Novice scared of my 580EX II

Hi,

So today I took the 2 year old to the fire station in his fireman outfit. I took my nifty fifty and the 85 f/1.8. I didn't take my flash, it scares me.

I knew with the nifty fifty I'd need a higher aperture to get crisp pics since I'd be wanting to get pics of him with the firetrucks, etc. I became frustrated when my on camera flash wasn't producing what I wanted and switched to portrait mode. Not only does it frustrate me to do that I missed a good crisp shot of his face in front of the fire truck because I couldn't focus on him.

I've been analyzing the situation since I came home, at first concluded I need an L series zoom that is really fast but the truth of the matter is I just need to learn how to use this flash. If I'd had that I could have cranked my aperture up and been fine.

So, how did you learn to use your external flash? I can read 3 books about it and still don't know how to apply it! I have such a hard time knowing what exposure I need/how to get it since a canon only meters based on the ambient light.

Should I just have set my shutter and aperture at what I wanted and the flash would have figured out the right output?

I really want to get my head around this. Thank you for your help!

www.strobist.com

Shadow on the Door wrote in post #13330067
www.strobist.com

great site.... mount that flash and get out there and shoot..

you got it... you don't need another expensive lens... you need to know how to use a flash

You are going through a phase that people go through. Adding the flash can be daunting when you first begin to try and understand what is happening when you introduce a second light source.

Strobist is a great site but personally I found it useless when I was in the same part of the journey you are in now. Too advanced while trying to wrap your your head around this in the early stages. I always try to remember what it what it was like for me.

When you introduce the flash you are now dealing with two light sources. Ambient or existing light and the light your flash will produce. To keep it simple you need to separate both. Your camera deals with the ambient light and the flash deals with the exposure of the subject or in this case this would have been your boy. The flash works independently of your camera.

Your camera has a light meter. This light meter only meters ambient or existing light. It cannot predict the flash output so it does not try. Next time you try this turn your flash off and pick the mode you want to use. You mentioned picking the shutter and aperture which would be in M mode which is the preferred choice for many strobists. In Manual mode first select aperture you want based on the look you want. Shallow if you want your boy to be in focus and the background OOF or deep if you want the background in focus. Next select a shutter speed that will light the background to your taste. Don't go over 1/200 for now. Ignore the cameras light meter and your boy, just get the background the way you want it.

Now turn our flash on, take the shot and check the exposure of your boy. Adjust the flashes FEC as required and shoot again to get the correct exposure.

Once you get past this point and it starts to make sense then the sites like strobist are easier to get into.

Things to remember

1. Aperture Priority vs Manual. In aperture priority you have to satisfy the cameras light meter or have it on centre. The flask now becomes a fill light because you have about as much ambient as you need for the exposure. People like to use it outdoors. In manual you can ignore the light meter as now the flash becomes the main light source. Used indoors. Not to say you can't use either modes in or outdoors. Worry about that later.

2. If you shoot indoors the flash will more that likely illuminate the surrounding area. Not much you can do. Remember that the subject is the most important part so concentrate on that. Outdoors the flash will not have the power to do that.

3. If you cannot get enough ambient light you can slow your shutter down, open the aperture (which is less desirable because you are changing your DOF) or increase the ISO. The flash will compensate for the subject. Don't be afraid to bump up the ISO.

4. You don't need an L lens to be a better flash photographer. The 85 is a fine lens but wide open has a very shallow DOF and harder to work with. You are putting too many things on your plate. Start with f 5.6 or 8 until you get confidence with the flash then open it up.

So at this point treat this as separate steps. Both the camera and the flash have a specific job to do. Once this makes sense everything else will start to fall in place and there is a lot more to learn. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

I used the One Light DVD by Zack Arias. It goes from basic to a little more higher level but the basics section is very good. It is a little pricey if you ask me but worth it.
good luck

Jim

I've never seen it but I agree about the basics. Not enough of that type of info around for the first day flash novice. I found very frustrating and often just gave up. It wasn't until I took a lighting course this started to come together.

Put your camera in manual mode, and set it to underexpose the ambient light by a stop. If your shutter speed is slower than 1/100th underexpose it more. Make sure you have enough DOF.

Turn the flash on, in ETTL mode. Set FEC to +2/3 (ie 0.66). Point it at the ceiling, or a white wall. Take the photo.

Easy.

Get this book now!!! look at all the reviews
http://www.amazon.com/​gp/product/032171105X

Flash is fairly simple, once you get the hang of it.

When taking a picture in ambient light ISO, f-stop and shutter speed all need to adjusted. When taking a picture with flash, the ISO, f-stop and flash power are the main things to be adjusted. With flash you need to keep the shutter speed less than the maximum sync speed, typically 1/200 or 1/250. The shutter speed does not effect how much flash light is let in, but it does effect how much ambient light you let into the picture.

Canon flashes like the 580EX II suport E-TTL flash metering. In Av or Tv mode, these flashes will usually try to operate as fill flashes, assuming you are taking pictures in sunlight. In doors the flash does not work well in Av or Tv. I usually use M mode indoors. I typically set the ISO at 400. I adjust the f-stop for the depth of field I want, typically in the f/5.6 or f/8 range. Set the shutter speed depending on how much ambient light I want in the picture. Set your maximum sync speed to minimize ambient light. Set a slower shutter speed for more ambient light. The E-TTL system should give you a correct exposure on your subject. If you want more or less flash power, you can use Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC) in your camera to adjust flash power up or down.

For me, the whole point of the Nifty Fifty is to shoot at f/2.8 and larger. I doubt I ever used it smaller than f/3.5. Sure, it's sharper when you stop down, but so is every other lens. You'd need a smaller aperture to get the fire truck in focus, so there's not a lot of advantage to using it. It's not very good at focusing either, which you've found out. In this situation, I'd use the kit lens since it has USM and IS. You probably could have gotten the shot with that lens depending on available light. If you add your 580exII, it would only get better.

what if he wants to shoot the kids outside at night trick or treating what then ?

Neil vanNiekerk has a great site with lots of information about using your flash, as well as a great book called On Camera Flash. I can't get into ALL the details in his book, but for starters, try shooting so that your subject cannot see the front of the flash. Turn it, swivel it, to bounce it off surrounding walls, etc., and see the difference in your photos right off the bat. Check out his website for more information than I can give. I rarely shoot anything without my flash!

PipesInTune wrote in post #13331723
Neil vanNiekerk has a great site with lots of information about using your flash, as well as a great book called On Camera Flash. I can't get into ALL the details in his book, but for starters, try shooting so that your subject cannot see the front of the flash. Turn it, swivel it, to bounce it off surrounding walls, etc., and see the difference in your photos right off the bat. Check out his website for more information than I can give. I rarely shoot anything without my flash!

+1.

Neil has some great info on the site and the on-camera flash book is well written, easy to understand, and has sample images to illustrate the techniques described.

There's a lot of reading out there, but really the number one thing is to just put the flash on, get out there and start making mistakes. They're free and you don't have to show them to anyone else. Take your terrible results and then start reading on how to improve each aspect of them.

It's tempting to just sit and read all the time, but you need to be shooting too.