More basic questions here: I just shot a couple of "data" rolls of
portraits, trying to get to know the behavior of my 420EX better. I
used direct flash, a Lumiquest Softbox, and a Lumiquest Ultrasoft, and
I tried shots with the camera on-camera and off, at various angles. I
was shooting from about 6-8 feet away with the 28-135 IS at either
70mm or 100mm, and I was shooting Fuji ISO 200 film at f/8, which
usually translated to about 1/30 sec shutter speed. The softboxes,
interrestingly enough, (you pros probably already know this) didn't
have much real effect on the flash intensity, really just the quality
of the shadows. Well I take it back, the Ultrasoft shots did have a
more veiled look.
I'm finding that the 420EX actually gives better, more consistent
exposures at closer range, like 3-4 feet than it does out at "portrait
range" like I mentioned above. Obviously I have a lot more to learn,
but why whould this be? I can see learning to underexpose by a
certain amount for certain films, but I want to understand the
camera's metering system. I used evaluative metering and the
background was white, so I want to go back and try again partial
metering directly off the face - but when shooting portraits I'm not
sure yet what I want to represent 18% gray.
Finally, the 420EX has no power variability. When using a flash like
the 550EX (which I don't have yet) where I can set reduced power
levels, how does that work with TTL metering? Isn't the camera going
to compensate for the reduced power? I'm thinking having this
ability will help top solve the washed-out flash look in portraits,
but I'm not clear how E-TTL and flash power settings work together.
Thanks
Ken Durling
Website http://home.earthlink.net/~kdurling/
Alternate e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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