Tag Archives: Flash

Bounce

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..or use high ISO. When you take pictures in a restaurant with dark high ceilings and walls – nothing much to bounce off – you get bad pictures – the flash pictures love to hate.

Even when you use a Gary Fong Lightsphere:

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Better, but clearly not panacea, then: this light is not ideal. Harsh shadows, flat light, unflattering skin.

So under those circumstances, it is OK to use very high ISO. 1600 ISO at f/4 at 1/60th second, with a bit of bounce (even high, far walls and ceilings will bounce something back), gives me this:

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Better, and perfectly OK for large prints, and it avoids that clearly “flashy” look.

You can also use a slow shutter speed (on Nikon cameras, engage “Slow Flash”; on Canon cameras this is normal in Av mode).

Pic of the day

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Look at this recent newspaper picture of Elizabeth May, the leader of Canada’s Green Party:

I shot that with a 16-35mm lens set to 33mm on a full frame camera. Exposure was 1/60th second at f/2.8 at 800 ISO, using – what else – bounce flash.The wide angle gives the image depth.

But ignore the technical details and ignore politics. Does this not show what a delightful people-person she is? And a politician who does not hide her wine glass when she sees the press gets full marks for integrity.

This is also a good example of a photo where the foreground is blurred and the background is sharp. That is why you pick your own focus point. If you use the “all focus points are used and the camera picks” mode, you will get the foreground object in focus. Which may not be what you want. Which is why photographers use just one focus point mos of the time.

Fire

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Do not forget to use motion in your pictures. Like this:

So I took that today with one hand – the other was holding a McDonald’s coffee, outside Henry’s School of Imaging in Toronto. I was about to go back in to do course two of the day.

Now, normally I would have gone to “Tv” mode (“S” on Nikon: shutter-speed priority). But with one hand and no time to lose that was impossible. So I rapidly did the following:

  1. Pop up the pop-up Flash.
  2. Zoom out to 16mm.
  3. I looked through the viewfinder at the street as the truck was approaching.
  4. I was in Av (Aperture priority) mode. So without the option of changing that while holding the camera with just one hand, I simply turned the Aperture setting up to to f/22, which I saw was what I needed to get to a shutter speed near 1/15th of a second. (I got to 1/20th: at that time time ran out and I left it there).
  5. Press the shutter!

All took about, oh, two seconds. And I hope you agree that is not a bad fire truck photo.

Question of the Day

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Reader Len recently asked:

A while back you said “one major reason I bought a 7D: I can now, just like the Nikon users, drive my external flashes from the popup.” But your studio setup includes strobes (non Canon) plus two pocketwizards which are not cheap. Is this still your recommendation? Or would you now revise this to include Canon flashes driven by the popup flash and do away with the pocketwizards and strobes?

Good question. Yes, it is still my recommendation, but only to be flexible.

I have the speedlites (580exII, 3x 430EX) for reasons of portability, independence of power outlets, light weight, and TTL system flexibility. A speedlite (small flash) system like that is the first system I would recommend to anyone, and with the great range of Honl modifiers (snoots, grids, reflectors, gels etc) this gives me an incredible portable system. And it may be all you ever need. You can do studio work with this, for sure. And I often do.

But I still have my studio lights as well. Those are less essential: I could do it all with the small flashes. But the studio lights do give me benefits for typical studio use, such as:

  • More power.
  • No need to rely on batteries: they can stay on, ready to work always.
  • Consistency. You use studio strobes (big, mains-powered flashes) in manual (not TTL) mode, and once set up in any given layout, and once metered, the light will be consistent always. In a studio, TTL is not necessarily a benefit: manual has the advantage of being predictable, independent of the subject, and consistent.

Len adds:

BTW, FlashZebra sells cheap (but good quality) 30ft extender cords that allow you to place your flash some distance from the camera and yet retain full ETTL functionality. That works perfectly for me, with a 50D, 580EX and 430EX flash. What’s the advantage of using strobes and pocketwizards? Is it just more power and no cables? Or am I missing something fundamental?

Yes, Pocketwizards free me from having to use cables. So it’s just that preference – indeed cables are a possibility, but whether in a studio or outdoors, I prefer to have fewer cables rather than more for people to trip over.

So all that said, I almost always use speedlites and TTL outdoors and on location, and my studio strobes and manual in a studio.

Fong

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When I shot the Tribe party recently, I was not the only photographer using a Gary Fong Lightsphere:

fong

In general, where there’s no obvious bounce surfaces, the Fong Lightsphere is what I will turn to. No panacea, but a good tool to have in your bag. The Lightsphere throws light in all directions, and there is a good chance that something will bounce back light.

