Could someone help in next hour please?

[FUDGEY]

Im going to try get the male kingy passing a fish to the female today, but I would appreciate it if someone could answer this q for me. im going at 1pm and what it is Im going to use my in camera flash as its a bit dull, but whats the pros and cons of changing the depth of field when using it? The shutter speed remains at a 60th of a second, but is there any reason why I shouldnt go to F7.1 or F8?

[slimrbp]

Hi,

It's a similar principle to 'normal' light. As you use a smaller aperture you will be letting in less light so the flash will need to emit more light to give the same exposure.

You may reach a point where the flash doesn't have the power to generate enough light and the image becomes underexposed. You can counteract this to some extent by using a higher ISO.

How far away are the Kingfishers? You may find that the in-camera flash doesn't have the necessary reach as they often aren't the most powerful units.

Hope this helps.

[FUDGEY]

Thanks Richard, in the end the light improved so it wasnt required. I had a great experience and got some good shots. Reda about it if you are interested and see photos on the Bird Forum, thanks for your reply mate.

[Geoff F]

For future reference, flash settings depend on the camera setting and, where applicable, any flash strength compensation.

Using Tv, normally up to 1/250 will often give a more realistic shutter speed for moving subjects but at the expense of aperture unless you also increase ISO.

Using Av obviously gives a choice of aperture but the shutter speed can be far too slow. But good for static subjects while using a tripod.

I frequently shoot full manual, especially for macro shots, as it allows me to select a shutter speed and aperture of my choice, then adjust ISO or flash compensation to suit.

But all of these methods do require a bit of experimentation and I usually like to take a couple of test shots before getting down to the real action.