Help I feel really Dumb!

[KarinaS]

I was wondering if someone could help me understand a particular technique my new boss uses. I have just been employed by a professional photographer as an assistant doing wedding photography. He uses flash all the time, rarely using ambient light. He explained to me to put my camera in manual mode with the maximum sync speed of 200 and then just pick an aperture I thought suitable for the shot. He also said to use compensation of 1 to 2 stops for bright sun etc as well. His photos turn out great, with backgrounds burned in nicely, but I cannot get my head around how it works! I always used to use aperture priority with the same result but sometimes got scared that the speed was to slow for hand holding as he insists that you shouldnt need a tripod even at dusk (unless using ambient light) Can you sort of give me an idea of how his style works with a flat speed of 200 and any aperture and it still turns out great? As I said, I cannot get a grip how this works and am frightened of doing it because I dont understand it but feel a bit of a fool having to ask him again. I hope you can help me. By the way, he also told me I should never use av doing wedding photos, and should always use m. If the camera is automatically adjusting the shutter to match the aperture, isn't it the exactly the same to use the camera to measure both aperture and shutter and manually using the same settings? Thanks SOOOO much!
Karina

[tim]

Don't feel dumb, it's not obvious. The "trick" is in the ETTL. ETTL tells the camera to do a preflash, using the reflected light and it's inbuilt metering it works out how bright the flash will have to be to properly expose the scene with the current camera settings, then fires the flash at the correct power. Flash Exposure compensation is used when you know the camera won't get it quite right, it's just tweaking the power of the main flash. The speed you use is also irrelevant unless you want to use ambient light, as the flash duration is much shorter than 1/200th of a second.

There's loads of information in the EOS flash sticky (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=46599) in this forum, have a read there and it'll all become clear :)

Hope that helps :)

[PacAce]

Besides the links Tim pointed you to, you might also want to take a look at this thread as a similar question to yours was asked and, hopefully, answered.

http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=73693

[drisley]

Wouldn't you be overexposing outdoor images at 1/200s?

[KarinaS]

That was my worry, but the photos come out perfect!

[drisley]

I guess you adjust exposure with the aperture?

[PhotosGuy]

Congrats on getting a 'dream job' with someone who knows what he's doing & willing to help you out! You're going to learn a lot!
RE: "As I said, I cannot get a grip how this works and am frightened of doing it because I dont understand it but feel a bit of a fool having to ask him again." Take the above advice. More important, get a friend & go take a lot of pics on "M" 'till you get a feel for what is happening. Then ask for more input from him if you still need it.

RE:Can you sort of give me an idea of how his style works with a flat speed of 200 and any aperture and it still turns out great?I don't think he's using "Any aperature"! I think he's using "M" & setting the f-stop to match the ambient light, then the flash is providing a "fill light".
Does that help?

[kjonnnn]

Is this film or digital. I've done this with film before. Set the camera manual and the flash took care of the exposure. Film is forgiving in the print.

[S230]

Unfortuantely this is something where a Nik*n seems to do better because of the higher sync speed 1/500 sec. I tried with the rebel and was really no match for it. What I did was tried by reflecting the light by using a diffuser. I am still working on this myself to get it right.
What camera was your boss using?

[KarinaS]

Sorry for the delay
A nikon with a sync speed of 250th
Cheers Karina

[KarinaS]

Kjohnnnn,
Can you even do that with serious backlighting issues etc? You would still have to work out an exposure etc?
Sigh, will this all ever come to me naturally without such a brain strain!
Karina

[Mocking-DX]

i was reading the flash section recently:
here's what i learned--use full manual and meter the bright background light, set your shutter speed to 200(or whatever speed not exceeding the max flash syn speed) then adjust the aperture for proper background exposure
then step down the flash EV to -1 1/3 to -1 2/3
i still have to try this one out though
hope this helps
good luck--although you so much luck finding a willing pro to teach or employ you already