Showing some serious respect...

... to any of you that have mastered the use of a flash.

My respect has literally shot through the roof on this one.

I have been reading strobist non stop for a few weeks now I thought I might have a shot at a decent photo shoot. I got a willing volunteer who wanted pictures for her boyfriend.

Anyways at least in my case knowledge lost out to experience in a huge way.

It was mind numbing.

Unfortunately for myself, I came off looking like I knew nothing about lighting (even though I don't). And because we only had tonight to try this out, and my transmitters haven't arrived and the flash stand hasn't arrived... the lighting options were limited.

So I figured I don't have the option of postponement in this situation so I'll do whatever I can with available light on-camera flash and the umbrella.

Who knew getting to shoot a beautiful naked female would be stressful

I'm hoping things might change once I can actually put this thing off camera (unfortunately no pc cord option available) but maybe im putting to much stock into that. In the end I ended up having to use available light and just modified its location with the umbrella.

This really wasn't the ideal situation at all. We got a few good shots from this but boy do I ever need to just relax...

Wow, anyways to everyone that has these methods down pat, I have some real respect for you.

nothing like flash photography to make everything else seem like all you do is press a button when you see something cool!

Zebceponaf wrote in post #3976645
nothing like flash photography to make everything else seem like all you do is press a button when you see something cool!

Agreed!

Its hard enough at first learning to use the combination of aperture, shutter-speed and ISO... then throw in 2 new flashes and the combinations become calculations that you have to do on the fly! Aaarrrgh!

Always start with one light off camera, and learn from there. See the one light. Add reflector. Master that first before you even think of a second light or second reflector.

yeah no kidding. I really can't wait for my transmitters to get here then I might be able to take a proper go at it. Although I know now that I'll need to practice like mad before I'm really able to pull a decent shoot off.

Makes me wish I was a bit smarter about my flash decisions before. ETTL is nice for your random shots but really I would have been much better off with a Vivitar or Sunpack or something. Oh well Hindsight being 20/20 and stuff you know...

Hey, we all started as noobs. I'm definitely no master of off-camera flash, but I'm pretty comfortable with it now. Two months ago, I don't think I even had my extra flashes yet, and I was still happily ETTL bouncing my 580EX. You'll get used to it pretty quick, don't worry

I agree...mastering flash is a long pursuit. When you decide to start adding your own light, it adds a degree of complexity that can be difficult to actually master. You must be able to envision your final goal in your mind and know what it takes to get there. It's easy to point a camera and push the shutter button to get a picture but to actually master light control is another matter.

Vitruvius-

You can use a hot shoe to PC adapter for your XTi and then a long sync cord extension into a standard hot shoe to PC to give yourself a hardwired setup for off camera manual flash...this is a good inexpensive option to have as a backup to your radio setup. These items are available at most good photo shops, or I have these as well.

To get off camera flash in eTTL mode, you need to use the Off Camera Cord in an extended version. There are many posts in this forum about this as a DIY mod, or have someone like me do it for you, as I have several options, and have done many: fixed length extended coiled and straight, and variable length straight using the mini-DIN connector set and M/F extensions

.

Thanks for the heads up Michael. I was looking through one of Curtis' Flash threads again and saw one of the hotshoe/PC adapters. My only concern to that, and correct me if I'm wrong but could you use both the pc/hotshoe adapter at the same time as using a radio transmitter?

If not it certainly would still make a great backup if the transmitters bug out or for whatever reason aren't practical in a given situation. I'll be giving the transmitters a shot as soon as those come in but I imagine I will look into the PC adapter more closely once I'm getting use dto the flash and either looking to add a 2nd or something more reliable short of a PW.

The hardwired solution is the backup standard, although a radio pair can be used for one flash, and then the hardwired sync cords could be used for other flash units. It is just that you would not use a radio pair AND a hardwired sync cord going to the same flash unit.

Here are links to just some of the MANY different brands of the 3 pieces needed to get just one of the many different ways of giving you a hardwired solution. Even though the PC connection is not the best to use, it is readily available. You can make you own using the HH or even the mini plug route, or have someone like me or FlashZebra.com supply the parts also.

PC plug to hot shoe:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …SF941_PC_to_Hot​_Shoe.html

PC-PC extension:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …A_6975_PC_Male_​to_PC.html

Camera hot shot to PC jack:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …1_Hot_Shoe_Adap​ter_1.html