Walt, what's the setting for the upcoming portrait shoot expected to be? Indoors and outdoors generally call for different flash practices. Eg: indoors you can ignore the ambient light and use the flash to supply all, but outdoors you would usually mix the flash with the ambient; eg: backlit by sun, filled in front with flash. Of course there are exceptions. You can mix indoor ambient light in to get the background and that nice warm room look, but then you have to worry about colour temperature of mixed sources and gelling to match, as well as dragging the shutter.
You're going to get lots of advice, much of it contradictory. :-) Just try to narrow down what you need to learn as much as possible because you simply aren't going to master the _whole_ lighting thing before June 9. Possibly not even in one lifetime. For me, the key to good female portraiture is soft light. You have to flatter your subject. So you must master modifying the hard light from the flash to become a large source. Like bouncing off walls & ceilings, shooting through the 5-in-1 scrim, or bouncing it off the white or silver reflector. Here's an eg: with the flash mounted on-camera, have your assistant stand behind you a couple of feet, to one side of you, holding the silver reflector facing the subject's face, a little above her head height. Assistant might have to stand on a chair if she's short or hold the reflector above her head. Swivel your flash head to point at the reflector and shoot from there. The light should bounce off the reflector and appear to the subject as a circular 42 inch source. That will give a good catch-light and provide soft, off-center light on your subject's face. Don't forget to play with your flash'es zoom feature. It can go from wide to quite narrow and focussed, which also extends its reach when bouncing off things. BTW, if you are looking for video tutorials to watch, there are zillions (much of it crap), but I find the Mark Wallace / Adorama ones to be consistently good at Flash 101. http://www.adorama.com/alc/ and Youtube. On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 3:45 PM, Walt <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks, Paul. > > The flash is PTTL -- I just typed it incorrectly, and it does have flash > compensation. The unit came with a diffuser and I picked up an Omnibounce > while I was at the camera shop. > > As for practicing on-camera first, being a babe in the woods on this, that > was the plan. I also picked up a 5-in-1 reflector set and plan to > incorporate/commandeer my niece into helping me use that, as well as > practice using the shoot-through screen with the flash in wireless mode to > see how that works in the next week, or so. (A friend wants me to do family > portraits for her on June 9, which is what lit the fire under me to get this > new gear). > > I really wish I'd had the flash unit when I did the photo shoot with LeeAnn > a few weeks back. I did my best to minimize the shadows, but it just wasn't > enough. So, I lost quite a few shots that would've been nice otherwise. > > Thanks for all the advice. I'll see if I can put it to reasonably good use > in a couple of weeks. > > -- Walt > > > On 5/30/2013 2:11 PM, Paul Stenquist wrote: >> >> TTL doesn't work on the latest Pentax digital cameras. I think it went >> away after K10, but I'm not sure. PTTL is the later version of through the >> lens auto control, and it works to a certain extent. Combined with a flash >> compensation setting, which your flash probably has, it can work quite well. >> Flash compensation simply dials the flash exposure to a point over or under >> the ambient exposure. You'll almost always want to be under. I'm usually at >> -.5 stop or -1 stop, but that can vary with distance and the reflectivity of >> your subject. Lots of practice will get you to a good place. >> >> As others have mentioned, there are gizmos you can attach that will >> diffuse the light. The very simple Omnibounce is a darn good one. It doesn't >> get in the way, so you'll see it on the flashes of most PJs. >> >> Off camera can be fine, particularly when you are using two flashes or >> more, but I'd focus on mastering the on-camera stuff first. You can create >> the illusion of off-camera just by bouncing the flash off something in the >> room. >> >> Outdoor fill is a blessing when the sun doesn't shine where you'd like it >> to, but with no ceiling or walls in the great outdoors, you'll find the >> power of the flash is greatly compromised. To get good fill from ten feet or >> so on a sunny day, you pretty much need direct flash, but dialing it down >> with the comp switch is still a good idea. The light from the flash >> probably won't reach a -.5 stop fill level anyway, but in case it does, your >> butt is covered. >> >> Paul >> On May 30, 2013, at 2:12 PM, Walt <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Thanks, Dave. >>> >>> Now that you mention it, I recall someone (maybe Bruce) pointing me to >>> "Lighting 101" at Strobist a while back as a place to start. In fact, I >>> think I even "starred" the email for future reference. >>> >>> -- Walt >>> >>> On 5/30/2013 1:01 PM, David J Brooks wrote: >>>> >>>> This is a good place to staert:http://www.strobist.blogspot.ca/ >>>> >>>> After that just show up at Stenquest's place. >>>> >>>> Dave >>>> >>>> On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 1:54 PM, Walt <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Oops. Not the right URL. >>>>> >>>>> This one's better: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> http://www.amazon.com/Promaster-7500EDF-Digital-Flash-Pentax/dp/B00125XY28/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On 5/30/2013 12:53 PM, Walt wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Well, a couple of weeks after my little financial windfall at work, I >>>>>> finally decided I should use some of the money to join the flash >>>>>> photography >>>>>> world. So, I went down to the local brick-and-mortar camera shop in >>>>>> town and >>>>>> picked up this: >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> http://www.amazon.com/Promaster-7500EDF-Digital-Flash-Pentax/product-reviews/B00125XY28/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending >>>>>> >>>>>> Shorty: http://goo.gl/QQ3Kz >>>>>> >>>>>> I tested it out in the shop and it worked fine as far as I could tell. >>>>>> The >>>>>> thing is, I know jack shizzle about using flash units. Still, it seems >>>>>> like >>>>>> a well-built unit -- good heft and smooth rotation. The wireless >>>>>> signal >>>>>> worked well as best I can tell, too. So, for the time being, I feel >>>>>> like I >>>>>> got a decent deal: $169, discounted from the regular $249 price tag. >>>>>> >>>>>> 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. >>>>>> >>>>>> -- Walt >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> 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. >>>> >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> 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. >> >> > > > -- > 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. -- -bmw -- 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.
