I was in a restaurant, and wanted to make a few shots of the place. Took a picture on this big tree, when a waiter passed in front of me. Surprise when I looked at the picture on my monitor....! What is this effect, and how did this happen ?

Picture has not been re-worked at all

Thanks

the shutter speed was too slow to freeze the movement of the waiter , and so his image is blurred.

if the shutter was open for , say , an eighth of a second , the waiter will have been moving during that time and the image of that eighth of a second of movement is what has been captured on the image.

when the flash fired , it illuminated the waiter to such an extent that his image during the flash (a lot shorter than the eighth of a second the shutter was open) is correctly exposed , whilst his image during the rest of the eighth of a second is underexposed and hence is seen as a blur or with a ghost like effect.

Thanks for this explanation Taxexile....

Actually I like the ghost 'effect".....so I am happy I knew nothing about this shutter thing !!

the shutter speed was too slow to freeze the movement of the waiter , and so his image is blurred.

if the shutter was open for , say , an eighth of a second , the waiter will have been moving during that time and the image of that eighth of a second of movement is what has been captured on the image.

when the flash fired , it illuminated the waiter to such an extent that his image during the flash (a lot shorter than the eighth of a second the shutter was open) is correctly exposed , whilst his image during the rest of the eighth of a second is underexposed and hence is seen as a blur or with a ghost like effect.

Also, notice that it's only the dark areas that have the 'ghost like effect'. It's because those areas aren't reflecting the light from the flash as much as the lighter areas, so they didn't get recorded to the sensor during the brief instant that the lighter areas did.

I suspect that your flash mode is set to Rear Curtain Sync, where the flash fires just before the shutter closes after a long exposure. This setting is normally used when you're shooting a city scene at night, and you want the cars to show up as streaks of lights.

Now that you know what happened, you now have the creative freedom to generate this effect when you want, but otherwise simply set the flash back to it's 'normal' (front curtain sync) mode.

the shutter speed was too slow to freeze the movement of the waiter , and so his image is blurred.

if the shutter was open for , say , an eighth of a second , the waiter will have been moving during that time and the image of that eighth of a second of movement is what has been captured on the image.

when the flash fired , it illuminated the waiter to such an extent that his image during the flash (a lot shorter than the eighth of a second the shutter was open) is correctly exposed , whilst his image during the rest of the eighth of a second is underexposed and hence is seen as a blur or with a ghost like effect.

Also, notice that it's only the dark areas that have the 'ghost like effect'. It's because those areas aren't reflecting the light from the flash as much as the lighter areas, so they didn't get recorded to the sensor during the brief instant that the lighter areas did.

I suspect that your flash mode is set to Rear Curtain Sync, where the flash fires just before the shutter closes after a long exposure. This setting is normally used when you're shooting a city scene at night, and you want the cars to show up as streaks of lights.

Now that you know what happened, you now have the creative freedom to generate this effect when you want, but otherwise simply set the flash back to it's 'normal' (front curtain sync) mode.

Thanks TCO, will check on my camera

Interesting.

I see you are using the Canon Kiss.

I will have to check out the settings on my 40D and see what can be done.

Interesting.

I see you are using the Canon Kiss.

I will have to check out the settings on my 40D and see what can be done.

Yes....Canon Kiss...But how do you know that ??

All the info, camera, exposure is embedded in our photograph.

Use a photo editor and right click selecting Image Properties and all will be revealed.

got it !

Hi "Who, me ?",

Best one from you so far, a great photo as the waiter's face is clear and not blurred, but his legs are.

Thank you.

Kan Win

Hi "Who, me ?",

Best one from you so far, a great photo as the waiter's face is clear and not blurred, but his legs are.

Thank you.

Kan Win

Thank you Kan Win.

It was pure luck....but I appreciate your praise anyway

Cheers

I know I will be told off for this, but without lady luck which to me accounts for 45 or more % is needed when taking photos like that. Other photos 25%.

So yes, lady luck has always played a part with me when taking photos.

If you have not read this post

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=64535

please read it.

Kan Win

I know I will be told off for this, but without lady luck which to me accounts for 45 or more % is needed when taking photos like that. Other photos 25%.

So yes, lady luck has always played a part with me when taking photos.

If you have not read this post

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=64535

please read it.

Kan Win

Thanks for the link Kan Win !

Have a good day

WM

the shutter speed was too slow to freeze the movement of the waiter , and so his image is blurred.

if the shutter was open for , say , an eighth of a second , the waiter will have been moving during that time and the image of that eighth of a second of movement is what has been captured on the image.

when the flash fired , it illuminated the waiter to such an extent that his image during the flash (a lot shorter than the eighth of a second the shutter was open) is correctly exposed , whilst his image during the rest of the eighth of a second is underexposed and hence is seen as a blur or with a ghost like effect.

Bah! What nonsense. It's clearly a nong nong pee (waiter wraith) who lost his legs in a restaurant accident, and is now destined to walk the floors, slowly delivering check bins!

Leave your photoknology "science" back where it belongs, Professor Farang!

Bah! What nonsense. It's clearly a nong nong pee (waiter wraith) who lost his legs in a restaurant accident, and is now destined to walk the floors, slowly delivering check bins!

Such phantasma are usually very difficult to catch with a camera.

i did it !!!

thanks to Lady Luck

and may "Lady Luck" be on your shoulder many and many more times "Who, me ?"

Kan Win

P.S. works for me

Thank you so much Mr Kan Win

I am learning, and need Lady Luck to help more than a bit !

Have a great day

Cheers

This is called ghost effect, its mix between flash and slow shutter.

How it works :

1st, it absorbs the light from the flash into ur shutter.

2nd, it absorbs the light surrounding while the shutter is still open.

Here is some experement i did before.

Multiple flash on long exposure.

http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/nonb...ent=strobe1.jpg

http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/nonb...rent=strobe.jpg

Here is example of shots with long shutter without flash but calculating the exposure for the object and back ground..

http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h192/BS2...rrent=Ghost.jpg

http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h192/BS2...rent=Ghost2.jpg

Hope it helps.

Matt