Tired of flash hit and miss! (please help)

The first two steps to solving the problem in my opinion:

1 - Dump the 'tupperware' diffuser in a large venue (where there are no nearby reflective surfaces to return the light to the subject).

2 - Turn off "machinegun mode" and use single shot mode only. Rapid fire mode and a Speedlite (at more than a few inches from the subject) are absolutely NOT compatible.

If you want flash but don't want direct flash (if you want to soften it a bit) you need to use bounce. If there are no surfaces to bounce it off, you'll need a reflector. Forget about the proper photographic ones, just go to a two dolalr shop and get a reflector for your car's windscreen. They are silver on one side, white on the other so you have a bit of flexibility. get an assistant to hold it.

Then take your camera off burst mode, there's no way your flash can keep up. You're just wasting frames.

I agree with the comments on the Lightsphere, it does work good when the light has something to bounce off, but in a big room they just suck power from the strobe. For what you are doing, I'd go with off camera in to a shoot through umbrella, like a white 43" Westcott, running you flash on manual 1/2 power, with a reflector for fill. (2) flashes in to umbrellas would be the best, but the reflector should work. I think you can use the ebay trigger to fire your 430, but not sure. If nothing else you could, as mentioned before, bounce you 430 into a reflector, something like a nice big piece of white foam core.

Jack

Listen to Skip. Thats very good advice.

I found this to work better for me than all the other gadgets.

Thank you all for your advice. I did have it in shotgun mode but I wasn't shooting that way when I was handling the camera. These are actually shots of my wife and I. The person that did me did the favor didn't help much at times becuase she didn't know that you had to release the shutter to stop taking the pictures. But what about frames 15-16?

I do have some "a better bounce cards" created from soft foam that work pretty good but didn't think that the lightsphere was going to drain the flash that much. I sure learned from experience.

So then if the lightning bolt is displaying in the camera's viewfinder, the flash is ready to shoot full power?

I know that these pictures don't explain what I would like to know, but how come when I would take around a 2 minute break between couples and shoot again, the flash would shoot 1/2 or less than what it was set to. Could this have anything to do w/ the ETTL have something to do with this? Maybe the couple was wearing different colors and the camera metered it wrong?

Would it have been better to have gone w/ Manual mode on the flash too?

Thanks again for all your input.

No, IMHO Manual Flash mode would have just dumped more wasted battery power into each discharge. Manual CAMERA mode with flash on Auto-ETTL would be fine though. Skip, Air, Tim and Curtis are right on target with all their recommendations. Your settings were basically decent except for the shutter burst mode not allowing sufficient recycle time.

Air's velcro white card is one of the most effective devices you can build. I have a few that are different sizes depending upon how much "throw" power I want. If you want something pre-made, then go with any of the Lumiquest Pocket Bounce products. They are small, and will compactly fit in pocket. The Lumiquest 80/20 is pretty good as it allows 80% of the light to bounce up - if you have a decent ceiling - while throwing 20% forward for your fill and catch lights.

But skip the tupperware - inefficient light sucker for this type of setup... just drain your batteries quicker.

Yes - this could very well be the case. I see it all the time at weddings when confronted with black suits and white bridal gowns.

If the couple is wearing lighter color clothing, the flash's output will shut down more quickly as it "senses" brighter environs. But if the couple is made up of a man in a black tux and a lady in a dark evening gown, the flash will try to bring up the illumination to it's concept of 18% gray.

phsv wrote in post #5560247
......I know that these pictures don't explain what I would like to know, but how come when I would take around a 2 minute break between couples and shoot again, the flash would shoot 1/2 or less than what it was set to. Could this have anything to do w/ the ETTL have something to do with this? Maybe the couple was wearing different colors and the camera metered it wrong?.......

Thanks. I thought that having the tupperware would of just made things easier but it ended being more of a hassle having to take around 3-4 shots of each couple and asking them to wait a little longer to have the flash recycle.

I am going to go back to using the "better bounce card" which was working nicely.

On a side question, does anyone know where i can found those large/wide rubber bands that can hold the bounce card instead of sticking velcro on the flash head?

Thanks.

phsv wrote in post #5560247
Maybe the couple was wearing different colors and the camera metered it wrong?

Would it have been better to have gone w/ Manual mode on the flash too?

Possible, and yes.
Set it good once, and if nothing varies (distance, where the flash is pointed), you can forget about it. It'll expose consistent.

rabidcow wrote in post #5559362
16 shots in one minute, 25 seconds. Are you serious? .

The OP is lucky he did not fry his flash unit due to thermal overload with the high rate of fire! The flash did him a favor by not firing with sufficient power. One not-so-lucky POTN member had fried two flashes before learning better!

From the Canon flash manual (which I know all too many owners have never read) ...

