How to Improve your Flash Photography

[Lady Elanore]

I thought it might be and idea to start a thread solely devoted to Flash Photography (having previously hijacked one of Gaffs threads for this subject). It seems to me that using a Flash properly is one of the most overlooked and yet difficult items to master. Having used ‘Fill Flash’ on a camera bodys for years, coupled with the usual auto type settings, I wanted to take pictures that didn’t look like the typical Office Party at Christmas shots.

I bought an external flash (Canon 430EX) and was amazed at the power of this semi Pro light. But then the problems started. I now have a Flash that can literally light up a room, so I need to learn how to balance the Flash with available lighting.

So to kick things off here is a link that Scuff provided for making a ‘better bounce card’. How a bit of paper correctly used can improve your flash photography immeasurably and all you need is a bit of Photogloss paper and a rubber band (and a pair of scissors)

Make a Better Bounce Card

Also another useful nugget of information from Scuff was this

‘I mostly use it (the Flash) for fill-in outside, the easiest way, is to use your flash Exposure Compensation and under expose your flash by a stop or 2 (experiment here). Use Aperture Priority and let the flash and camera work it out. (this doesn't work indoors or in low light as you tend to get a long exposure with aperture priority).’

The thread Focusing and metering has an example of outdoor Fill-in Flash.

Anyone who has any tips for better Flash Photography please post it in here……………I need all the help I can get for sure.

[chowy]

I have found these links useful

Flash Photography with Canon EOS Cameras - Part I.

planet neil - tangents flash photography techniques

[Lady Elanore]

I have the planet Neil link in my favorites (thanks to you know who) very interesting things to say and some great ideas.

If we get enough decent links and advice in this thread perhaps it could be made a Sticky, as the basics of Flash photography will not change over time.

[Wabey]

when i have some time, i shall have a look at these...i onlyhave the standard flash on my 400D, and although I try not to use it, learning how to use it would help a lot!

[Lady Elanore]

when i have some time, i shall have a look at these...i onlyhave the standard flash on my 400D, and although I try not to use it, learning how to use it would help a lot!

It scary how good some of the pictures on the Planet Neil look with flash. You can’t tell (well I certainly can’t) Lovely.

[GAFF]

Hopefully not standing on anyones toes but I made this thread a sticky

[Lady Elanore]

Thanks. Now we can really pester Scuff.

[Hedge]

Thanks. Now we can really pester Scuff.

I think you must be in danger of a restraining order by now.:P

[Scuff]

I know this has been posted elsewhere, but I think it is a good example of balancing flash and daylight so that it isn't obvious...

This chap was in a fairly flatly lit area, I used a 580exII with the head pointing straight up - or sideways as the camera was being held in a portrait orientation. The small white card was extended from the top of the flash. This was ample light to lift the detail from the owls feathers and balance the exposure nicely with the background.

On the original RAW file, you can see the the flash in the highlight in the eyes.

Cover up the highlight in the eyes and the picture dies!!! They are sooo important. That goes for virtually any picture of a human or animal.

Canon IdmkIII - Canon 300mm f2.8Lis - 1/200sec @ f4.5 iso 400 Aperture priority.

[Lady Elanore]

Nice. I see the little bit of card strikes again then. You don’t see many owls out in the daylight. I have heard that birds don’t always react to flashes the same as animals and that they sometimes don’t seem to register them.

[Scuff]

Nice. I see the little bit of card strikes again then. You don’t see many owls out in the daylight. I have heard that birds don’t always react to flashes the same as animals and that they sometimes don’t seem to register them.

Most wild animals will ignore the flash, they think it is lightning. They are far more likely to react to the shutter noise!

[Lady Elanore]

I made one small discovery last night in my haste to make a card reflector……………

Make sure you put it on the correct side of the flash unit. When I went to try it with the camera in Portrait, my reflector was on the underside of the flash unit (floor side), simple to rectify, but would have been simple to have don’t it properly in the first place.

Oh and Hedge, I don’t think he has noticed I am stalking him and his kit.

[Scuff]

A ring flash was used for this Volkswagen beetle......

Shhhhh - this was taken with a Sigma lens (150mm Macro) the only non Canon lens I use.

[Lady Elanore]

That is nice and horrific in equal measure.

Do the same rules apply with ring flashes as normal flashes or is the ring naturally correct for macro shots etc.

[Scuff]

That is nice and horrific in equal measure.

Do the same rules apply with ring flashes as normal flashes or is the ring naturally correct for macro shots etc.

This ring flash also supports ETTL, so basically leave it to it in that mode. This Flash has two halves so that you can vary the power of each to allow a little more creativity

[Lady Elanore]

This ring flash also supports ETTL, so basically leave it to it in that mode. This Flash has two halves so that you can vary the power of each to allow a little more creativity

I bet you still have to get a little bit closer to a monster like that than I would like. Do they do 500mm macro lenses?

[Scuff]

I bet you still have to get a little bit closer to a monster like that than I would like. Do they do 500mm macro lenses?

Errrrr - Funny you should mention that - look at the EXIF info for this image

[Lady Elanore]

God’s teeth man!!! 700mm!!!! bet your flash didn’t work at that length…………….or are we about to open a new chapter on flash extenders? They look very clever for a small outlay.

