finally got out the flash

[adina]

So I've had it for a little while now, finally got around to trying to shoot with it. While I am not very interested in flashing, I figure I should at least know how to do it. I am, of course, refering to photography

So here it is. After looking at it a bit, I've decided that it isn't going to replace available light, but it will suppliment it. For example, in my living room this morning, I was getting 1/15th at 5.6. With a little bit of flash, bounced of the ceiling, I was getting around 1/60th at 5.6.

What I'd like to be able to do, is get a little bit faster shutter speed, but still keep the natural look. Would I need to set the shutter speed to what I'd like, and then the flash will compensate? Or is there some other trick that I should know. So far it's trial and error, because the manual is useless.

Thanks

adina

also, I kinda like the trails from her head. she was really whipping around. she thinks she's funny

[Trevor Ash]

Hi adina!

Welcome to the world of hard to understand flash!! lol

This page gives a LOT of info but there's too much to absorb in one sitting so take it slowly:
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

You're not going to find a better resource short of asking questions of knowledgeable people. All the answers are there, they may just be hiding from you

Now, to try and answer your question...

You want to use flash so that you can get a faster shutter speed. That's a typical use for it of course!! The best way to do this is the way you already did by bouncing the flash. But what if you can't?

Everything's a compromise. Yes, you could set your camera to manual mode and set the shutter and aperture you want so that the ambient light is correct. Then turn on your flash and take a photo and make sure the green light turned on (indicating the flash was exposed properly). That's really how simple it is usually. If it turns out the flash isn't powerful enough or it's too bright because you're too close then you adjust the aperture to control the flash exposure and set the shutter speed to compensate. But what you'll find more often than not is that you can't get enough ambient light into the scene to keep it looking natural while still retaining a fast enough shutter speed so that there's no ghosting or movement.

I'm going to give you a secret...SHHHH!!!!....

The secret to understanding flash photography is two part:

1. Understanding that flash exposure is done separately from ambient light exposure.
2. Understanding that shutter speed has no effect on flash exposure.

Read those last two lines and ask yourself if you know why they are true. If you don't, ask some more questions until you do. I might come off sounding full of myself with this post but I just remember how well everything "clicked" for me once I understood those two items to HEART at the point where I could explain to other people about it.

You need to understand the first secret because then you'll know how the camera thinks and what all those automatic modes are doing for you that you could otherwise do manually. And you need to know the second secret because that's what allows you master the mixing of flash and ambient light.

Okay, enough with the secrets

You did everything right in that photo for your goal. The main thing you did that is what makes it work so well is bouncing the flash. The thing is, if you had instead used direct flash to get that 2 stop increase in shutter speed then any place in the photo that the flash didn't reach would most definetely be two stops underexposed. Do you see why? If the ambient suggested 1/15 for a properly exposed background and you shot at 1/60 WITHOUT flash then the background would be two stops too dark. Correct? The answer is yes. Now, insert direct flash into the equation. Had you taken the photo with direct flash at 1/60 of a second the flash would fire as necessary to produce a good MIXED ambient/flash exposure for the subject. When I say mixed, all I mean is that ambient light affected the exposure in addition to flash. Or put another way, the exposure wasn't 100% flash. Since the background is darker than the subject (because the light from the flash falls off very quickly) the background would have been much darker than the subject had you used direct flash. This would have beem something you wouldn't have liked.

Since you bounced the flash you have a much different result for a couple main reasons. First, the light is reflecting off of all the walls and cielings in the room. This fills in shadows and better mimics the ambient light alreay in the room. Second, by bouncing you've increased the distance between the subject and the flash and that helps with the difference in lights levels between subject and foreground caused by light falloff.

I better shut up. Let me know if you have any questions....I promise it's not as complicated as I'm making it sound. If you understand those two secrets I told you about then everything else will start making a LOT of sense.

[another view]

Excellent response, Trevor - points #1 and #2 are really the key to the whole thing. The sync speed listed in your camera manual (probably 1/250?) is really the maximum sync speed. You can use any speed slower as well and it won't affect the flash exposure. If you were in a truly dark room it wouldn't matter if you were at f5.6 and 1/250 or f5.6 and 30 seconds - the exposure would be the same. That's because the flash happens so fast.

