This first series are all in-camera JPEGs, no post-processing except the scaling down to 800pixel long dimension for posting on the web
Program, No Exposure Compensation, Fill Flash
The EXIF data is not showing any Flash Exposure Compensation. Note how badly washed out the left background wall has become. Flash is a 430EX II on an EOS 50D
Program, -1 Exposure Compensation, Fill Flash
Background wall is getting better, not much change on the fursuits; so the flash exposure appears to be compensating for the -1 background change.
Program, -2 Exposure Compensation, No Flash
Well, the left background wall is now correctly exposed, but obviously with no flash at all the fursuiters are just a mass of fuzzy shadows. I believe the exposure that should have been set would have been -2 Exposure Compensation, with at least a +1 Flash Compensation to bring the whites of the fursuits "white".
A series shot at a recent wedding; I was not the official photographer. These illustrate in-camera JPEGs vs post-processed RAW, both scaled down to web-postable JPEG format. Aperture Priority at f5.6, Tamron 28-75 f2.8 on EOS 50D, 430EX II flash.
In-Camera JPEG, Fill Flash
I suspect that this is a photo where High-Speed Flash would have been better suited, presuming I was still within the working distance for that mode. Instead we see this rather overexposed shot since the shutter speed was maxed at 1/250s which is the fastest flash sync speed the camera supports.
Processed (and lightly cropped) RAW, Fill Flash
I was able to pull out details in the whites which were blown out by in-camera JPEG conversion. However, the process did leave some harsh shadows, as if no fill flash had been used.
In Adobe Camera Raw, I had to adjust Exposure: -2, Highlight Recovery: 100 (maximum, this darkens just the top brightness levels), Fill Light: 22 (this raises just the darkest parts for shadows), Blacks: 15 (adjusts where the darkest black is). Essentially, Exposure, Recovery, and Blacks were all adjusted to make the image darker; Fill Light then was used to lighten the shadows.
In-Camera JPEG, No Flash
Processed RAW, No Flash
Recovery: 18, Fill Light: 50
Not much needed for the highlight whites, the JPEG is almost acceptable for them; however, the shadows were significantly improved with the Fill Light slider.