[philc]

Nice thread, must read some of these links. I have a 430EX myself, and I've borrowed a 580EX in the past, but I've never been a real fan of flash photography. Probably because I don't use it properly!

Phil

[Xavier]

Since buying a proper flash for my camera, I've been experimenting and have learnt an awful lot. Like already said, it's incredibly powerful and once you understand it, you can create some fantastic photography with off-camera flash.

Once thing I'm learning is whenever possible, always bounce the flash off something. Whether it be a bounce card attached to the flash, or a wall, ceiling, curtain, anything. This helps against sharp shadows which, whilst not too problematic if you're shooting landscape, becomes a problem with portrait stuff as the shadow is visible off the side.

The other thing I learnt the hard way was for using fill flash. If you have a relatively fast lens and want to fill flash on a very sunny day, for example to compensate for shaded eyes under a cap or hat, you can be caught out by sync speed limitations.

In my case, I had set the camera on manual, done some proper light metering only to find out that once the shot was taken, i.e. too late!, that everything was blown out. This is because flashes are generally limited to shutter speeds of up to 1/250th. They just don't work at higher speeds. So even if you manually set everything to 1/1000th, as soon as you turn the flash on, it goes back to 1/250th.

Fortunately, there is a feature known as FP (which I believe stands for focal plane) flash which allows you to have far higher shutter speeds whilst still using flash as a fill. But the feature is only available on certain flashes. For Nikon, you need an SB-600 / 800 / 900. And I guess there is a similar function with Canon

The websites listed above are great . Can I also recommend taking a look at Strobist: Lighting 101 There are some fantastic examples covering a wide range of scenarios (portraits in weddings, fill flash during daylight, night lighting)..... Well worth a read

I'll stick a few photos up when I get the chance to illustrate what I've found out

Edit: another technique I read about which I thought was interesting: at midday, the sun is often far too vertical and harsh which tends to give not such a warm, pleasing, "rounded" light. One thing you can do is change it around so the flash is the key (main source of light) and the sun is just a fill :eek: It involves using high power flashes and manually underexposing photos (so sun is not so dominant). Fascinating how a simple flash can be more powerful than the sun WIll try and dig out the link as I've probably got it all wrong

[HongKongPhooey]

One useful (if a little expensive) gadget is a remote trigger for the flash. The Canon unit uses infra-red to trigger the flash, and fits to the camera in place of the normal flash gun. You can also get cables to do this, but they're a bit unwieldy IMHO.

I get SWMBO (usually) to hold the flash either pointing directly at the subject, or aimed to bounce off a handy surface.

It's particularly handy if you're in a church or other building, for example, where it is too dark to get a photo without flash. Using the flash 'on the camera' results in a very 'flat' looking image (because the majority of the light is coming from parallel to the cameras line of sight), but with the flash coming from slightly to one side you get shadows that put back the depth to your subject.

Mind you, you have to be a bit co-ordinated ... I've often fired the shutter while SWMBO has absentmindedly wandered off to look at something else, resulting in some embarrassing blinding of other visitors

[Xavier]

Pocket Wizards are good to fire flash remotely. They use radio so don't even have to be line of sight

Only downside is that they do not convey the camera's control over metering and TTL so it's effectively a totally manually controlled flash in terms of power - the link is just a "fire the flash" command.

If you have Nikon, then you can control remote flashes automatically, including TTL. The pop-up flash will trigger and convey the control information, all in a fraction of a second. It's very smart But you have to set the in-built flash to "Commander" mode and not just TTL. Then it's just a matter of setting the remote flash to "remote" mode and it should work.

There are two downers though with this:

(a) the communication between pop-up flash of the camera and remote flash is through infrared and so you need line of sight and the range can be limited.

( the pop up flash pre-fires a set of small burst to do the metering and then send the information to the remote flash. If shooting people, this can get people starting to blink so when the shot does take place, everyone has their eyes closed But you can get a "filter which pops over the top and blanks the visible (flash) light whilst letting the IR through Must get one

I'm sure you get something similar features with Canon though. HKP: do you need a separate infrared remote control flash thingy on the Canon or can the built-in flash do it?

[HongKongPhooey]

I use a "Canon ST-E2 Speedlite Wireless Remote Flash Transmitter", which is an infra-red transmitter so requires line of sight (or near-line of sight, at least), but Canon also do flash guns that can do the same job. You set the flash on the camera body to 'Master', and any other guns to 'Slave', so you can use the setup for fairly complex lighting.

I can't vouch for the effectiveness of this, as Canon flashes are so expensive I've only ever been allowed one at a time

There is a review of the ST-E2 here and I would totally agree with the writers opinion.

The unit offers full exposure control of the flash, so it's a versatile bit of kit.

And it certainly beats the curly cord connector that I used to have ... I pulled the flash too far away once, and the bl00dy thing pinged off the hotshoe connector and took me straight in the eye :eek:

Edited 12 September, 2008 by HongKongPhooey
typo city

[Scuff]

Just to keep the thread ticking along, here is an example of balancing ambient light with flash when you have a BIG subject.

Shot on manual with a slow shutter speed to correctly expose the sky and building lights, the aperture was then set to record the flash lighting the building.

Nice effect I think you will agree.

Taken at Cambridge, Canon 1D3 with 16-35L.

[Mort]

Was that with the flash using TTL or did you set the flash manually?