What flash will give me results like these?!?!?

[jdubb21]

My friend is a nightclub promoter, and wants me to shoot for his clubs. For some extra change also. but of course im gonna need the right equipment.

im workin with a 20D, default lens.


http://higherelevation.smugmug.com/gallery/2550005#P-14-9



what flash will give me results like those??

[coreypolis]

anything from a vivitar to a q flash

its all about technique, hot to diffuse it (if that even was), modify it, and hwo to allow ambient light in. spend some time in the stickies at the top of the forum.

[Curtis N]

Take yer pick.

Any flash unit will light people up 4 feet in front of the lens. What's most important in a dark environment like that is to have a dedicated flash with an AF assist light. There are many models from both Canon and aftermarket brands that have an AF assist light and would work fine in that environment.

The shadows on those look soft enough, there might have been a softbox (http://lumiquest.com/lq925.htm) on the flash head.

[vondo]

A friend of mine takes pics like this. Anything with a bounce head should be fine. Rubberband a 3x5 index card to the flash head and shoot with the flash pointed straight up. That'll at least get you started.

[bundybear]

but first your going to need 3 good looking models!!

[White_Marten]

I would also recomend to consider, perhaps, a small softbox to the flash, shall do the trick not to make light harsh))Good luck!

[chris clements]

The manufacturers' label doesn't make the picture - the photographer does.
Any gun can acheive these results in the right hands.

You can't buy experience/technique.

[speedracersong]

from what i have been observing, its a really simple set up. the last setup i saw consisted of a canon xt, kit lens, and a sigma 500 flash.

you have to consider that majority of the club people are accustomed to there small point and shoots with internal flash. any external flash and decent camera setup will produce more than satisfactory results for the clubbers. in addition, a small majority and i mean really small well actually print these pictures out. the pictures will be most likely linked online.

in conclusion, dont bring/buy nice camera stuff to a club. you will being dealing with drunk people and low expectations.

[Terry_Hill]

If you scan through these forums there are some really good club shots. Better than the ones in the link by a long way and its more a matter of balancing the ambient light portion of your shot with the flash to freeze and higlight the subject in the fore ground. This makes the shot look like they are in a club rather than just a protrait with a dark background like so many club shots end up.

Like it has been said above though this takes experience not a piece of specialist kit so any half decent flash will do.

edit: took a quick trawl myself and this guy hits the mark pretty well and the thread below has some settings you might want to try to get started.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=2114926#post2114926

[Yella Fella]

wow those are really nice flash shots!

always thought you suppose to up the ISO in clubs and stuff and shoot wide open?

[Curtis N]

wow those are really nice flash shots!Honestly, I wasn't all that impressed. Most of them aren't focused very well, and the backgrounds are dark. They could have been taken with [green box] mode.

[Yella Fella]

I quite liked the framing/composition, but when I tried some of this, i tend to up the ISO to around 800, or is that not the done thing?

I see a lot of people using F4 rather than shooting wide open, guess to keep a bit of sharpness

Would you use full on full power flash for these situations, or even set FEC flash to 0, bounced? Possibly Diffused?

I have the lumiquest 80/20, and that seems to give different results compared to the stofen

[Curtis N]

With subjects as close as those in the link above, just about any flash unit has enough power to illuminate them at ISO 100 and moderate apertures.

But if you want to brighten the background, you need to expose that background just like any other ambient light shot. That means relatively slow shutter, wide aperture and high ISO when the environment is dark.

Bouncing might be a possibility depending on the ceiling. Without a good bouncing surface, your best bet is to make the light source larger with a softbox, Lumiquest Pocket Bouncer or similar attachment. Even the Lumiquest 80/20 can work, albeit inefficiently.

E-TTL mode with FEC at +2/3 would be my starting point.

[Yella Fella]

thats a lot of flash power surely at +2/3? never even tried above 0 before!

Might have to try this soft box, which is the best one, lumiquest variants?

For my previous night time shots, i used to use roughly iso 800, shutter speed of around 1/30 and 1/40 at aperture of F2.8/F4

Surely a higher F number results in less light, but also does that mean flash has to work harder?

[Curtis N]

Surely a higher F number results in less light, but also does that mean flash has to work harder?You say that like it's a bad thing. ;)

Let's do the math.
Zoomed to 35mm coverage (22mm on a 1.6x camera), the 580EX has a GN of 36 meters, or about 120 feet.

So if the subjects are 5 1/2 feet away you'll need full power to shoot at f/22 and ISO 100 (120/5.5=22).
1/4 power to shoot at f/11.
1/16 power to shoot at f/5.6.
1/32 power to shoot at f/4
1/128 power to shoot at f/4 and ISO 400.

Sure, you'll loose a stop or two with a softbox. But I hope you can see that even a flash with modest power can handle those distances with low ISO and moderate apertures. It won't even need to grunt!

I have the Lumiquest Softbox (http://lumiquest.com/lq925.htm)which works nice. Others have recommended the Westcott Micro Apollo (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=62832&is=REG&addedTroughType=search).

[Yella Fella]

I hear you Curtis... just in the past I always read and understood that to bring in more background light etc in a dark (esp club environment) and low light lit place, you have to up the ISO and shoot wide open?

I got baffled when start seeing people shoot with F4 or 5.6, again surely that lessons the amount of light coming through? Or is that literally for the flash to work harder?

On another note, when the flash works harder, has that got anything to do with what power you set the flash at? I take it that it tends to work with bounced flash more than direct right? As only the first set of people will be lit, whilst the people behind will slowly fade out? Or is that when you change the aperture?

[René Damkot]

Look at a fill flash photo as two exposures combined into one: One for the ambient, one for the flash.
Ambient lighting is controlled by ISO, aperture and shuttertime, flash is controlled by ISO, aperture and flash power.
If you close the aperture or lower ISO, less ambient will come in (unless you pick a longer shuttertime) and the flash will have to work harder.

Flash is controlled by ETTL mostly, so within limits, flash exposure will take care of itself regardless of ISO and aperture.

Generally speaking I choose an aperture based on the DoF I need, and set a shuttertime to allow enough ambient. (I'm at high ISO anyways, so don't have to choose there ;))

[Yella Fella]

only issue is with slow shutter speeds, we get hand shake, but i take flash will freeze the majority of motion

[René Damkot]

If there is no ambient light hitting the subject,you won't see motion ;)

You might want to have a read in this thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=269668) as well.