580 EX ii firing in master mode with light output set to off

Thanks for all the input everyone. Much appreciated.

Most of the time I would be using a slave I wouldn't be right on top of my subject like the test shot anyway, and if I do need to get close I will just turn the master away or backwards. I just got obsessed with what I was seeing, and thought I had an equipment problem which worried me.

Thank you also for all of your patience. I still have a lot to learn, and I'll be doing a lot of lurking in the forums..

jwtruth45 wrote in post #17938094
.......... here's the link to the image...............

Also if I did that wrong just bear with me, and let me know.

Hi, just had a quick look at the file, the exif info doesn't really help at all. There are a couple of things that I will note though that you may want to check.

Firstly, this was shot at ISO 1600 which is a bit extreme considering that you are using flash lighting. Could you check the earlier efforts that were OK to see if they were shot at this higher ISO. It was also at F2.8 which is wide open for the 24-70.

I would normally shoot product photography with lights at ISO100-200, F5.6 or smaller and always in manual (not AV).

You were also using AI Servo which is OK but generally reserved for moving subjects, not product photography on a tripod.

The other thing I noted, is that you had the white balance set to Fluorescent, you would be better off either setting a custom WB, a Flash WB or even Auto WB, would just save you a bit of time in PP.

Other that the ISO/aperture issues, the only thing I could suggest is making sure both the camera and the flash contacts are clean.

Regards

Mark

EDIT I also was thinking about the AI Servo issue, could you also check if the good set of images were shot using AI Servo? I'm not sure how the system works utilizing distance information/return flash data when on AI Servo.

Actually I was using the camera to follow my 3 year old around and practicing using the back button focus after I got stumped which explains the AI Servo, and I do have a bad habit of using AV too much. As far as the WB setting, I don't know how I did that one. Last I knew it was set to auto.

I deleted the original test images that looked good, but it was a nice, low ISO, because I remember making sure. For all the crazy things you just pointed out with my settings it's entirely possible my ISO was up for those shots I couldn't figure out. I might have been fooling with my camera, and cranked the ISO before I started back the next day. I don't remember.

I want to blame some of this on my sick kid who's been keeping me from getting any decent sleep the last 3 days, but I think instead I'm just going to quietly shuffle out of the room, and see if nobody notices.

Ha Love it! When you have more time, give it another shot, I think by changing a few of those things, you will be back to where you want to be....

I wish I could laugh about it, but I only want to go hide somewhere for a bit instead.

I tried to AI SERVO comparison hoping to see a difference, but they look identical...

As far as I can tell I cranked my ISO while playing with my camera in between the two days, and forgot. Can't believe I didn't look at that. I'm glad nobody started yelling at me for being a dummy, because I sure was.

Well, at least my flashes are normal. I wonder if the people I saw on the Google search are just dummies too, and not bothering to check their settings LOL.

Thanks again.

I'm speechless...which is pretty rare.