Gary Fong Lightsphere

[mabas9395]

I also noticed on a few pics that I accidently switched to shutter priority, which may explain a few. Aperture priority is what I mostly used and prefer to use for these type of pics.

I thought that the flash thinks differently when you are in AV mode than when you are in TV or M. Or maybe its TV vs AV and M. In one case its trying to expose the entire scene with the flash, other times it is letting the shutter/aperture expose the scene and just uses the flash for fill lighting. I can't remember which is which (or if this is fact or myth), but I'm sure some of the smarter ones around here can explain.

That might have something to do whith what you saw.

 

[MICKEY88]

Yea, sunspots sucked. I used center weight metering, maybe spot would have been better.

I don't have the chart, but I will head over there and print it out.

I also noticed on a few pics that I accidently switched to shutter priority, which may explain a few. Aperture priority is what I mostly used and prefer to use for these type of pics.

Thanks for the tips.

spot metering would have helped with the heavy backlighting, but the abundance of white, still would have thrown the camera off, the camera meters for 18% grey, so it trys to turn the white grey, thereby underexposing, by shuting the flash down too quickly, that's why you still need to use exposure compensation..

I just did a wedding Saturday at a car show...
it was on the main stage under a roof, so the bridal party was in the shade with a bright sky behind them I had to shoot at a plus 2, exposure plus my flash was plus 1 or 2 for most shots.., it varied depending on how much of the bright sky was in the shot..

 

[handicap18]

spot metering would have helped with the heavy backlighting, but the abundance of white, still would have thrown the camera off, the camera meters for 18% grey, so it trys to turn the white grey, thereby underexposing, by shuting the flash down too quickly, that's why you still need to use exposure compensation..

I just did a wedding Saturday at a car show...
it was on the main stage under a roof, so the bridal party was in the shade with a bright sky behind them I had to shoot at a plus 2, exposure plus my flash was plus 1 or 2 for most shots.., it varied depending on how much of the bright sky was in the shot..

I'll definately keep the exposure compensation in mind for future reference. I don't plan on doing another wedding for a while. Next wedding I know that I'm going to isn't until April and I'm not planning on working with anyone that I know that does photograph weddings between now and then.

It was definately a nice learning experience. I came away with a lot of nice pics. Overall I took 476 pictures. That includes pics around the grounds that I took, the rehersal, wedding and bonfire afterwards. I've uploaded 150 of them to photobucket for them to email out to family and friends. There are more that came out nice but don't necessarily need to be uploaded at this time.

This has kind of gotten off topic, so I'll finish up with saying that overall I've been very happy with my Gary Fong Lightsphere II diffuser. I still may get the clear one, but not right now.

Anyone checked out his new one yet? The WhaleTail?

 

[fitzperry]

Anyone checked out his new one yet? The WhaleTail?

I assume you meant this: http://store.garyfonginc.com/wt.html

But when I googled "whale tail" I learned that it's the part of a thong that's visible above the wearer's pants. Learn somethin' new every day! If Gary Fong has another whale tail, I don't want to see it.

 

[Disneyfreak92]

Anyone checked out his new one yet? The WhaleTail?

I've ordered it. Still waiting on it to come in! I'm getting a little anxious. I have a wedding on July 28th! I think I'm going to call B&H tonight. I ordered the whole kit with the 'gels' and different colored flaps. So I'll let you know how it is once I get it.

As for the other meaning of whale tail,

 

[wkrider]

are you talking the normal front of the flash, or does your flash have a built in diffuser that folds down..


I do not use the fold down diffuser, that actually doesn't really soften the light as much as it makes it go in a wider pattern for wide angle lenses..

I think it is the "normal front of the flash".....It does not have a diffuser that folds down.

 

[MICKEY88]

I think it is the "normal front of the flash".....It does not have a diffuser that folds down.

you do not remove anything from your flash

the reason I asked about the flap is,, most new upper end flashes have the built in diffuser/wide angle panel....

unless you are aware of it it's easy to overlook it's at the top of the front of the flash it slides out and swings down..