how could I have done this better?

[Elaine]

This was taken at about 8pm, so it was getting dark. I really tried to not completely blow out the sky, but I had to bring up the shadows a lot, along with some other tweaks to even make it this light. Since it was late evening, I'm not wanting to make it look like it was mid-day, but what could I have done to make this better? Would a bit of on-camera flash have helped? Ideally, would a bit of off-camera flash have helped, placed lower left?
Also...should I have used a much smaller aperture to try and keep the people and the building in focus? I focused on the people, but because they are kinda dark, your eye goes to the building and then...oops, kinda soft!

I'd appreciate some pointers here!

Elaine

PS (The camera is placed on a picnic table as this is a self-portrait.)

http://e-heasley.smugmug.com/photos/144463996-L.jpg

[pathfinder]

Elaine,
A little fill flash would help balance the forground and the background lighting better, to give a little more pop in the forground.

Shoot in Av with the flash in ETTL on a Canon - maybe a little -FEC as well. Using an EOS flash in ETTL, with the camera in Av, will expose for the background ( may need a tripod - the shutter speed can be too long to handhold) and the flash will expose for the forground.

OR put the camera in Manual mode for the background and set the aperture and shutter speed as needed for the background exposure, and use the flash in ETTL for the forground. The flash may need to have High Speed Synch turned on if the shutter speed needed is higher than 1/250th.

This will work for a Canon system. You may need to translate it for Minolta system flash.

If using a fixed manual electronic flash, keep in mind that aperture dictates flash exposure, and shutter speed controls ambient light exposure (background). You can use aperture and shutter speed with the Maxxum, in total Manual Mode, to set the balance of ambient versus flash lighting.


Getting the flash off camera is always a good thing too.