Hey ya'll,

I shot a wedding this past weekend and part of the reception, of course, was at night. I used my Speedlight 580 and sometimes used a little "softbox" thing on the top that diffused the light to make a softer glow. I also never point flash directly at the subjects, I always bounce it off a ceiling or wall.
My question is, the flash is still too harsh and blows the warmth of skin tones out. Is there a way to tone down the brightness of the flash to get those warm skin tones back?

Also, does the lens you use make a difference when using flash? The photographer I was shooting with used a fish eye lens for most of the shots and they were really beautiful and warm. She was also using a 580 Speedlight but with no diffuser on the top.

I tried shooting it both ways (with and without) diffuser and it STILL wasn't looking right!!!! I also tried turning the shutter speed up so it wouldn't expose as long.

Anyone? Help!

You can turn the flash exposure on your flash both on the flash and with the camera. Do you still have your manual? It explains exactly how to do it in there.
Basically you just push a button and turn your dial down to read, -1, -2 etc...

Thanks! I do actually have the manual and was flipping through it at the wedding. I think it is Flash Compensation you are referring to. I tried that and I really couldn't see a difference in the images when I dialed it down.

Yes, it's flash compensation. It really should make a big difference, especially at -3.
I always have to add a -1 compensation to grooms in black tuxes and it works really well.
What were you shooting?
Is it possible that you just had too much light coming in even with it turned down? ie...was your ISO too high or did you have the aperture too wide, so that even with the exposure compensation you didn't notice a difference?

That could be it, actually. Now that I think about it, it seemed like it was even brighter when I dialed down the flash compensation, probably because I didn't change the ISO. I was test shooting with the DJ when I was trying to play with flash compensation. In the end I just set it back to the way I had it and dealt with the harsh skin tones. But I don't want to rely on Photoshop to pull the skin tones back, I want to start with a really phenomenal image to begin with. I usually shoot wide open most of the time, but especially at night.

It's important to remember that essentially the shutter speed has no effect on the exposure from the flash. The aperture is much more important. Having a nice fast lens helps even with flash photography because it allows you to capture more of the usable room light & use less flash power to get the same exposure. This means better battery life, faster flash cycle times and a more natural color balance, and less contrast between subject and background. I'd suggest maybe metering for the ambient light and aiming for a shutter speed around 1/60 or 1/30, as slow as you can go without getting in to ghosting, then just add in a bit of flash exposure until things look natural. Bum up your ISO if you are still not getting a good background exposure.

A fisheye for most of the shots?? Really??? I am just puzzled. I think I take that out of my bag for about two shots the entire day. Care to share some fishy shots?

Another thought to add to this is that on the other end of this you can always play around with the motion blur when you start with the dancing at the reception.

Check your white balance. If you use an auto wb, the pictures will be very cool toned and if you use the flash wb the pictures will hold normal skin tones. just give it a try and see what happens! heres two examples........

auto wb-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/js_photograph...rpa/2275858435/
flash wb-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/js_photograph...rpa/2275858419/

The best way to control flash is to dial the flash down on the unit itself. You do that on the 580 with the little wheel on the back. That will over-ride anything you do when setting flash exposure compensation on the camera.

And like Brian said, shoot with a large aperture and drag the shutter to bring in more ambient light. When shooting in a dark room, I generally set my ISO on 400, shoot at 2.8 @ 1/60th, and either bounce the flash or use a diffuser like an Omnibounce. Depending upon the distance from the subject, I may have to dial the flash up or down.