On 5/30/2013 1:58 PM, Larry Colen wrote:
On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 12:53:24PM -0500, Walt wrote:
When I got home, I spent the better part of the evening watching
tutorials on flash photography. The problem is, they all essentially
said, "This is where you can use flash to get this lighting effect."
There was no nitty-gritty technical detail to speak of -- as though
TTL were completely reliable, which I gather isn't really the case.
So, I was wondering where I might be able to learn more about
shooting manual flash in the event the TTL function fails me --
something to give me an idea of when to adjust the flash output
power, at what distances, etc. I know nothing about guide numbers,
flash modes, or anything like that.
Anybody got any suggestions to that end? Any guidance would be appreciated.
Light, Science and Magic.
The difference between a flash and a hot light is how long that they are on for.
The flash is a short, small, intense light source. You don't have a lot
of control over duration (the lower the power the shorter the duration)
but there are a lot of widgets to help you control where it goes, or make
the source of light larger (diffusers).
A few inexpensive investments you'll want to make.
LinkDelight has a hot shoe extension cord for something like $10. That will
reliably get the flash off your camera.
You'll want to get some amber or cto gel, and maybe a holder so that if
you are just using the flash for fill indoors, and still use a lot of
tungsten light, you won't end up with blue subjects or straw colored
backgrounds.
You will also want to make some snoots and grids so that you can put a small
tight spot of light exactly where you want it, and not illuminate the
background.
Make the inverse square law your friend. If you have the flash much closer to
your subject than to the background, you can make an ugly background go away
because it will be so many stops under exposed compared to your subject.
Thanks for the tips, Larry.
I googled some DIY snoots and grids and found some pretty
excellent-looking plans to make them on the cheap and will look into the
hot shoe extension cord next time I find myself at the camera shop.
As an aside, I'm supposed to meet with a guy next week to maybe pick up
some old Pentax lenses, filters and other gear for what sounds like a
potentially great deal. I may be able to fill in quite a few gaps in my
gear bag if the opportunity lives up to billing.
I'm not sure what all he has, but he says he thinks I'll really like it
for the price. We shall see.
I've been practicing the inverse square law a little and am starting to
get a little bit of a handle on it.
Thanks again,
Walt
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