My $0.02 -- As a part of my job, I take a lot of photos, both indoor and outdoor using both digital and flash.
My guess is that some of you are getting poor quality on closeups with your flash due to "blow-out." First, don't use any digital zoom as a previous poster correctly suggested. If your camera has a "macro" setting for sharp focus on close-ups, use it. Using a digital zoom only forces you to blow up the pixels, which destroys sharpness and detail. Then, back off your distance to the subject. Most camera flashes operate off a sensing unit -- some are on the front of the camera (a little red window or circle) or inside the camera through the lens (depends on camera). I won't go into great mechanical detail because it works differently in digital vs. film cameras, but the principle here is the same. In taking a flash picture, when you press the button, the shutter opens. The flash sensor holds the exposure (holds the shutter open) and keeps the flash lit until it senses that enough light has hit the subject to get a proper exposure. This happens in a fraction of a second. (That's why people in the foreground of a two-row group snapshot are often better illuminated than those to the rear. The sensor takes its reading off the front row. Or the subjects are too far from the camera. Most flash units on non-professional cameras have a range from only 4 to 14 feet -- check your owner's manual. Cameras, like computers, are stupid, but very wonderful if told how to do things.) And if someone is very close to the camera or a subject is wearing white, it may shut down the shutter prematurely and result in an underexposed (dark) photograph. The background lightness/darkness and color will also impact your exposures. Since it costs nothing to burn digital film, do some experimenting. Or manually shut off the flash and use properly positioned room or spot lighting. Best results come with the camera locked into a tripod and either set to trip off a timer or with an extension trip. Locking into a tripod keeps the camera from moving and blurring the photo as the exposure will most likely be longer than with a flash and it is very hard to hand-hold a camera still for slow exposures. If you have Photoshop or a similar photo editing program, you can use incandescent or florescent lighting and adjust the colors with Photoshop. Incandescent (light bulb) lighting has a yellowish cast that our brain changes to white. Most florescent bulbs also add a tingle of color, usually blue. The color of the lights will also change the color of your trains -- a teeny bit. Film or digital captures what it sees, including yellow or blue light. But using Photoshop to alter the yellow or blue back to white will also (this is MAGIC) return your trains to their proper color! Or if you have to have perfectly true colors, you can spend a few bucks and buy special photography bulbs that screw into a regular lamp socket. But make sure to diffuse the lighting by bouncing it off a white posterboard to soften the shadows. If you are a scaler and want the photo to look realistic, use only one slightly diffused overhead light source positioned as "The Sun." And by playing with your camera's depth of field (if so equipped), you can really have some fun. Good luck Phil K S-Trains list sponsor: http://www.americanflyertrains.com All the Flyer you desire...books and accessories too! To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list send a note to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