By using a slower shutter speed like 1/60 like in your example, you're getting a little bit of movement with your daughter's hair. That happens because of the ambient light that's in the room and it records on to the sensor after the flash is done firing (even at 1/60, the flash is faster than that). To make the effect more obvious, wait until the sun goes down so the room is darker. Use a longer shutter speed (whatever is required for the ambient exposure) and try it again.

What you would have to do with that shot to get a faster shutter speed would be either use a larger aperture or higher ISO speed - then if the flash is in an Auto mode it will compensate for this. If you wanted the same aperture, going from ISO100 to ISO400 would give you two stops, so the 1/60 would turn into 1/250. Just make sure you don't go past the camera's sync speed.

You could also raise the ISO by one stop (100 to 200) and use a shutter speed of 1/250 in the above example - that would underexpose the background by one stop but that may be what you want sometimes, too.

A lot of times, the main goal is to make a shot look like it wasn't taken with a flash, and you've done very well on your first try.

[JK_Photo]

Not going to add anything. Just want to compliment you two on your excellent explanation of the use of flash.

[Asylum Steve]

1. Understanding that flash exposure is done separately from ambient light exposure.
2. Understanding that shutter speed has no effect on flash exposure.

A third and maybe the most important secret (well no, not really a secret but I'll play along, heh heh) is to learn how to keep the flash and ambient light SEPERATE when you need to, and how to BLEND the flash and ambient light when you need to.

It is not uncommon for fashion and portrait photogs to work outside with available light, but also use a flash with either an umbrella or softbox. The key to shooting this stylized kind of shot is not only calculating your sun and flash exposures seperately, but keeping the light seperate as well.

IOW, when having a sunlit bg, but lighting your subject with a flash/umbrella, you'll often need to shield them from the sunlight with a dark panel scrim, so the "sun only" exposure would have them in deep shadow or even sillouette. Then they are lit with the flash, and the two elements combine to create an interesting image.

What does all this commercial mumbo-jumbo have to do with Adina's new flash you ask? Simple. When using the flash and combining it with ambient light, you may find you need to "flag" off areas to prevent either the flash or the ambinet light from spilling onto areas of the scene where you don't want it.

Think of it as "painting" in areas of your scene with either flash or ambient light. It's a lot more of a challenge, but the results are usually worth it...

[Asylum Steve]

Wow, you guys keep giving advice as good as this, and I'll have to put you both on the payroll...

Besides the helpful tech info, Steve's makes two crucial points in his reply.

One is that you often want either the flash or ambient light to be LESS than the other. Totally even or completely balanced light is usually boring. Slightly unbalanced lighting will most likely give the shot more depth. Noticed I said slightly...

Two, he mentions "a lot of times, the main goal is to make a shot look like it wasn't taken with a flash", and this is very true.

There are pretty much three basic ways of shooting with a flash: one, to mimmick natural light (or reflection); two, to mimmick artificial room lights; and three, to make it apparent you lit with an electronic flash (btw, any "flash & blur" technique falls into this last group).

Knowing ahead of time what you're trying to convey with your flash makes it easier to plan a shot out...

[adina]

Thanks

Trevor, I have that site saved to peruse at my leisure.

So here is my understanding so far....

By setting the shutter speed faster, I would have frozen her head (probably the first time I've ever said that) but the background would have gone dark. So if I want to be able to see the background, I'll need a slower shutter.

So the subject would be exposed by the flash, the background by other light, be it window or lamps.

And if I were outside, under a dark porch or a very shady tree, if I were exposing for under the tree, with available light, the background would probably be blown out, so by using the flash, I could have both background and subject recognizable.


Back to my reading....

Thanks guys....I'll be back

adina

[another view]

Exactly!!! You're on your way to becoming a flash-master! In your example above, a faster shutter speed would have made the background darker but probably not completely dark, because a lot of it is light colored and physically close to the subject.

A slower shutter speed can be good for photographing people in a large dark room to help keep the backround from going completely dark (think candids at a wedding reception). You can also use a higher ISO speed like 400 with a 1/30 or 1/45 shutter speed when people are standing relatively still. The background will still be darker than the subjects but not completely dark. Works well because, again, perfectly even lighting is usually boring!