Dear Stéphane, I've used a similar method in the past: a disposable paper plate/tray readily available at all parties :-) The advantage is the large surface and nicely diffused light; the disadvantage (besides having to hold it) is looking really funny :-) (we have some family videos where I can be seen passing with the camera and the plate, making friends laugh). Very thin porcelain (china) plates work well, too, with the advantage of passing some light through while diffusing most - a bit like the 80-20 or 90-10 here https://www.novoflex.com/en/products/lumiquest-blitzaufsaetze/lumiquest-products/ (flash bounced from the ceiling cannot eliminate shadows under the eyebrow, for example)
Thanks, Kofa On 25 January 2015 at 23:02, Stéphane Gourichon <stephane_darkta...@gourichon.org> wrote: > Hello István, > > Just like you, I don't own an external flash either, so perhaps the > following might be useful to you. > > I see you've used a D7000. The flash built in Nikon cameras do not > rotate so they can't light upwards. But I've had some interesting > results by using a paper (or even a business card, or both) held in > diagonal in front of the flash, actually pressed just on the flat area > under the flash body by a paper clip bent around the flash body. > > The diagonal orientation of the paper or card make the flash light > bounce upwards and diffuse to many directions. In a room with a white > and not-too-high ceiling I could have much better lit picture than with > direct or without flash. I mean: much more natural colors, nicely soft > contrasts on people faces, no red eyes. > > One trick is that this diffusion reduces flash efficiency drastically so > I manually adjust flash strengh, usually to the max and if needed adjust > exposure/ISO manually accordingly. > > One other thing is that once I did it with a two-sided business card, > and after a number of snapshots, the ink on the side in front of the > flash started to detach/shrink due to the heat generated by the flash > (the paper did not look like burned, though, it remained pure white). > Also, after dozens of flashes in a row, the flash started to sometimes > not fire (making insufficiently lit shots). Perhaps this is a sign of > overheating from the flash itself, I don't know. Perhaps no one should > do all that because it actually damages the hardware ? I don't know. > Anyway I've done this on a handful of events in the last two years and > the camera (a D60 from 2009 or 2010) and built-in flash still work normally. > > I'm wondering if this is clear enough. Any feedback welcome, please tell me. > > Le 20/01/2015 22:35, KOVÁCS István a écrit : >> Michael, >> >> I can't load your XMP's into my Darktable 1.6.1: displayed 'Cannot >> load sidecar' or something similar, and went black, had to kill it. As >> for lighting, I do not own a flash - it's on my list (has been there >> for years now). >> >> Kofa >> >> On 20 January 2015 at 11:06, Michael Below <be...@judiz.de> wrote: >>> PS: Here I found a short intro for the handheld flash method: >>> http://owencherry.com/2013/01/17/lighting-candid-photos-with-handheld-flash/ >>> >>> >>> >>> Von: Michael Below [mailto:be...@judiz.de] >>> Gesendet: Dienstag, 20. Januar 2015 11:02 >>> An: 'KOVÁCS István' >>> Cc: 'darktable-users' >>> Betreff: AW: [Darktable-users] Request for edits >>> >>> >>> >>> Great. Think of these as a different starting point. For example the >>> whitebalance is a guess (I did the editing on a crappy laptop monitor that >>> can’t be calibrated…) >>> >>> >>> >>> For the future, you might think about lighting differently: As a Nikon user, >>> you have got a very powerful wireless flash control inside your camera. If >>> the light is difficult, sometimes I set the camera as CLS master without >>> flash output (“—“ symbol in the menu) , and hold a flash in my other hand >>> (TTL slave mode, above the subject and to the side). If you don’t have a >>> flash, consider getting a portable reflector. >>> >>> >>> >>> Cheers >>> >>> Michael >>> >>> >>> >>> Von: kovacs...@gmail.com [mailto:kovacs...@gmail.com] Im Auftrag von KOVÁCS >>> István >>> Gesendet: Dienstag, 20. Januar 2015 10:47 >>> An: Michael Below >>> Cc: darktable-users >>> Betreff: Re: [Darktable-users] Request for edits >>> >>> >>> >>> Thanks Michael, >>> >>> They look quite good on the phone. I'll check them out once I get home. >>> >>> Kofa >>> >>> On 20 Jan 2015 08:37, "Michael Below" <be...@judiz.de> wrote: >>> >>> Hi Istvan, >>> >>> Am Montag, den 19.01.2015, 22:19 +0100 schrieb KOVÁCS István: >>> >>>> The photos (raw, xmp, resulting jpg) are here: >>>> http://tech.kovacs-telekes.org/files/darktable-edit-request-2015-01-19/ >>>> >>>> Any specific advice, time spent on them is much appreciated. >>> Here's my take: >>> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7te4b4fyokxh0cw/AAC-Q4aLL7ZFUjhRRBCP7jVRa?dl=0 >>> >>> I used a simpler approach than you did, but included a custom white >>> balance, a bit of equalizer ("clarity"), and some additional >>> exposure for the faces. >>> >>> Cheers >>> Michael >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>> New Year. New Location. New Benefits. New Data Center in Ashburn, VA. >>> GigeNET is offering a free month of service with a new server in Ashburn. >>> Choose from 2 high performing configs, both with 100TB of bandwidth. >>> Higher redundancy.Lower latency.Increased capacity.Completely compliant. >>> http://p.sf.net/sfu/gigenet >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Darktable-users mailing list >>> Darktable-users@lists.sourceforge.net >>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/darktable-users >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> New Year. New Location. New Benefits. New Data Center in Ashburn, VA. >> GigeNET is offering a free month of service with a new server in Ashburn. >> Choose from 2 high performing configs, both with 100TB of bandwidth. >> Higher redundancy.Lower latency.Increased capacity.Completely compliant. >> http://p.sf.net/sfu/gigenet >> _______________________________________________ >> Darktable-users mailing list >> Darktable-users@lists.sourceforge.net >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/darktable-users > > > -- > Stéphane Gourichon > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > New Year. New Location. New Benefits. New Data Center in Ashburn, VA. > GigeNET is offering a free month of service with a new server in Ashburn. > Choose from 2 high performing configs, both with 100TB of bandwidth. > Higher redundancy.Lower latency.Increased capacity.Completely compliant. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/gigenet > _______________________________________________ > Darktable-users mailing list > Darktable-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/darktable-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ New Year. New Location. New Benefits. New Data Center in Ashburn, VA. GigeNET is offering a free month of service with a new server in Ashburn. Choose from 2 high performing configs, both with 100TB of bandwidth. 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