External flashes

[boBQuincy]

I kept an external flash on my XSi for our December 2008 trip, we had a fast moving 3 year old princess with us and I wanted the quick recycle time and fill in light. Canon's little 220EX is small & light enough to carry all day but it packs a lot more light than the built-in.

I usually pop up the flash for daylight portraits, it helps a lot (unless the subject is too far).

 

[El Nebuloso]

I always bring mine and find it extremely useful for fill flash in backlit daylight shooting situations.

 

[BorisMD]

Ok, I'll bring it.

I'll just be sure and not be one of those guys bouncing the flash off the clouds

I've also been inspired by the recent thread on the nifty fifty. I've been using around home the last few days, and I like how it challenges me to concentrate more on my subject than playing with the zoom. Why, oh why did I spend all that $$$ on the L zooms? Just to use a $75 prime?!

Regards,

Boris

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Let me see if I can explain correctly.

I took a shot of my daughter. The camera was set to manual and I used the flash. It COMPLETELY washer her out. Serious over exposure. I recompose the shot. This time I set the camera to auto. Auto flash pops up and picture is great. I put the camera back to manual and set the shutter speed and aperture to EXACTLY the same as the Auto setting shot. Again, way way over exposed. What is going on?

 

[ukcatfan]

In auto, it did not fire a 100% flash, but in manual it will unless you tell it not to.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

What kind of camera are you using?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Did you check the ISO and the EC in Manual? What did the histogram look like?

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Nikon D40. I didn't check the histogram, but I will. When I get a chance, I will upload both photos. I am still learning about all this stuff. I try not to take my camera out of manual so that I can continue to learn, but it gets so frustrating when you don't get the shot you were hoping for.

 

[boBQuincy]

To me, Manual mode is highly overrated yet it is often seen as the only mode to use if we are to be real photographers. It is nice to know how to use it but the real world uses are far and few between. About the only time I use M is for fireworks, when I know I need f/16 (ISO 100) and I want a shutter speed of 2-3 seconds to get those long trails.

I get the impression that people do not understand "P" mode very well and thus get the impression that it is for total beginners or those who have no understanding of exposure. Not so.

"P" allows the camera to set a basic exposure (which is usualy correct) by choosing a shutter speed and aperture. If those settings are not what we want we can very quickly change the shutter speed and aperture together (while keeping the same overall exposure) by turning the dial on top. This allows us to choose any valid shutter speed or aperture combination. It also controls the flash very accurately.

If we do not agree with the overall exposure we can press the compensation button and adjust it for up to +/- 2 stops, and again we can still adjust the shutter speed and aperture. Very powerful, very quick. Flash exposure can be adjusted in the same way with the flash compensation.

***There is no valid combination of aperture and shutter speed available in Av, Tv, or manual that is not available in P! This almost bears repeating as many consider we will get a "better" image if we use M. Nope, same image.

 

[Chikabowa]

I shoot 100% manual exposure mode. I love the control it gives me, and honestly, I've shot that way so long that I can't seem to move into any of the automatic/semi-automatic modes because it screws up my thinking and my flow. I'm so quick on my adjustments that I don't even notice anymore.

The first responder was probably the most accurate in saying that the flash did not do a full 100% fire when it was in automatic. When your camera is in auto, it automatically meters for the lighting situation (which you already know) and then, based on the computer programming of the machine, fires only enough flash that it feels like the scene needs to give it a properly exposed image.

When you take it out auto and place it in manual, then there is no auto-metering tell the camera to fire the flash. So the camera defaults to full power which is overexposing your image. I don't use the pop up flash (my camera doesn't even have one ), so I'm unfamiliar with if you can go into your menus and adjust how much flash output your flash is actually giving. The better, quicker and more efficient solution is to close down your aperture to allow let flash through and hitting your sensor. Of course, it will show your meter all wacky at that point too.
**Remember, aperture controls how much flash, shutter controls how much ambient.

The even better solution is if you have an external flash unit - then you can manually control how much flash output you are getting.

 

[mabas9395]

I've been thinking a lot lately about exploring the world of OCF (off-camera-flash) and one of the things I've been contemplating is the many types of flash/strobe modifiers that are out there (bouncers, diffusers, filters, extenders, adapters, brackets, reflectors, softboxes, umbrellas, snoots, grids, gobos, etc, etc, etc).

I'm curious about what people use - what you have and what you want to get, what you like and what you dislike?

I wondered about making this a poll but since there are just so many choices, maybe we can just make this an informal poll.

Personall, I made my own speedlight DIY diffuser and I use it quite a bit. I shoot a lot in my church's gym with flourecent lights and traditional yellow wood floor, so I've been thinking about some sort of modifier to adjust the color for that, or at least something to add some warmth for portaits, like the colored Omni-Bounce.

But I might be asking for some Alien Bee's for Father's Day, so that opens up a whole new world of lighting modifiers. The beginner kit I'm looking at has a 48" umbrella, but I'm still curious about when/why you decide to shoot "through" the umbrella and when you shoot "into" (and bounce out of) the umbrella. They must have different effects or there would just be one way to do it, right?

So who else has gotten into modifying their light?

 

[MICKEY88]

something to consider..

I've been reading more and more articles lately about phoographers going with speedlites rather than studio lites

reason being...improved qualty and output of speedlites, portability, the ability to use wirelessly

for pros shooting mainly in studios, studio strobes are great, but for anyone doing location work.. speedlites are a great alternative..

I myself have a set of studio strobes that I've used maybe once in the past 5 years I have 2 strobes I can use off camera and I'm thinking about getting 2 more..

