> > What I really need is to take a course in practical flash photography > with a very rudimentary focus on the science and technical aspects -- > just enough to lend a little predictability. As it stands, the only > thing I can predict when using flash is that the flash will go off. If I > can just learn the very basics of herding photons, I'd be a lot more > comfortable using it. As it is, I'm completely mystified by it and > wonder how anyone ever manages to get predictable results -- especially > when using multiple remote flash units. (E.g., http://is.gd/7z3psm )
A suggestion: If you don't already have any, buy a stuffed animal or two. Place them in chairs in various places around your house, and photograph them with a flash. Try it with the flash aiming at different parts of the room. Make a diffuser out of an old plastic jug that'll work like a fongdong. It won't take too much and you'll start getting a feel for where the photons go and why, and stuffed animals don't complain about holding the pose for too long. Also, if Lee Ann show up for a photo shoot not only will you have a stand in for while you are setting up lights, having stuffed animals will show her that you have a tender sensitive side that doesn't come through with your brusk bartender persona at work. Note also, that you could do about the same practice with a couple of clamp lights and a teddy bear in a relatively dark room. The trick comes from balancing flash with ambient lighting, a little amber gel over the flash goes a long way to helping with that. Also remember when mixing the two, aperture controls how much light you get from the flash, shutter speed controls how much light you get from ambient. -- [email protected] via squirrelmail -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
