hehe cool ok the pics did indeed look as if the lighting was a bit more sophisticated than an onboard flash... so that should give you a good bit more play.. I've no experience using strobes hands-on but have a pretty solid grasp of the theory.. I'd say this might just be a good old fashioned case of trial and error playing between shutter/ aperture/ flash strength, as it seems A-dep and M are kicking out different numbers from the metering..

I agree onboard flash kinda sucks, always diffuse/bounce it if I can, or just bumb the iso up and screw the flash. I'm confident you'll find a way to get the results you're after, you have a real good style with your postwork, and a good eye for portraits.. can't see a little thing like lighting flummoxing (that must be the first time I've ever typed that word!) you..

all the best
Adam

depending on your distance from the subject I'd say f/11 would be a pretty good base point for portraits which include a bit of the surroundings.... I understand what you're saying about manual setting the shutter/aperture - could it maybe be that you've set one of the custom functions or menu settings such that the flash sync speed is at 1/250 sec? ... I use a 40d so I imagine many of the menus would be similar... there's an option to set flash sync speed in Av (maybe spills over into M?) mode at 1/250 sec, perhaps this is why it won't let you change the settings? that's my best guess as at 1/250 it would limit the amount the aperture could close down while still maintaining a correct exposure.

the alternative I would say, would be to set manual settings as you wish, force the flash up, and just play about with the flash exposure compensation, until it gives out strong enough light to compensate for underexposure created by shooting at, say, f/11, iso 100 and 1/250 sec... you should be able to push it up a bit but it may run the risk of the 'deer in headlights' look...

are you using the onboard flash? if so I'm in the same boat and trying to make the most of it until I can afford an off-board one..... so sometimes you might catch me playing about with coloured cards and old CDs poking out of blobs of blutac near the flash mount =D

hope it all goes well for you!
Adam

my understanding of this is that A-Dep will essentially do a calculation of the hyperfocal distance and select an aperture accordingly so that as much from front to back is in focus as possible provided everything falls under the camera's autofocus points (f/22 or whatever the lens' smallest aperture is might not be necessary)... as you're shooting in manual anyway, seems to me the logical thing to do would be to compose your scene, set everything up, flick it into A-Dep, take a note of the aperture it gives out, then recompose the scene in Manual mode using that aperture.... you should then have the same depth of field as in the other mode, with the bonus of being able to use the flash....
I wasn't quite sure what you meant by 'good' depth of field, could you maybe be a little more specific?

Adam

thought I'd pop my head up and say well done to all the great entries - Shari and David's latest posts I thought particularly good, and also thank you Shari for your encouraging comment on my last post here =)

I did have this challenge in mind when I was out shooting a little earlier this week and ended up with plenty which fit the theme, but one of the best of the bunch was essentially the same as a shot I already posted in my gallery... so to save me the time of processing a new file I thought I'd just link to the image... it's the best architectural framing I can think of round here but I'm gonna keep on the lookout for more, I'm sure there are plenty..

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1821640&member

very cool frame as a camera, worked so well that I half expected the thumbnails to resize within the camera's lcd, like I was using the camera itself! easy to navigate, quick to load, fun template.. nice site!

excellent exposure control and framing Joe, very nicely shot!

thanks very much for your input Danny... for the moment I'm mainly starting out with a body of St Andrews shots, as god knows I've got enough on my hard drive which are technically fine but which won't really see the light of day otherwise.... the best of these I think will go to macro stock sites, and I don't think I'll ever load much more than 'good snaps' on micro-stock sites. I've been out a couple of times now with 'stock' on the mind and have to say it makes for a whole different mindset when shooting, but I'm sure I'll get used to it given time to get a feel for what 'works' and what doesn't..

I think this might be an appropriate place to also say thank you to David for your help in this area.

second one for me Tunde, warmer colours more pleasing to the eye and more interesting textures

have to agree on the stunning landscapes comment, in my opinion one of the best landscape photographers on Renderosity, congrats on a well deserved selection
Adam

fav so far has to be Joe's, but so many posts already and we've only just started... these challenges are going from strength to strength, my compliments to the staff!

Adam

fantastic selection, well done to all included

I used something very similar last summer when I accidentally deleted all 3 or 4 hundred photos from a family day out in Nimes... and as I was the designated holiday photographer we were kind of bummed, especially as there were some really nice ones in there.... a day's worth of on/off research led us to download (and pay for) a program which was able to recover everything from the day, and more from up to several days earlier (all the ones safely uploaded to the laptop already). To be honest I was pretty blown away, I thought my dad was winding me up when he said we could recover them somehow, but I was very happy to stand corrected! my gallery would be 6 images short of how it stands now without that software...

Adam

well tomorrow's the last day of the month and due to my fairly busy schedule right now I don't think I'm going to be able to shoot anything new for my last entry... shame, but I wanted it to at least be as good as something in my archive..... hope you like this one from France last summer, taken in the garden of the villa in which we were staying... I see it as a reminder of the stunning warm provencal light which bathed the place each day during the late afternoon/ early evening.... I seem to remember I tried a few still life shots with the light but probably had too much vino in the system as none of them are of any use!

no light painting, introduced light or dodging/burning at all on this.. just levels, curves, sharpen, crop. right, now I must get back to my big list of things which need doing but I await a final few lighting entries and the arrival of the new challenge with anticipation ;)

Adam

excellent work, who needs video cameras? =D wish I knew how to do these animation thingys, very impressive upload!

phew! I've just caught up on what seems to have been a fun, creative and busy month here.. that whole language lesson had me chuckling and it seems I'm in good company as a bit of a night owl at the moment..!

I'd personally like to say well done to everyone who this month tried something new and unfamiliar, coming up with such impressive results... I'm talking really about getting to grips with PWL which so many of you seem to 'have down' (is that an Americanism?) by now. Too many good images to mention them all, but redchilicat's swan in the glinting water and Maria's light painted images spring to mind as real eye catchers. Not a single bad submission though, a pleasure to browse through such a diverse display of the topic... eager to see what next month's is now!

...but! Febraury isn't over yet and I'm with Tara when she says we still need people to still be posting at the end of the month =D I've got 1 left and said on my last upload I'd try to make it an outdoors one, only there hasn't been the opportunity lately. I've got a good backup on standby from my archives but will try to shoot something 'fresh' in time for the end of the month...

in the meantime maybe you'd like a little peek at my latest effort painting with light which comes with a warning it may cause hunger!

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1837963

Adam