D60 is this possible ?

[KDF]

Imagine you are taking a picture of a person, the background is dark and so is the person, it is possible on the D60 for it to fire a small amount of light through the flash to light the person.. but then keep the lens open long enough to get the background as well ?

Example picture (this actually turned out not too bad but you get the idea) sometimes the person was silhouetted against the background..

 

[Ian]

I know with the Canon 450d it is possible to expose for the background and then set the flash to fire at some point during the exposure to light up the person. It's also possible to adjust the flash from -2 to +2 to change the strength of the flash (at least I think that's what it does..).

This used a bit of fill flash and the above technique:

As long as your subject is far enough away from any walls etc then it should look alright, as there won't be any harsh shadows.

 

[Perrinho]

Can you not just use spot metering, and meter for the background and use a manual flash for the subject?

 

[Ribena]

like Ian says really, a popup flash diffuser might help to reduce hotspots.

 

[® Andy]

I'd simply run it in shutter priority or full manual ... meter for the whole scene ... but then pop the flash to fill in the foreground. It's a trick I use regularly when shooting in really really dark environments ... so reduced flash + 30 seconds exposure.

The challenge in your situation is the subject keeping still long enough to capture the background. In my example above it was sooooooo dark (like zero photons) that once the flash had gone, I could do whatever I wanted and all that came out was what I painted. However, when there's more ambient light around and perhaps you're only exposing the whole frame for a few seconds, movement will become apparent.

 

[KDF]

Well the photo above the background was exposing nicely in about 0.5 seconds shutter time. Just needed a tiny bit of flash to fill the foreground. I don't know if the D60 can fire the flash and keep a long exposure though.. it does have + or - 2 on the flash strength though.

I guess it just a case of messing around with the camera.. but knowing what I need to do in advance would be nice.

 

[® Andy]

I've never used a D60 (or any Nikon), but I'm confident that you can fire the flash and keep the long exposure! Basically shutter priority will do that (or full manual) on every camera I've ever used! However, in auto or programmed modes popping the flash up will override the non-flash shutter speed and expose around 1/30 to 1/60 typically. So stick it in shutter priority, turn the flash on, go somewhere dark, set your shutter speed to something appropriate for the scene, and press go.

 

[KDF]

Ok, I would be suprised if the Nikon couldn't do it but don't know how to.. i'll have a mess around with the camera and see what I can do !

 

[Alex H]

I think there's a way to set the flash off at the end of the exposure time, there's an option on the flash itself, might be called 'REAR' ??

 

[Ribena]

if you're wondering if the D60 can fire a flash on a long exposure shot, yes it can. Normal(1st curtain) for start of exposure, Rear-Sync(2nd curtain) for end of exposure. W

 

[KDF]

^

Great. Thanks !

 

[Alex H]

That's what I was trying to say, 'bena

 

[Moz168]

As said rear cutain sync. Hold the pop up flash button and spin the wheel till it says 'REAR'.

 

[KDF]

Nice one.. tried it last night and works great !