 

[GrillMouster]

...why you decide to shoot "through" the umbrella and when you shoot "into" (and bounce out of) the umbrella. They must have different effects or there would just be one way to do it, right?

The relative size of a light source and it's distance to an object determine whether it will produce hard or soft light. Shooting through the umbrella allows the umbrella to be closer to the subject, and thus, softer. Bouncing off the interior of the umbrella means that the umbrella surface will be farther away from the subject, and, thus, produces harder light.

 

[Chikabowa]

I have a set of Alien Bee's 800's with the portable power packs... I've had them for a year and never even taken them out of the plastic. Tells you how much I love studio strobes...

I've heard of people having good results with the Omni-bounce and then also the Demb Flip-it. Some people swear by the lightsphere too. I've never really gotten too much into those light modifiers, but I am curious about the Flip-it.

100% of my OCF are speedlights triggered by pocket wizards. I have 4 SB-800's and use them all the time. I am outfitted to have the speedlights up on very lightweight lightstands (I bought an adapter that has a hot shoe mount). After that, I add in shoot thru umbrellas or I leave them bare bulb. Depends on what look I'm going for.

I also just outfitted my monopod to be a roving 'light-on-a-stick'. I have a hot shoe mount now on the end of that and can mount a speedlight and then be a walk around OCF.

I very rarely have a speedlight mounted directly on my camera. Even when I'm just shooting personal stuff (like at Disney) I take it off, hold it in my left hand and then shoot from that.

Gels are fun to play with and I do that every once in a while.

I've also gotten heavy into using video lighting. Love that - but totally different concept than OCF.

I guess the biggest question is.... what are you going to do with your lighting set up? What you are doing will ultimately determine what your needs are.

 

[wenrob]

Right now I use the Gary Fong Oragami bouncer/diffuser (http://store.garyfonginc.com/origami.html), I like it better then the pocket bouncer, less shadows. I'll be following this thread as lighting is something that I'm just starting to get into. I think ultimately I will be going with off camera speed lights. I've yet to try my SB 600 off camera because chasing kids with camera in hand is hard enough, lol.

 

[mabas9395]

This is interesting. If I was starting from scratch I would agree that a Speedlight should be my first step. But I already have a 430ex for my Canon. So my next step isn't as easy to decide. I've heard a lot of people say the same thing as Mickey88, they have an Alien Bee or similar and they never use it. But there are tons of people who swear by them. Seems that nobody who owns them are in the middle.

Scott Kelby did a good job on his blog of listing the pros and cons of speedlights vs strobes. In keeping with the theme of this thread, he says that strobes have a lot more modifiers available but that with the growing popularity of the Strobist blog (and others) there is a higher demand for speedlight modifiers. I guess I need to just think more about which fits better with my style of shooting because there is no universal right answer. Unlike the Canon vs Nikon debate.

 

[Chikabowa]

As I mentioned before - you need to evaluate WHY and WHAT you are doing in order to determine your equipment needs. Don't go the speedlight route if it isn't going to fit into your goals and don't go with the alien bees if that won't work for you. You'll just end up wasting a lot of money.

What type of light modifier do you want to use? Westcott is now making some like a 6'x6' (I'm not exactly sure of the dimensions, it's just huge) softbox for a speedlight now. And I believe that AB's are making a foldable softbox for their system to enhance portability. There are a ton of different options and it's helpful to just sit down and make a list of what you plan on doing, where you plan on going in your photography and then listing the equipment that will take you there.

 

[Chikabowa]

Double post - sorry!

 

[extreme8]

I have the flip-it and it's a great piece of equipment when forced to shoot with the flash on camera or on a bracket. It won't waste as much power as the lightsphere and allows you to adjust the ratio of direct/bounce flash.

To get started with off camera flash with a speedlight a kit like this one is great - it's what I started with.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/419377-REG/Photoflex__LiteDome_XTC_Extra_Small.html
You can use an umbrella with the bracket & stand if you want to experiment.

The Alien Bee stuff is great. I have 4 AB 800's with the Vagabond battery pack and I find myself using them far more than my big bag 'O speedlights.
I have a mess of modifiers including soft boxes, grids, umbrellas & a beauty dish with grid.
I'm loving the look of the beauty dish lately.

As far as shoot-through vs reflective umbrellas;
The shoot through will be softer than a reflective umbrella partly because you can get it closer, but mostly because if bounces a lot of light around, especially indoors.
With a reflective umbrella nearly all of the light bounces off of the silver or white interior (silver will give more specular highlights) and is directed to your subject.
When using a shoot through when the light strikes the inside of the umbrella most is diffused and reaches the subject but some is reflected back and bounces off of nearby objects (walls & ceilings). Event he direct diffused light is spread out far more than you would see from a reflective umbrella.
Take a picture in a dark room with both types of umbrellas under similar conditions and the difference is obvious.

The most versatile solution would be a convertible umbrella, or something like a Photek Softlighter

 

[Groucho]

I haven't done a lot, just mainly wireless handheld stuff (triggering a flash held in my left hand via onboard flash, set to be off for the actual photo), but I will say that there is definitely a huge difference to be had just by moving the flash to a different angle than you get when it's mounted on the camera. Just experimenting with different placements for your normal flash will give you something to play with for a while.

I have some of the cheat Cactus triggers but haven't really used them yet (only necessary if I want to run multiple flash units at once.) It's extremely rare (read: never) for me to take photos in a pre-planned "studio" environment so I have absolutely nothing to add on the merits of such lighting equipment!