Grandpa Roger and granddaughter Clara on an old-fashioned carousel. I shot this at ISO 640,to effectively increase the strength and the 'image' of the TUNGSTEN light bulbs. This scene was partly illuminated by a wall consisting almost entirely of architectural glass,so soft,diffused daylight is the type of natural light that was present at the scene.The camera's pop-up flash plays a huge part in getting this shot; the combination of a deliberately inflated ISO, moderate f/5.6 aperture, and fairly fast daylight exposure all works together quite nicely. Had I shot at a lower ISO like 100, the tungsten bulbs would have been significantly weaker. I in fact,started out at 200 ISO, and found that the tungsten bulbs rendered a bit weakly, so I went to 640 ISO right away. The carousel horses are in motion,moving and whirling, and so the high synch speed of 1/400 second helps ensure no ghost image from the ambient lighting.This type of subject,one that is moving,and which has a need for a high ISO to pick up background ambience, is where a camera with a high-speed flash synch really helps the photographer. This exposure is in fact,MOSTLY a flash shot; the fact that flash is the majority of this exposure can be seen in the way the background density levels drop off in the lower right...the light is mostly from the flash,as you can see. And yet, there is a part of the exposure coming from the combination of f/5.6 and 1/400 second in ambient lighting. Bill,Luke,and Elizabeth are also in the shot,but well-hidden.This type of scene is where a pop-up flash can be of great,great benefit, particularly if the ISO is boosted to 500 or 640 or 800,as needed. My feeling is that ISO 640 is the best High-ISO setting with the D70's pop-up flash. Having the full range of synch speeds up to 1/500 second makes the D70 a great little outdoor flash machine. On a camera with a top synch speed of 1/125 second, I might have had a very slight, light motion blurring on the 1/125 second ambient-lighted portion of the scene. Not often, but many,many times MORE THAN ONCE PER SESSION, when you want to shoot flash+ambient light, you run into shutter speed problems when using a slow-synch D-SLR like the Fuji S1 (a veritable NIGHTMARE for daylight fill flash at 1/320 second) or the S2 or S3 Pro models. Ambient light exposure ghosting can occur when shooting moving objects or people when the shutter is set to only 1/125 second. Using FAST shutter speeds when there is bright daylight prevents subject motion blurring which,if unintentional, can be disastrous,and do not let half-informed internet shooters preach about how a camera with a 1/125 or 1/180 top synch speed is a good camera for synchro-sunlight uses.THE most important factor in avoiding accidental ghost images in syncro-sun light flash work is NOT the "relative" relationship of top synch speed to lowest ISO on the camera to the sunlight as when comparing the D100 to the S2 Pro for example, but the actual,physical Shutter Speed Time Interval which you shoot flash photos at. In bright sun with fast-moving subjects the actual,real SPEED of the shutter is can be critical to avoiding subject motion blurring. For BMX, motocross,or soccer in bright sunlight, fill flash is possible with a camera that can synch flash at FAST speeds, like 1/500 second. 1/125 is a joke. I've had a few days where WIND motion could not be stopped at 1/125 second,and flash was needed for macro range insect and plant photography,and entire types of photos were actually impossible to carry off with my Fuji S2 Pro's 1/125 second top speed.Fill-flash was actually impossible to do with the desired results;a very rare situation, but possible to have happen. This shot while not spectacular by any means demonstrates just how handy it is to have a camera that has a pop-up flash,incremental ISO adjustment, and a 1/500 synch flash capability,and an LCD on the back to review results.
As titled, this photograph is designed to make a point about how the mixture of diffused daylight + tungsten bulbs + electronic flash can be combined based on things like the ISO setting, the aperture value,and the shutter speed time.