And of course open your lens all the way f/1.4 is better than f/2.8 when the light is low. And 2.8 is better than 4. And 4 is better than 5.6… you get the picture.

So how did the 7D do?

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I shot an event yesterday, as said. In a club. A challenging environment.

More pics coming soon, but here’s one more, just to give you a taste of what a good camera and good glass can do.

TRIBE. 400 ISO, f/2.8, 1/60th, at 110mm (70-200 2.8L on a 7D), bounce flash

TRIBE. 400 ISO, f/2.8, 1/60th, at 110mm (70-200 2.8L on a 7D), bounce flash

I shot with two cameras:

  • The 1Ds MkIII with the wide lens (16-35 2.8L earlier, 35mm f/1.4 later)with a 580EX II flash.
  • The 7D with the long lens (70-200 2.8L) and a 430EX II flash.

And they did fine.

The 7D produced some wonderful images – to be posted here with technique tips in the next little while. I am very happy with it.

To start you off, some tips for club shooting:

  • Shoot wide. I needed f/1.4-f/2.8 at 1/30th or less at up to 1,600 ISO.
  • Bring a small LED flashlight so you can see your camera (thanks Alvin, for the tip)
  • Bring two cameras, one long for shots uch as the above, and one wide for the “grip and grins”. Wide should be 35mm on full frame or 24mm on crop cameras, and fast.
  • You can drag the shutter more if you have to.
  • Shoot people with some light in the background
  • Bring batteries
  • Bounce, or if you cannot, then use a Gary Fong lightsphere or a Honl bounce card with CTO gels

And of course: have fun.

Self portrait

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How do I take one of these with my new 7D?

IMG_1086

I set the camera on a tripod and use pocketwizards to fire one flash into an umbrella. One flash gives me that severe look, but to slightly lessen that, I have a reflector on the other side (camera left). I used a 35mm f/1.4L lens on the 7D, meaning an effective lens length of about 50mm. The “Nifty fifty”!

I set my camera to 100 ISO – best quality, and background light does not upset the shot. And I am in manual mode, at f/8 (enough DOF) and 1/125th second. I use autofocus where the camera selects a focus point, This time. I will – because as the subject I cannot see what I am doing.

Finally, I use the timer of course. So I can press the shutter while I hold my hand out; then sit down as the camera beeps.

And then I check: sharp enough? Nice graduated tones from dark to light? Catchlights in the eyes? Check!

Why oh why..

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…are studio flash pictures so much sharper than available light pictures? Like, always?

Whatever you do, available light may look great – but when you zoom in close, it is not perfect.

IMG_1303

Studio is much better. Look at this picture I just took with my Canon 7D at f/11, 1/125th sec, 100 ISO, using two studio strobes driven by a pair of Pocketwizards:

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Zoom in and it is spectacular. This is the original size (once you click), and utterly unaltered:

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Why is this so much better?

Let me tell you some differences. I count six:

  1. Aperture – Studio light means f/8. Available light means f/2.8. Lenses are typically sharper and clearer at f/5.6-f/8.
  2. ISO – Available light means higher ISO. Lower ISO, like in a studio, means sharper pictures.
  3. Shutter speed – Flash is around 1/1000th second. Available light pictures, even at 1/250th second, will not be as clear.
  4. Tripod – In a studio you are likely to be using a tripod. This is huge, in terms of focus and motion.
  5. Light direction – Studio flash is directional. Available light is diffuse. So surfaces look clearer.
  6. Exposure – In a studio, you are likely to expose to the right – the pixels will be bright pixels. Bright pixels are sharp pixels!

So it is not so much one factor. It is the combination of all of them. In a studio you have all of them your way; in available light, many, sometimes all, are not ideal. That is why studio flash is so much crisper.

Have I left anything out, anyone?

Sometimes you can't get it.

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MVWS9449

Like the other day when I shot a company event in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Shooting the Stanley Cup was tough, and sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

This quick grab-shot of the Original Stanley cup is illustrative. The cup reflects and you have to get close in a small room (the vault). Little space for umbrellas. The Plexiglas around the object reflects. The Plexiglas behind the object reflects, too. The existing lights cannot be turned off. Oh and there is limited time.

So then, you get this – best I could do under the circumstances. And my hands give it charm. That’s my theory and I am sticking to it.

One thing to keep in mind: flash systems will be confused by strong reflections. Either switch to centre-weighted flash metering, or use FEC (Flash compensation) of up to +2 or +3 stops, as needed.