Shadows in photos with Rebel T2i

[drjulie77]

Most of my indoor photos taken with my Rebel T2i have a shadow to the left of the subjects.   I took the same photo with my Powershot s120 and did not get a shadow and am so very frustrated.  I have tried with and without the hood and have ensured that the subject was not close to a wall.  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.  I have samples but I do not see a way to upload them to this site.

[RobertTheFat]

Uploading is trivial. While you're composing your message, it's an icon in the ribbon right above the typing window.

Are you using the built-in flash? Some lenses are large enough to cast a shadow in the field of view.

[drjulie77]

Yes, I was using a built-in-flash but I get the shadow with an external flash as well and with and without the hood.

[drjulie77]

This is the same shot with my powershot with no flash  f 3.5, 1/20 sec.

[drjulie77]

These were with the Rebel on auto with "flash compulsory" ,f 5.6, 1/60 sec

[TCampbell]

Those are normal shadows caused by a direct flash.   If you don't like the shadow you could just opt to not use the flash.  There are numerous options to "soften" the shadow by using a broad light source (not a pinpoint source).  Typically an external flash is diffused by use of a modifier such as a soft-box or a shoot-through umbrella (lots of options here.)

[RobertTheFat]

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@TCampbell wrote:

Those are normal shadows caused by a direct flash.   If you don't like the shadow you could just opt to not use the flash.  There are numerous options to "soften" the shadow by using a broad light source (not a pinpoint source).  Typically an external flash is diffused by use of a modifier such as a soft-box or a shoot-through umbrella (lots of options here.)

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Bounce flash also reduces that kind of shadow. And most (all?) Canon external flashes come with a built-in diffuser. (But the cheap plastic add-on diffusers that are universally available are usually too dense and/or too yellow.)

[drjulie77]

Thank you so much!

[ebiggs1]

The second picture the room is too dark. More ambient light would have helped.  The flash is just too small. The last picture looks like the room is brighter.  Another thing that will help is don't place your subject too close to the background.

In the first photo, you have a light source coming from the side.  It looks like you are directly in front of her and shooting directly towards her.  Yet you have a shadow off to one side?  Is there a spot or overhead on her?

Without seeing the room, this will be tough to diagnose.  But there are any number of solutions.  When I have an event like this to shoot and I can not use just the availible light, I use two sources.  Neither of which are on the camera.  The absolute worst place for a flash.  

[drjulie77]

Thank you