Tried HSS and ETTL with on camera flash - what happened?

The basic method would really work in this situation. Set the camera to Manual Mode and the speedlight to ETTL. Now point the camera at the background, take an exposure reading, then underexpose it by 1 1/3 to 1 2/3 stops. The flash will expose the subject correctly and the background will be dark as desired.

See this link: Balancing flash and ambient exposure

bobbyz wrote in post #12476470
For one/two person shots like these, it should not be that hard as OP has no modifer on the flash and flash is quite close to the subject (I guess).

Hey Bobby:

thanks for chiming in. Actually, I was using my home-made bounce card. Flash straight up and a 4 x 6 white foam core bounce card tilted forward a bit.

dave

PixelMagic wrote in post #12476513
The basic method would really work in this situation. Set the camera to Manual Mode and the speedlight to ETTL. Now point the camera at the background, take an exposure reading, then underexpose it by 1 1/3 to 1 2/3 stops. The flash will expose the subject correctly and the background will be dark as desired.

See this link: Balancing flash and ambient exposure

Pixel:

thanks for the link. VERY useful. Lots of good stuff down the right hand side menu. Bookmarked for future reference.

I'm going to try the HSS in ETTL mode dropping the BG exposure 1.5 stops or so and snap a few more shots. Working from home the rest of this week so I can get out there with the sun blazing away!

dave

You're welcome....his books are even better. Make sure you check out this link too: http://neilvn.com …hniques/6-flash-outdoors/

snyderman wrote in post #12476760
Pixel:

thanks for the link. VERY useful. Lots of good stuff down the right hand side menu. Bookmarked for future reference.

I'm going to try the HSS in ETTL mode dropping the BG exposure 1.5 stops or so and snap a few more shots. Working from home the rest of this week so I can get out there with the sun blazing away!

dave

not sure but from the first pic the sun was in front. thus the high shutter speed.

on the second...
sun was on back cam left. thus the slow shutter speed.

on pic 1 the sun was acting as mainlight thus the high shutter speed. on the 2nd the sun acting as backlight... and you flash as mainlight.

if you really want to darken the sky... try aperture prio the - 2 exp comp matrix metering and just FC. ... now the question is... will the flash able to cope with the higher shutter speed. ( hss loses flash power )


basing on the shadows on the picture.

aerosmith9110 wrote in post #12476906
not sure but from the first pic the sun was in front. thus the high shutter speed.

on the second...
sun was on back cam left. thus the slow shutter speed.

on pic 1 the sun was acting as mainlight thus the high shutter speed. on the 2nd the sun acting as backlight... and you flash as mainlight.

if you really want to darken the sky... try aperture prio the - 2 exp comp matrix metering and just FC. ... now the question is... will the flash able to cope with the higher shutter speed. ( hss loses flash power )


basing on the shadows on the picture.

Thanks for your thoughts which were a kind way of accurately describing my poorly executed shots. You were correct about the location of the sun on both shots. I just need to read more and practice more so when I get into this situation again, proper setup and better results can happen.

dave

By the way, you folks say metering the background. I suppose it still should not be spot metering. Is that correct?

snyderman wrote in post #12476737
Hey Bobby:

thanks for chiming in. Actually, I was using my home-made bounce card. Flash straight up and a 4 x 6 white foam core bounce card tilted forward a bit.

dave

What was the reason for this?

colormaniac wrote in post #12477697
By the way, you folks say metering the background. I suppose it still should not be spot metering. Is that correct?

Nothing wrong with spotmetering the sky! If I were metering background, I would want to use a selective metering mode (Spot, Partial) and not Centerweighted and absolutely not Evaluative (since you have no idea how Evaluative is weighting any particular zone)

snyderman wrote in post #12477493
Thanks for your thoughts which were a kind way of accurately describing my poorly executed shots. You were correct about the location of the sun on both shots. I just need to read more and practice more so when I get into this situation again, proper setup and better results can happen.

dave

Yw.

if you were not changing position.. ( the sun wherever it is... ) you could meter the sky..

tone it down to what level your comfortable in. then just adj you flash to compensate.

But it would be best to use sun as backlight / rim so your subjects won't squint facing the sun directly..

Just to let you know HSS is tricky business. people using HSS usually have a bunch of flashguns ganged together to compensate for the lost of power. usually 4 flashes up.. ( HSS is used to have a big aperture and avoid distracting backgrounds )

there is another way of taming the sun. is to use 2 speedlights on manual. set the shutter speed where there is no black bar at the edge of your frame when using a trigger / sync cord. then adj the aperture / flash accordingly. issue with this approach you will hit f11 / 13 up which you know will make everything sharp.. not a bad thing though...

Or you can cheat the Sync which only means that you set the higher than usual sync speed of you cam then take a picture see the result if you can live with it. or you can move the black bar where you don't need the flash exposure. ie ( sky = inverting your camera on landscape mode ) or on portrait mode and the black bar on the side where it doesn't hit your subject...


you can read all about it on strobist.com

Or use ND filter on the lens and still shoot wider apertures. Of course you need flash power to burn.

Wilt wrote in post #12478506
Nothing wrong with spotmetering the sky! If I were metering background, I would want to use a selective metering mode (Spot, Partial) and not Centerweighted and absolutely not Evaluative (since you have no idea how Evaluative is weighting any particular zone)

However, in the OP's background, there are the sky and also other people (i.e., not the subject(s)), trees and buildings. If the sky is properly underexposed, the other people, trees and buildings may be seriously underexposed.

Now I guess this is a question only the OP can answer. Maybe he would like it that way. Then it's fine. But if he would like the other parts of the background to be more visible, then he might have to make the sky less underexposed or even overexposed. That's what originally made me think that spot metering may not be very helpful.

for me nothing wrong with spot metering the sky or whatever metering mode you employ for the sky.

yes it will under exp your subjects. that is what the OP wants.

the OP just need to compensate with flash to bring the subject up to speed

aerosmith9110 wrote in post #12481866
for me nothing wrong with spot metering the sky or whatever metering mode you employ for the sky.

yes it will under exp your subjects. that is what the OP wants.

the OP just need to compensate with flash to bring the subject up to speed

I'm sorry. I didn't say it's bad that the subject are underexposed. I said the other parts of the background are underexposed, which may or may not be what the OP wants.

colormaniac wrote in post #12482115
I'm sorry. I didn't say it's bad that the subject are underexposed. I said the other parts of the background are underexposed, which may or may not be what the OP wants.

possibly.. I do apologize and tnx for the clarification..

for the OP...

from my idol "ed pingol " no HSS just plain manual flash
http://a5.sphotos.ak.f​bcdn.net …8240_338087_158​2554_n.jpg
http://a7.sphotos.ak.f​bcdn.net …98240_393852_89​1646_n.jpg

underexposing the sky then compensating with flash for the underexposure.