Flash Tip

[The Vulcan]

I've just seen this on another forum, posted by a guy who's photography is outstanding.

I reckon it's a good tip which may be useful.

Try this technique ... I've showed this to people at weddings shooting with nice cameras with real flashes and it works for them instantly:

The camera shutter/aperture is what controls the ambient background exposure ... the TTL flash controls the foreground exposure.

As soon as you are in ambient conditions where using AV produces too slow of a shutter speed to hand hold, switch to manual mode on the camera,

set the ISO at the highest one your camera does a reasonable job with (or less if the ambient background is reasonably decent).

set the shutter speed around the focal length of the lens (1/50th if it's a 50mm),

set the lens aperture to the widest you can use and still maintain the depth of field you need (keeping in mind that the wider the lens and the further away you are, the more depth of field you will have).

These steps are easy to remember and will allow you to capture the most ambient background light possible.

Set the flash to TTL. It will light the foreground subject and do it with the least amount of flash needed. The less duration that the flash is on, the more it freezes the action.

Try it, I think you'll be amazed.

[hughden]

I've just seen this on another forum, posted by a guy who's photography is outstanding.

I reckon it's a good tip which may be useful.

Try this technique ... I've showed this to people at weddings shooting with nice cameras with real flashes and it works for them instantly:

The camera shutter/aperture is what controls the ambient background exposure ... the TTL flash controls the foreground exposure.

As soon as you are in ambient conditions where using AV produces too slow of a shutter speed to hand hold, switch to manual mode on the camera,

set the ISO at the highest one your camera does a reasonable job with (or less if the ambient background is reasonably decent).

set the shutter speed around the focal length of the lens (1/50th if it's a 50mm),

set the lens aperture to the widest you can use and still maintain the depth of field you need (keeping in mind that the wider the lens and the further away you are, the more depth of field you will have).

These steps are easy to remember and will allow you to capture the most ambient background light possible.

Set the flash to TTL. It will light the foreground subject and do it with the least amount of flash needed. The less duration that the flash is on, the more it freezes the action.

Try it, I think you'll be amazed.

A friend who shot my wedding did exactly that. Used the same manual settings for several hundred shots and they were all perfect. As we were in a room with a light coloured ceiling, he also pointed the flash gun at an angle towards the ceiling and the bounced light gave a nicely diffused effect.

[The Vulcan]

A friend who shot my wedding did exactly that. Used the same manual settings for several hundred shots and they were all perfect. As we were in a room with a light coloured ceiling, he also pointed the flash gun at an angle towards the ceiling and the bounced light gave a nicely diffused effect.

I always use a stofen diffuser on my gun, gives a nice flat light.

This image has a bit of a cluttered background but I think you can see what I mean.

[The Vulcan]

And this is a shot of a couple who asked me to photograph them on the beach.

The shutter speed is 1/500th which is double by cameras flash synch speed but using the aforementioned technique it worked. Had I been in auto etc I'd have ended up with a nigh on night shot!

The flash use just lifted the couple from the background but marries in quite nicely. (looks almost super-imposed)

[astral]

Fill in flash is always a good idea for spontaneous portraits.

[Nordlys]

set the shutter speed around the focal length of the lens (1/50th if it's a 50mm),

In my experience anything more than 1/30 of a second is too fast to catch ambient light, at ISO100 - 200 that is.

The less duration that the flash is on, the more it freezes the action.

Can that really be controlled?

Nice shots as usual Vulcan.

[The Vulcan]

Nordlys

We're talking here about ambient light during adytime hours. Even a miserable day will show 1/125th at F4. Night/dark stuff is a completely different ballgame although I still ignore basic so called "flash rules" and set-up as I see the shot outcome and use the flash merely as a fill-in light source.

These 2 shots are not that much different, taken a split second apart, one with and one without flash and both shot at 1/200th. As you can see, the background has stayed pretty similar.

And yes, most definetly flash can ne used to control/freeze the action

Edited July 20, 2009 by The Vulcan

[Nordlys]

Somebody said wedding so I quickly assumed we were talking about indoor photography here.

And yes, most definetly flash can ne used to control/freeze the action

Defnitely, but your quote in the original post states as if the duration of the time the flash fires can be controlled by setting it to TTL. My understanding was it always fires at the same speed, whatever the nano second much faster than the camera shutter speed.

I'd be intersted in seeing the beach shot without flash too if you have one and see what difference it made, if any. How do you synchronize the flash with shutter speed at 1/500 sec, or for that matter how do you know if it really did? It is a nice shot, but given how the shadow still remain so strong even with a flash, I would guess it would have turned just as nice even without daylight synchronization.

Edited July 20, 2009 by Nordlys

[astral]

Somebody said wedding so I quickly assumed we were talking about indoor photography here.

It depends on where you were brought up.

I agree about indoors, but others may not.

I'd be intersted in seeing the beach shot without flash too if you have one and see what difference it made, if any.

How do you synchronize the flash with shutter speed at 1/500 sec, or for that matter how do you know if it really did?

You may not be able to synchronise with a 1/500s.

You prpbably need to adjust the exposure combination to suit.

I know the presence of a powered on flash will force my Canon 40D to 1/200s,

the fastest sync speed.

Time to experiment I guess.

[Sunny Valentine]

Somebody said wedding so I quickly assumed we were talking about indoor photography here.

It depends on where you were brought up.

I agree about indoors, but others may not.

I'd be intersted in seeing the beach shot without flash too if you have one and see what difference it made, if any.

How do you synchronize the flash with shutter speed at 1/500 sec, or for that matter how do you know if it really did?

You may not be able to synchronise with a 1/500s.

You prpbably need to adjust the exposure combination to suit.

I know the presence of a powered on flash will force my Canon 40D to 1/200s,

the fastest sync speed.

Time to experiment I guess.

Try the High Speed Synch function (on Canon flashes). Then the flash will fire with less power, but for a longer period. This way you can sync with 1/8000 Sec, too. But: You use some power! Try it out, it is well worth it.

In fill flash situations I have always set the flash for HiSpeed, unless I really really ned the power! Once the speed calculated by the Cam (in AV mode) is 1/250 or less, the flash fires regularily. But once the background light demands a faster speed, the High Speed kicks in.

Sunny

[Pooklook]

A friend who shot my wedding did exactly that. Used the same manual settings for several hundred shots and they were all perfect. As we were in a room with a light coloured ceiling, he also pointed the flash gun at an angle towards the ceiling and the bounced light gave a nicely diffused effect.

In almost all of my flash shots I don’t aim the flash directly at the subject.

This gives the image a very balanced light in the foreground and lets the

ambient light be all it can be. I shoot with the 580EXII and often put the

flash on manual and adjust the power of the flash to even out the light.

The angle of the flash is something you can experiment with also. You

can achieve a professional look with bounced light from a single flash.