Okay, I know some of you will think this is a strange question. However, . . . when on holiday we often take photos of the meals we have. It's all a part of the Disney magic for us!!! (okay, it also lets us see how things change too!) I usually use flash as without the colours are usually rather strange due to the lighing in restaurants (and I am really not that good at colour correction afterwards) But using flash, often the food is bleached out and the colours insipid. I have used a Canon S-50 or my main Canon 300D in the past. Neither has control to cut the built-in flash output. I now have a 400D which can do this; is this the answer? If so, by how much? Any other tips or techniques please? We are off to the Mouse again later this month, so I will be able to try things out!
Flash exposure compensation (FEC) can be a tricky thing, usually its a trial error thing for me. Try -.5 stop increments and go from there. An other thing to try might be a good external flash like the 430ex or 580ex. I love my 430ex, the exposure seems to more even lighting than the on board flash on my 20D.
don't worry about subtlety as long as you're not being completely obnoxious. you're on vacation, have fun. by the way, when you go to take the pics of your food and use the external flash, try bouncing it off the ceiling and back down to really soften it up and illuminate the whole plate evenly. if you don't want to use an external flash, a tissue over the on-board flash may do the trick as well.
Except I felt completely uncomfortable taking pictures at one restaurant. Even though it did take three hours for my wife and I to eat, the, uhhh, many course meal. Didn't seem right given the circumstances.
i've done this plenty of times, once i get my web site up, maybe i'll even put up a gallery of wdw desserts gary
I personally don't bother with flash (unless it's a really dark restaurant). I just boost the ISO to 1600 and take the pic. If flash is needed, I use my 430 EX, -1 FEC, bounce with Gary Fong clear with its dome off.
opn the 300 and the 400D turn the wheel to P. the flash won't pop up. if you use the picture modes (the pictures on the wheel for action, portrait, night, ect...) the flash will op up. but in the "control" modes. P, A, Tv, M. the flash doesn't pop up automatically. (though, maybe i just read your post wrong. sorry if I'm stating the obvious.) you can also up the shutter speed. since youre so close to the food (like 5 feet right?) you could dial it down to 1/500 of a sec and probably get a good shot. you could also do f/8 and a slow shutter like 1/35 the light will be plenty bright to keep the image steady and sharp. and the narrow ap allows everythign to be in focus.
