Flash Help

[fotojoem]

I have strayed away from flask photography because I never really cared for the look of a shot in low light conditions where the flash makes the subject look blown relative to the surroundings. Can any offer advice on how to control this effect with 430?

Thanks in advance

Joe

[scot079]

-Bouncing the light off a large surface (preferably white) like a wall or ceiling.

-Using gels to match your flash output to the ambient

[Zansho]

Or learn about how to control your flash. Your 430 should be able to be controlled manually if I remember correctly. Learn about the Guide number of your flash, and its output based on those numbers.

Down and dirty:

GN (according to manual) of your 430 is 141 (in feet) at full power, at ISO 100

Your ambient light reads at ISO 100, 1/125th of a second at F8. You want your flash to be one stop under that, which is F5.6

Simple calculation would be: GN/Aperture = Distance (which is how far away you place your flash from the subject to achieve that exposure)

in this case - 141/5.6 = 25.17 feet.

Your flash needs to be 25 feet away from your subject to achieve 5.6 at full power.

Now, you can control the output of the flash too, to down at little as 1/64th power. Simply do the math from there, and it's pretty easy.

[DC Fan]

Try shutter priority with a slow shutter speed - what's known in some circles as "dragging the shutter." (http://planetneil.com/tangents/2008/02/29/dragging-the-shutter-revisited/)

When your use flash and the subject is fairly close, the flash will determine the illumination of the subject; that exposure will be controlled by flash power and lens aperture. Exposure of the background is controlled by shutter speed, just the same as if you were exposing for the ambient light. With flash, the slower the shutter speed, the more ambient light you use.

The tough part of dragging the shutter is that it's hard to hold the camera still for the slow speeds - 1/10-1/30 aren't unusual - you'll need to get more ambient light in the frame. That's where an image stabilizer lens comes in handy, even a wide-angle lens.

[Zansho]

Try shutter priority with a slow shutter speed - what's known in some circles as "dragging the shutter." (http://planetneil.com/tangents/2008/02/29/dragging-the-shutter-revisited/)

When your use flash and the subject is fairly close, the flash will determine the illumination of the subject; that exposure will be controlled by flash power and lens aperture. Exposure of the background is controlled by shutter speed, just the same as if you were exposing for the ambient light. With flash, the slower the shutter speed, the more ambient light you use.

The tough part of dragging the shutter is that it's hard to hold the camera still for the slow speeds - 1/10-1/30 aren't unusual - you'll need to get more ambient light in the frame. That's where an image stabilizer lens comes in handy, even a wide-angle lens.

There's a couple of issues with this. First, people DO move during that 1/10th of a second, and relying on the flash to "freeze" them isn't always foolproof. They still can move significantly during that 1/10th of a second, and some ghosting will occur. Secondly, if he's shooting a person, a wide angle lens is NOT what you want. What you DO want, is a faster lens - 1.4, 1.8. Wide angle tends to distort people's features, and make them look fatter than they really are :P.

[RPCrowe]

The introduction to this informative web site reads, "
"These pages were originally written to help other photographers who struggle with on-camera flash. But they were also written as a reaction against the snobbery of the purists who insist on using available light only - even when it looks terrible. "
I totally agree with that premise. Flash, creatively used, doesn't have to give the "scared deer in the headlights" effect.

http://planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

[fotojoem]

-Bouncing the light off a large surface (preferably white) like a wall or ceiling.

-Using gels to match your flash output to the ambient
Thanks for the help

[fotojoem]

Or learn about how to control your flash. Your 430 should be able to be controlled manually if I remember correctly. Learn about the Guide number of your flash, and its output based on those numbers.

Down and dirty:

GN (according to manual) of your 430 is 141 (in feet) at full power, at ISO 100

Your ambient light reads at ISO 100, 1/125th of a second at F8. You want your flash to be one stop under that, which is F5.6

Simple calculation would be: GN/Aperture = Distance (which is how far away you place your flash from the subject to achieve that exposure)

in this case - 141/5.6 = 25.17 feet.

Your flash needs to be 25 feet away from your subject to achieve 5.6 at full power.

Now, you can control the output of the flash too, to down at little as 1/64th power. Simply do the math from there, and it's pretty easy.
That help a lot, Hows life in Austin? I have spent many day's recovering from 6th st.
I am from Houston.

[Bob_A]

The introduction to this informative web site reads, "
"These pages were originally written to help other photographers who struggle with on-camera flash. But they were also written as a reaction against the snobbery of the purists who insist on using available light only - even when it looks terrible. "
I totally agree with that premise. Flash, creatively used, doesn't have to give the "scared deer in the headlights" effect.

http://planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/


This is a great read. Thanks for posting the link.

[DC Fan]

An example of the real-world application of dragging the shutter, as described in the earlier message. Both from a Rebel XTi, an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens and a 380ex flash:

http://www.fansview.com/2008/08-14-2008a-0209.jpg

Exposure time: 1/60 (standard sync speed for the XTi)
F-stop: 4.0
Focal length: 18mm

http://www.fansview.com/2008/08-14-2008a-0211.jpg

Exposure time: 1/15 (in Tv mode)
F-stop: 3.5
Focal length: 18mm

The goal was to get full-body images of people in costume. Distance to subject was around eight feet. Using the 50mm f/1.8 lens I carried would have have made that distance impractical for the often-crowded conditions under which the picture was taken. Also, overhead lighting in the area wasn't always pointing in the correct direction to illuminate people in costume.

No motion blur at 1/15 on the IS lens. No apparent weight gain. :)

[René Damkot]

There's a couple of issues with this. First, people DO move during that 1/10th of a second, and relying on the flash to "freeze" them isn't always foolproof. They still can move significantly during that 1/10th of a second, and some ghosting will occur. Secondly, if he's shooting a person, a wide angle lens is NOT what you want. What you DO want, is a faster lens - 1.4, 1.8. Wide angle tends to distort people's features, and make them look fatter than they really are :P.

The extent of "freeze" will depend on the amount of ambient on the subject.

Have a look here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=6129805).

Wide angle is okay, as long as the peoples heads aren't in the extreme corners, and you aren't too close ;)

For nightclub shots for instance, most people shoot at 20mm or so (FF equiv.) and stop down to f/4 for adequate DoF.

1/60 (standard sync speed for the XTi)

No it isn't ;)
Flash X-Sync: 1/200 sec