General flash issues with D30/D60/10D

[GenEOS]

Has anyone else found that by angling your flash upwards about 30 degrees, even when there is nothing to bounce the light off of, that you get a much nicer, less harsh shot?

I have found this to be true, even shooting football on poorly lit fields. I have gotten, nice results, practically shooting in the dark, at asa 1000, 1/200th at f2.8

I have also found it works to bounce my flash from the ceilings of poorly lit gyms and got very nice soft lit results.

I even tried to bounce off the ceiling of the astrodome in Houston on a high school football game they refused to turn on all the lights for...

I don't know what it is, but my D60 produces some really harsh photos when the flash is aimed directly at the subjectss..

Of course, if you think I am just wacked, let me know that too...

[maderito]

GenEOS wrote:
Has anyone else found that by angling your flash upwards about 30 degrees, even when there is nothing to bounce the light off of, that you get a much nicer, less harsh shot?

...

I even tried to bounce off the ceiling of the astrodome in Houston on a high school football game they refused to turn on all the lights for.

Softening the light from electronic flashes is a constant theme in flash photography. See http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index3.html#bounce .

I almost always use the Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce diffuser - http://www.stofen.com - which gives good results, but nothing like studio lighting with large softboxes.

I would be curious to see a photo taken by bouncing the flash off the Houston Astrodome. That's one huge umbrella reflector!!

[GenEOS]

I shoot mainly sports, so I don't have a lot of (well any) stuio experience. My main focus is justtrying to do the job of a 1D with a D60. It is very frustrating at times. The flash tricks seem to work well though, at higher asa, 800 and 1000, the bounced or angled flash trick gives just enough light to the subjects, and does not make them see spots!

[andrej]

Interesting. I do the same. Namely, shoot sports with my D60. I shoot mainly outdoor soccer so there is nothing to bounce off ;)

What's your experience with D60? I find it too slow. It would have been great to have 1D with 8 p/s :) Do you have a web gallery?

Do you know about any sport specific forum, when pj hang out and exchange their experience?

[scottbergerphoto]

If you look at flash pictures taken with the flash angled upward at no reflecting surface (outdoors) the upper portion of the picture is bright and the lower half is usually dark. To remedy this you can take a 3"x5" index card and attach it vertically to the angled flash head with a rubber band. This will force some light to be reflected forward. Nikon includes a similiar pullout card built in to their more powerful flashes.
Scott

[Thomas]

Hi everyone,
You may be interested to visit this site
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/
It is a good one.

Regards,

Thomas

[billfranklin]

GenEOS, What camera program were you using, Manual, program, AV, TV? My guess is that the exposusres you were getting were from ambient light and not the flash. Ambient light would give you a much softer picture than any small, on camera flash, bounced or not.

Bill F.