflected from the pale yellow ceiling.
What should you look for?
There are harsh shadows around your subject. Depending on where the flash is located on your camera, they could be just below the portion that throws them (as above), or they could be offset on the side opposite your camera's flash (in other words, if your flash is on the left side of your camera, the shadows will be on the right side of the subject).
What should you do?
You could edit the shadows out, but it can be a fair bit of work. Our eyes tend to see a background like the one behind the flowers as a uniform grey, but there are readily visible variations. Accordingly, you can't just select the dark shadows then pour a single sample of the background color into the selection. Because the greys are different, all you would accomplish is to exchange black shadows for an almost equally visible and annoying halo of grey. To edit out the shadows, you'd have to sample a grey adjacent to an area you want to change, use a clone or stamp tool for that immediate area, then move over a few pixels and repeat.
The best way to get rid of shadows like this is to re-shoot, positioning your camera and subject so you don't make shadows.
How do you fix it?
How you position your camera and subject to avoid shadows depends to some extent on what kind of flash you have – a built-in flash or add-on, aim-able flash.
Most add-on flash units allow you to aim the light-path, making it direct to the subject (center camera) or bouncing it from the ceiling onto the subject (left camera). Direct flash is the most efficient, but it gives you a picture that looks flat. Bounced flash yields a more three-dimensional picture and avoids red-eye in people and pets, but it does take far more flash power.The simplest way to reduce shadows – the only way if you're using a camera with a built-in, direct flash – is to move your subject away from anything that will hold a shadow. direct 1 shows the flowers immediately in front of a background (direct means the flash is pointed straight at the subject). By moving the flowers roughly 3 feet/1 meter away from the wall, the shadows in direct 3 are made softer, less harsh. If the background area had been more brightly lit, the shadows would have become almost unnoticeable. Incidentally, it's often suggested that a separate flash unit, by moving the source of light to one side, will reduce the shadows. As you can see in direct 2, those who suggest it haven't tried it. (To be totally fair about this – a separate flash does reduce shadows, but you have to move it a fair distance off the camera before you see a benefit. Pros often use a long bracket and some sort of diffuser to make the light less harsh.)
If you have a separate flash, that flash is probably aim-able, so you can bounce the light off a nearby surface. This has the effect of softening harsh flash; the light wraps around your subject, the shadows disappear and the subject takes on a more dimensional form. bounce 1 has a background immediately behind the flowers; bounce 2 has a wall about 3 feet/1 meter away. If you are using bounce flash, keep in mind that:
- you will need more flash power and the farther away your reflector is, the more you need. direct 1 was shot at 1/250, f11, while bounce 2, under a 12 foot/3.5 meter ceiling, needed 1/80, f4.5, about 6 f-stops more light.
- if the ceiling is too high, have someone hold a sheet of white bristol board or foam-core board (both from any stationers or art-supply store) above the flash as a temporary ceiling;
- if you need to be mobile while having some of the benefits of bounced, diffused light, a piece of white bristol card taped to the flash will direct the light toward your subject;
- you can really increase the reflective power of your foam-core by covering it with aluminum foil (and don't be shy about experimenting and playing with materials like this – one of the hallmarks of a good photographer is a willingness to do things like this to get the desired effects);
- you must take care what you use as a reflector because the reflected light will take on the color of the reflecting surface (in these bounce shots, a pale yellow ceiling – note the differences in colors between the direct and bounce photos), plus beams and coffered ceilings will throw shadows.
- photo stores sell a variety of diffusers and reflector hoods that will give you some of the effect of bounced flash without a nearby wall or ceiling;
- a piece of cloth or toilet paper in front of a direct flash will slightly diffuse the light, softening the harshness of direct flash, but you should experiment with your camera to establish whether it will compensate automatically for the light reduction – you may need to do an exposure compensation in your camera's menu.
