Feedback on my mall photos made me stop using flash entirely

A guy on Flickr told me my shots of the abandoned food court in the Westgate Mall looked like crime scene photos, so now I just bump up the ISO and lean on the natural light from those skylights, and the difference is night and day - anyone else get harsh critique that actually improved their dead mall photography?

2 comments

2 Comments

hollym121mo ago

Those Westgate Mall skylights are practically made for this... I still remember getting roasted in the '09 Flickr thread for my flash-brightened shots of the old Orange Julius stand. Honestly, that harsh feedback was the best thing that happened to my photos, even if it stung at the time.

karen_sanchez101mo ago

Getting roasted in the '09 Flickr thread" oh man, that brings back memories. I still cringe thinking about my own mall photos from back then, all washed out with flash. But you're totally right, that kind of sharp feedback is golden if you let it be. Here's the thing I've learned the hard way with those skylights - meter for the highlights, not the dark spots below. Your camera wants to brighten everything up, but if you let the windows go a little blown out, you lose all that nice soft light bouncing around. Try spot metering off the brightest part of the floor near the skylight and see what happens, your shutter speed will slow down but the whole mood changes.