Totally confused by ETTL

I have a Canon 40D with a 430EXII flash. I shoot 100% of the time in Manual. Essentially, when I shoot with the flash I bounce every time as shooting straight almost never seems to look anything but washed out or give harsh shadows to the subject.

My question is regarding ETTL. I don't really meter, I just pick the aperture for my desired affect, adjust the ISO up to 800 as needed and take the picture. If it's too dark/light I adjust the exposure compensation and/or ISO. Am I even using ETTL?

I'm looking into going off camera with the flash and wonder if I need something compatible with ETTL as I'm not sure if I'm even using it?

Thanks...

me too, that's why I use manual flash.

how I shoot with off camera flash in manual:

put camera in M.
shutter max sync speed 1/250
aperture depending on amount of ambient I want, that is f2.8 more ambient f12 less ambient.

adjust as necessary, that is if low light go shutter down to hand holdable. bump iso as necessary, or increase power of flash. Check lcd for correct exp, shoot few test shots...

My understanding of E-TTL is also pretty limited, but from what I understand here is the basic idea behind it:

1. Take a shot while an E-TTL compatible flash (ex. your 430EX II) and the camera are connected in some E-TTL compatible way (ex. hotshoe, or hotshoe extension cord, E-TTL radio transmitter).
2. The speedlight sends out a flash.
3. The camera records a temporary image and analyzes the amount of light in that image. Your camera settings can allow you to set it to correct exposure for the whole image or the area that your auto focus is focused on. The camera then determines whether it needs more or less light and makes adjustments to correct the light on the next flash. Using the lens (and sometimes built in speedlight technology I believe) the camera also notes the distance the subject is from the camera. This helps it come up with a better calculation for how much it needs to adjust the light.
4. A second flash is sent out by the speedlight, this time with either increased or decreased brightness to achieve better lighting.

Everything from 1-4 happens in a fraction of a second so fast that you won't even see it as 2 flashes. To the human eye the first flash, exchange of information, then second flash, happens so fast that it isn't even noticed.

From my own experiences, you can't get accurate E-TTL adjustments when you bounce a light. If you are bouncing the light off of a ceiling or something similar i doesn't seem to be able to calculate an accurate adjustment. I don't deal with E-TTL very often so this is just from a very small observation that I have made from the couple times I have tried it out. I am also interested if I too was just using it incorrectly, or if bouncing light or using light modifiers just mess up E-TTL.

Great information, thanks!

I'm sure I'm way off base on this, but it feels like ETTL is just another auto setting to get the "correct" exposure but certainly not the "best" exposure. I'm sure I need more practice with the flash to know for sure. I have to think there are plenty of people using it and getting great results.

from what i gather there's not much to control with e-ttl. if i'm using off camera or doing a more 'studio' type shoot compared to a candid one then i'll use manual on the flash guns.
if shooting in manual then you are controlling the ambient with shutter speed, iso will control the overall lighting & aperture might not be doing much at all if in e-ttl as the flash will adjust itself to suit..... is that right??
if i was using on camera e-ttl & bouncing i'd be looking at at least +1 FEC on average i'd guess.

You do often need to add a little exposure compensation with E-TTL, as it seems to cut off when the highlights are correctly exposed. You often want the highlights a little overexposed, so +1 FEC would be a common setting.

In most cases direct flash is unpleasantly harsh. I recommend looking into modifiers like brollies or softboxes (you can even make your own), to soften the light. The results look much better, especially when you've taken the flash off the camera. E-TTL can cope with that just fine, as it simply measures the light that reaches the camera. As others have said, if E-TTL seems too confusing, trial and error with manual settings can get you there too.

Madweasel wrote in post #11944368
In most cases direct flash is unpleasantly harsh.

Exactly. And off-camera flash with modifiers is again a totally different type of light.

ETTL works great with off camera Speedlights in softboxes.

The best way to practice this is to use a sunset as a backdrop. Use two Speedlights in small softboxes, close to a subject. Place one flash at 45 degrees off camera left. Then place the other flash BEHIND the subject, directly opposite your main flash. They should be pointing at each other, but both out of frame. The flash behind will be your hairlight.

With that setup, and your flashes in ETTL (wireless triggers work best), play around in MANUAL. Take various shots exposing for the sunset backdrop. Then try underexposing the backdrop.

This is the situation where ETTL really shines. You should see a rich color sunset behind a proper exposure portrait.

You need to play around in MANUAL and learn what settings get the best rich colors.

Florida_Photography wrote in post #11944093
From my own experiences, you can't get accurate E-TTL adjustments when you bounce a light. If you are bouncing the light off of a ceiling or something similar i doesn't seem to be able to calculate an accurate adjustment. I don't deal with E-TTL very often so this is just from a very small observation that I have made from the couple times I have tried it out. I am also interested if I too was just using it incorrectly, or if bouncing light or using light modifiers just mess up E-TTL.

Recent experimentation which Leo (PaceAce -- moderator) and I have done with bounce or the use of softbox light modifiers finds that ETTL handles bounce quite well, but sppedlight in softbox modifier results (overexposure vs. underexposure) is somewhat dependent upon what lens is used, possible lenses which do not report distance vs. those that do report distance might be the determinant.

Flash straight ahead

Play around with it. Learn how it's metering the scene. It's center weighing, so you may want to use FEL if the area around the center AF spot is lighter or darker than what the subject is, especially if you are focusing and recomposing.

You mixed the quality of light (i.e., harsh shadows) and exposure. I can't say anything about the harshness of direct flash (I used a modifier on direct flash - a Sto-Fen) but the exposure with flash is Canon's achilles heel.

Set your camera's E-TTL setting to AVERAGE, not the default of ETTL and you'll get 1000% better flash exposure. Outdoors the ETTL default is just fine; indoors, however, use AVERAGE.

BestVisuals wrote in post #11944849
Set your camera's E-TTL setting to AVERAGE, not the default of ETTL and you'll get 1000% better flash exposure. Outdoors the ETTL default is just fine; indoors, however, use AVERAGE.

How/Where do you set this?

Watch this Video by Canon, it may answer some questions

http://cpn.canon-europe.com …asterclass/cano​n_flash.do

Depending on which mode you are using when shooting will determine how the camera exposes the scene.
In Av mode the camera sets the shutter speed to properly expose the background and uses the flash to light the subject. This can result in very long exposures depending on ambient light.
In Tv mode the camera sets the aperture based on ambient light and fills in with the flash.
In M mode you set the shutter, up to max synch, and aperture and the camera uses the flash to expose the subjects properly.
If you have P mode then that will set shutter, 1/60 or 1/125 and aperture to expose properly.

Indoors I use M mode and set my shutter typically to 1/60 and f/8. If I want to take a night portrait where the background is important I use Av mode and a tripod.

Buy yourself Syl Arena's new book. Speedliters handbook. It covers this and much much more in depth.

sandro9mm wrote in post #11944078
me too, that's why I use manual flash.

how I shoot with off camera flash in manual:

put camera in M.
shutter max sync speed 1/250
aperture depending on amount of ambient I want, that is f2.8 more ambient f12 less ambient.

adjust as necessary, that is if low light go shutter down to hand holdable. bump iso as necessary, or increase power of flash. Check lcd for correct exp, shoot few test shots...

Ambient light is controlled by the shutter speed. When you're using flash the ISO and aperture expose for your subject, and the shutter speed controls your ambient light.

Once you set your ISO and aperture, you subject's exposure won't change when you change the shutter speed, but you will see changes in the background.

THIS is a good article on using speedlights, with examples on how shutter speed affects your image.