Flash is confusing me...

[arkphotos]

I recently got a flash & feel totally confused. I have read and practiced and think I may be starting to understand a little.

I would appreciate it if someone can review & comment if I am totally off base ...

Shooting a 40D, and 430ex ii (on-camera, using e-ttl2)
I set CF IV-3 - back focus, lock metering with shutter

Scenario:
Scene has a dark portion and a light portion - say indoors, person standing next to a bright window.

In the old days (BF - Before Flash),
I would need to decide if I wanted the dark or light portion exposed correctly, and either spot meter or dial in the exposure I wanted.

Now, using flash, I can ...

1) Decide what in the foreground I want exposed by the flash
2) Lock flash exposure using * button
3) Spot meter the brightest portion I want exposed correctly (shooting Av or Tv),
4) Lock the ambient metering to expose the ouside bright window with a half-shutter press
5) Recompose, focus & shoot

With all this I should be able to get the outside correctly exposed from ambient light, the darker subject exposed correctly using flash, and its even possible to have focus set on another part of the image.

Then to make things complicated :), I need to worry about the light falloff -
and anything in front of my dark subject will likely be over exposed by the flash (bouncing flash should help this?)

Is this anywhere close to correct?

thanks,
- one confused flasher

[breathless]

I recently got a flash & feel totally confused. I have read and practiced and think I may be starting to understand a little.

I would appreciate it if someone can review & comment if I am totally off base ...

Shooting a 40D, and 430ex ii (on-camera, using e-ttl2)
I set CF IV-3 - back focus, lock metering with shutter

Scenario:
Scene has a dark portion and a light portion - say indoors, person standing next to a bright window.

In the old days (BF - Before Flash),
I would need to decide if I wanted the dark or light portion exposed correctly, and either spot meter or dial in the exposure I wanted.

Now, using flash, I can ...

1) Decide what in the foreground I want exposed by the flash
2) Lock flash exposure using * button
3) Spot meter the brightest portion I want exposed correctly (shooting Av or Tv),
4) Lock the ambient metering to expose the ouside bright window with a half-shutter press
5) Recompose, focus & shoot

With all this I should be able to get the outside correctly exposed from ambient light, the darker subject exposed correctly using flash, and its even possible to have focus set on another part of the image.

Then to make things complicated :), I need to worry about the light falloff -
and anything in front of my dark subject will likely be over exposed by the flash (bouncing flash should help this?)

Is this anywhere close to correct?

thanks,
- one confused flasher

What part of the above is confusing? Is the resulting image not what you expected?

[Lotto]

You get the right idea, couple points:

1) I think it would be easier to use M mode on the camera for BG exposure, so there no chance of the exposure value shifting when recompose.

2) I am not sure on the 40D, but on my older cameras, I can only use FEC with the * button when CF is on 4-0.

[Titus213]

I use Cf4-1 to focus using * button. So I meter in M with the camera for my highlights (the bright window) and let ETTL take care of the foreground - basically what Lotto said.

Lotto- you mean FEL rather than FEC?

Your write-up is OK but it does sound a lot more complicated than it really is.

[arkphotos]

thanks all - I am just trying to get a handle on flash - just starting to understand what the idea of '2 exposures in 1 shot' means.