"To avoid overheating and deteriorating the flash head, do not fire fire bursts of more than 20 continuous flashes. After 20 continuous flashes allow a rest time of at least 10 minutes."

"To avoid overheating and deteriorating the flash head, do not fire more than 10 stroboscopic bursts. After 20 continuous flashes allow the speedlite to rest for at least 10 minutes."

(emphasized to attact some attention and education of the POTN reader who never read the manual)

sapearl wrote in post #5560376
No, IMHO Manual Flash mode would have just dumped more wasted battery power into each discharge.

What do you mean by this? A manually set flash shooting at the same distance with the same settings would provide a consistant result.

TTL could have been what really helped to kill some of you're pictures. Set it to spot meter and meter off of one spot, like the person's face. If you meter a black suit/dress, you'll get a brighter picture as the camera is compensating for the black, but if you meter a white face or background, you'll get a darker photo as it's compensating for the white. You just would have to set your FEC to compensate correctly and then meter consistantly off of a certain spot or shade for TTL to expose "correctly".

This is one reason why I'm not a huge fan of TTL. Don't get me wrong, it has it's advantages, especially when you're shooting things with constant movement, but for portraiture where the subjects are in the same place and the distance/settings/etc.​.. are all the same, I prefer manual lighting as well as off camera.

A lot of office supply stores have rubber bands in a variety of sizes. Also, it's possible to buy as well as make velcro straps that don't stick directly to the flash unit. You can buy a lot of precut velcro straps in various lengths online and at Radio Shack. In that context they are used by technicians for bundling Cat5 cable, fiber and other network components together.

And yes, the high priced tupperware only works well under "ideal" conditions contrary to what the advertising may imply. Very often the cheapest solutions are the best . Stick with your better bounce instincts.

phsv wrote in post #5560408
Thanks. I thought that having the tupperware would of just made things easier but it ended being more of a hassle having to take around 3-4 shots of each couple and asking them to wait a little longer to have the flash recycle.

I am going to go back to using the "better bounce card" which was working nicely.

On a side question, does anyone know where i can found those large/wide rubber bands that can hold the bounce card instead of sticking velcro on the flash head?

Thanks.

Sorry, not the best response on my part.

I should have said a carefully "calculated" Manual flash setting determined from distance, etc. would have been ideal and traditional, but not a FULL blast Manual output. I made the (wrong) assumption that he was saying full manual output. I stand corrected.

Village_Idiot wrote in post #5560496
What do you mean by this? A manually set flash shooting at the same distance with the same settings would provide a consistant result.

......

Village_Idiot wrote in post #5560496
What do you mean by this? A manually set flash shooting at the same distance with the same settings would provide a consistant result.

Wait a second folks! Consider this...a flash on Manual outputs all of its power (assuming full power output setting) each time it is fired. If the batteries have only recharged it 1/3 of the way, it fires 1/3 power. If the batteries have only recharged it 1/2 way, it fires 1/2 power. If the batteries have recharged it all the way, it fires full power. If the batteries have recharged it 1/5 of the way, it fires at 1/5 power. So by firing too fast, shot 1 is 1/3 power and shot 2 is 1/2 power and shot 3 is full power, and shot 4 is 1/5 power...there is NOTHING consistent about 1/3 -1/2-full-1/5 power sequence of shots! And that is exactly what would have happened to the OP due to the rapid rate of fire that was too brief to permit full recharge.

Village_Idiot wrote in post #5560496
This is one reason why I'm not a huge fan of TTL. Don't get me wrong, it has it's advantages, especially when you're shooting things with constant movement, but for portraiture where the subjects are in the same place and the distance/settings/etc.​.. are all the same, I prefer manual lighting as well as off camera.

This is one reason why ETTL is incredibly flawed, compared to the very very consistent results that film cameras gave with TTL flash control!

Wilt wrote in post #5560544
Wait a second folks! Consider this...a flash on Manual outputs all of its power (assuming full power output setting) each time it is fired. If the batteries have only recharged it 1/3 of the way, it fires 1/3 power. If the batteries have only recharged it 1/2 way, it fires 1/2 power. If the batteries have recharged it all the way, it fires full power. If the batteries have recharged it 1/5 of the way, it fires at 1/5 power. So by firing too fast, shot 1 is 1/3 power and shot 2 is 1/2 power and shot 3 is full power, and shot 4 is 1/5 power...there is NOTHING consistent about 1/3 -1/2-full-1/5 power sequence of shots! And that is exactly what would have happened to the OP due to the rapid rate of fire that was too brief to permit full recharge.

I meant with provided recharge time of course. It would definitely be more consistant than with ETTL. And the same things happens with ETTL. If you don't let the flash recharge, it fires a shot that will not be at the full power of the appropriate setting.

And by manual, I meant manual mode, not 1/1 or full power.