shutter speed, background and

At the hosipital tonight taking pix of family and friends because we had a new baby.

i was using my 580 and the BBC. In some of the pix the back ground is dark and the subjects are lit. I was just messing with the camera in M mode and and it seems to vary when this effect was achieved. anyone know how to do this consistantly?


2nd Question: while playing in M mode with the flash, i noticed i can dial up the shutter speeed faster than 1/200 but the image shoots at 1/200 according to the exif. Is it possible to shoot faster than 1/200 with the flash?

to shoot at higher than the sync rate of your camera you need to turn on the high speed sync, there is a button on the back of the flash to do so, it's a little lightning bolt with an "h" next to it. As for using a flash and having the background expose well too do a search for dragging the shutter to learn how to expose the background when it's darker than you would like.

azpix wrote in post #2926524
Is it possible to shoot faster than 1/200 with the flash?

Because the flash is stopping the action, not the shutter -- why would you want a faster shutter speed?

In manual you're just metering for the room light in the normal way. Think of the (out of flash range) background and your (flashlit) subjects as two different pictures, with you setting the camera up for how you want the room to be exposed, and the gun (in ETTL) coping with your subjects.

High speed synch is possible (check the 580's manual), but would be of no use in your hospital scenario. It isn't really much good for anything other than daylight fill, as the flash output is significantly reduced.

....and what part exactly does the British Broadcasting Corporation play

Gatorboy wrote in post #2926629
Because the flash is stopping the action, not the shutter -- why would you want a faster shutter speed?

No, I don't want to shoot faster, just messing with the camera and noticed the differnce between the exif and what the camera displayed.

As you can propably tell, I don't have my hands all the way around flash photography. Still learning, and every time i learn something, I realize there is so much more to learn.

Chris,
I was kind of thinking along the lines of what you said.

Wouldn't shooting at the fastest possible speed make the back ground dark and allow the flash to light up the subject?

Gatorboy wrote in post #2926629
Because the flash is stopping the action, not the shutter -- why would you want a faster shutter speed?

Because flash is sometimes used to fill shadows on bright days? A slow shutter speed could over expose the subject and background. I've shot as high as 1/4000 in bright sun with the flash in high speed sync. Range on the flash is seriously reduced but it works for shadow reduction on close subjects.

azpix wrote in post #2930606
Chris,
I was kind of thinking along the lines of what you said.

Wouldn't shooting at the fastest possible speed make the back ground dark and allow the flash to light up the subject?

Yes, you're on the right track. Look at it as taking two pictures. In M mode meter the scene and decide on what exposure you want for that scene. Then let the flash take care of the foreground subject. Flash in ETTL mode works great for this. You can adjust your 'flash exposure' picture using FEC.

Check out this link: http://www.photography​-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=138907

azpix wrote in post #2930606
Wouldn't shooting at the fastest possible speed make the back ground dark and allow the flash to light up the subject?

Get your background dark by reducing aperture and/or ISO, but stay within synch.
Highspeed mode is just a clunky work-round - in 99% of flash scenarios the fastest possible speed is the synch speed.
The synch speed is the fastest speed at which the shutter is ever fully open (= can be lit by one flash firing). At faster shutter speeds that the second (closing) blade starts moving before the first blade has fully crossed the frame. So, you're exposing via a moving slit. In highspeed mode, to evenly expose this slit the gun fires off dozens of very weak flashes close together. Result = much reduced freezing of motion, much reduced range.

Titus213 wrote in post #2931196
Because flash is sometimes used to fill shadows on bright days?

I don't think it was that sunny in the hospital room.

Gatorboy wrote in post #2931725
I don't think it was that sunny in the hospital room.

Yes, you're probably right. I'm just trying to answer questions, not second guess the environment.

To help you understand your flash better, you can pick up this DVD:
Blue Crane Digital DVD: Understanding the Canon Speedlite 580EX / 430EX
It gives good training on how to use your speedlite and it's only around $20.

Titus213 wrote in post #2931196
Yes, you're on the right track. Look at it as taking two pictures. In M mode meter the scene and decide on what exposure you want for that scene.

Thanks all for your responses.

Titus,
How does one meter in M mode? I always use TV or AV to meter then put the speed and aperature into M and make adjustments off that. Can you get a meter in M?

thanks

SDJNJ wrote in post #2932813
To help you understand your flash better, you can pick up this DVD:
Blue Crane Digital DVD: Understanding the Canon Speedlite 580EX / 430EX
It gives good training on how to use your speedlite and it's only around $20.

thanks,
just ordered it from amazon.

azpix wrote in post #2939930
Thanks all for your responses.

Titus,
How does one meter in M mode? I always use TV or AV to meter then put the speed and aperature into M and make adjustments off that. Can you get a meter in M?

thanks

Half depress the shutter and it will meter, it just doesn't adjust anything. In M mode you adjust the shutter speed, f-stop, and ISO to align the cameras meter. You can over/under expose the amibient light image by where you place the needle in the viewfinder assuming you have enough ambient light to have this luxury. You just have to keep track of your max/min shutter speed so you don't get blur or exceed your sync speed.

Titus213 wrote in post #2940388
Half depress the shutter and it will meter, it just doesn't adjust anything. In M mode you adjust the shutter speed, f-stop, and ISO to align the cameras meter. You can over/under expose the amibient light image by where you place the needle in the viewfinder assuming you have enough ambient light to have this luxury. You just have to keep track of your max/min shutter speed so you don't get blur or exceed your sync speed.

Titus,
I was playing with the camera and i think i see what you are talking about. Do you just press half way and watch on the exposure level indicator until it gets to 0 and that is properly exposed according to the camera?

azpix wrote in post #2940625
Titus,
Do you just press half way and watch on the exposure level indicator until it gets to 0 and that is properly exposed according to the camera?

That's right azpix. Half press, see where the indicator is and then adjust aperture, iso and shutter speed. Then half press again and repeat until you get the indicator in the center.