Intro to Flash Photography, some beginner's queries.

[marcwang]

Hi guys,

I'm new to flash photography. I mostly shoot outdoors, so usually my inbuilt speedlight hides in its hood all day long. Recently, been taking potraits, and realise the importance of flash. I'll be acquiring a external flash soon, and I want to know more about flash photography. Things like TTL flash, fill flash, bouce flash are all new to me. I've seen people using a white card while facing the flash upwards, whats that for ? Hmm... please explain these doubts, or recommend a link or webpage. Many thanks

Marc.

 

[SzennyBoy]

Hi Marc,
here's a very brief explanation to your queries...

TTL Flash
With your Nikon F80 the TTL (Through-The-Lens) metering system, when used in-conjunction with TTL compatible flash, will be to control the amount of illumination from the flash. Basically, your camera will be able to tell the flash to shut-off when there is sufficient amount of illumination based on the camera's metering.

Fill-in Flash
This is a technique of using the flash to illuminate the subject in compositions where there is a strong background light. eg. taking a shot of people in the shade with the sun shining in the background. Chances are you'll get an exposure with a very bright and clear background but under-exposed faces of the people. The fill-in flash technique would ensure that the faces are well lit but still getting the overall exposure nicely balanced.

Bounce Flash
This is another technique to diffuse the flash, either to soften the harshness of the flash output to give a more pleasant feel to the shot (a diffuser also does this very well), re-direction of the angle of the in-coming light source from the flash (ie. downwards rather than straight into the face) or to widen the field of flash exposure in the case of those wide wierdly shaped bounce attachments.

I'm sure if I'm wrong is any of these comments, the rest of the ppl here will rectify it! ;p

 

[jesser]

the sb 26, sb28 or the metz 54mz-3 will be useful for vertical
portrait shootout.
bounce the flash to the ceiling so that there will be no hush shadows on the background.......u need an additional bounce
card to attach at the side of the sb26 or the sb28 for fill in
below the eyes and chin area.
the 54mz-3 have a secondary reflector which will do the job.

note:- ceiling cannot be too high also........speed at 1/30 or 1/20
will be good.
hope this help.....

 

[Silverelf]

Can I just hijack this thread to ask something about Flash photography? I was at my friend's wedding last night and the photographer was using only the camera's built in flash. I'm not sure of the camera model. Just want to ask, generally would you guys do this? or would you prefer an external flash? The location is Meritus Mandarin Main Ball room.

 

[zekai]

IMO, the picture will be alright if he know exactly the strength of his flash and the distance to maintain.

Firing the flash straight on for me produces wash out picture. Everything is clear but ambient light all gone. The back ground all gray.

Bouncing the flash is better for me. I get less reflection off glasses & less red eye.

 

[ckiang]

Originally posted by Silverelf
Can I just hijack this thread to ask something about Flash photography? I was at my friend's wedding last night and the photographer was using only the camera's built in flash. I'm not sure of the camera model. Just want to ask, generally would you guys do this? or would you prefer an external flash? The location is Meritus Mandarin Main Ball room.

Definitely not a pro then. ;p Probably a friend or something. But if you use high speed film, fast lens and all, might not be that bad as the built-in flash only fills in.

Regards
CK

 

[zekai]

yah ck very experienced in using flash.

ck: check with you what is the diff with using a bounce card that is wider and one that is narrower. Does it help light up the side if i use a wider card?

Thanks

 

[jesser]

Originally posted by zekai
IMO, the picture will be alright if he know exactly the strength of his flash and the distance to maintain.

Firing the flash straight on for me produces wash out picture. Everything is clear but ambient light all gone. The back ground all gray.

Bouncing the flash is better for me. I get less reflection off glasses & less red eye.

Use a higher ISO film......like the Fujipress 800
Use low speed and rear curtain flash directly will still give you very nice background.

 

[NitroTech]

Originally posted by marcwang
Hi guys,

I'm new to flash photography. I mostly shoot outdoors, so usually my inbuilt speedlight hides in its hood all day long. Recently, been taking potraits, and realise the importance of flash. I'll be acquiring a external flash soon, and I want to know more about flash photography. Things like TTL flash, fill flash, bouce flash are all new to me. I've seen people using a white card while facing the flash upwards, whats that for ? Hmm... please explain these doubts, or recommend a link or webpage. Many thanks

Marc.

Maybe you could learn something from this site. It was quite useful to me when i first started flash photography(when i was new to the terms etc etc). But trust me, nothing beats learning it hands-on, from the pros especially.

http://www.moose395.net/howto/flash.html

 

[chkoch]

Thanks for the link. Really did not know that flash photography is such a "chim" thing. Got lots of things to learn about photography still. :angel:

 

[serendipity]

Hi. Just to share something.

I had tried FujiPress 800 and built in flash on my F65, and the effect is not as bad as expected. The ambient light is all in and the subjects are properly exposed too. I used a 35mm f/2.8 lens. So am real close to the subject when taking all the shoots.

 

[ckiang]

Originally posted by zekai
yah ck very experienced in using flash.

ck: check with you what is the diff with using a bounce card that is wider and one that is narrower. Does it help light up the side if i use a wider card?

Thanks

A bigger/wider bounce card will give you softer light. But subject to practicality lar. You wouldn't want to attach a A3 sized card to the flash right? ;p

Regards
CK