Off Camera Flash
Discussion
Gave "off camera flash" a go tonight, wasnt really impressed with the results, just wondering if anyone had any experience with it?
First time ive really struggled with the camera, would love to hear peoples hints and tips, also feel free to post you own shots preferably with some helpful advice
Straight off the camera, no touching up (and yes, i know you can see me in some of the pictures, but like i said, it was my first attempt)
First time ive really struggled with the camera, would love to hear peoples hints and tips, also feel free to post you own shots preferably with some helpful advice
Straight off the camera, no touching up (and yes, i know you can see me in some of the pictures, but like i said, it was my first attempt)
How were you metering?
I'd switch to full manual so you can follow what's going on and understand better why things are turning out the way they are. But before any of that, the cars. You'll never light a black or dark blue car with flashes. Lighter colours get easier, all the way up to white. Bear that in mind next time you have the chance to try.
You're probably best using several low-powered bursts of flash at intervals along the car rather than one or two at high high power. You can do these as individual frames and composite in PP or use a single long exposure frame. The first approach lets you see the individual effects of each flash burst whereas the second method will give you much less control of any ambient light so areas where the flash doesn't reach as well may develop (for instance) an orange cast. There's a suggestion in there somewhere.
It takes loads more power than you'd think. In daylight the flashes are supplementing the ambient light so 1/2 power bursts can make a massive difference. At nighttime the flash is doing all the work so you need to work them so much harder and make sure they reach everywhere as the falloff will be much more severe.
I'd switch to full manual so you can follow what's going on and understand better why things are turning out the way they are. But before any of that, the cars. You'll never light a black or dark blue car with flashes. Lighter colours get easier, all the way up to white. Bear that in mind next time you have the chance to try.
You're probably best using several low-powered bursts of flash at intervals along the car rather than one or two at high high power. You can do these as individual frames and composite in PP or use a single long exposure frame. The first approach lets you see the individual effects of each flash burst whereas the second method will give you much less control of any ambient light so areas where the flash doesn't reach as well may develop (for instance) an orange cast. There's a suggestion in there somewhere.
It takes loads more power than you'd think. In daylight the flashes are supplementing the ambient light so 1/2 power bursts can make a massive difference. At nighttime the flash is doing all the work so you need to work them so much harder and make sure they reach everywhere as the falloff will be much more severe.
AndWhyNot said:
How were you metering?
I'd switch to full manual so you can follow what's going on and understand better why things are turning out the way they are. But before any of that, the cars. You'll never light a black or dark blue car with flashes. Lighter colours get easier, all the way up to white. Bear that in mind next time you have the chance to try.
You're probably best using several low-powered bursts of flash at intervals along the car rather than one or two at high high power. You can do these as individual frames and composite in PP or use a single long exposure frame. The first approach lets you see the individual effects of each flash burst whereas the second method will give you much less control of any ambient light so areas where the flash doesn't reach as well may develop (for instance) an orange cast. There's a suggestion in there somewhere.
It takes loads more power than you'd think. In daylight the flashes are supplementing the ambient light so 1/2 power bursts can make a massive difference. At nighttime the flash is doing all the work so you need to work them so much harder and make sure they reach everywhere as the falloff will be much more severe.
I was on manual, but tbh ive forgotten what metering i was using! D'ohI'd switch to full manual so you can follow what's going on and understand better why things are turning out the way they are. But before any of that, the cars. You'll never light a black or dark blue car with flashes. Lighter colours get easier, all the way up to white. Bear that in mind next time you have the chance to try.
You're probably best using several low-powered bursts of flash at intervals along the car rather than one or two at high high power. You can do these as individual frames and composite in PP or use a single long exposure frame. The first approach lets you see the individual effects of each flash burst whereas the second method will give you much less control of any ambient light so areas where the flash doesn't reach as well may develop (for instance) an orange cast. There's a suggestion in there somewhere.
It takes loads more power than you'd think. In daylight the flashes are supplementing the ambient light so 1/2 power bursts can make a massive difference. At nighttime the flash is doing all the work so you need to work them so much harder and make sure they reach everywhere as the falloff will be much more severe.
Also i was using the flash on 1/1 and taking 3 flashes on a long exposure, but ill experiment with a lower power and see what different that makes,
Cheers
My preference is to take a number of seperate images each with only one shot of the flash and then combine them in Photoshop later. If you're happy with post processing it gives you an awful lot of control on the final image.
Here's one I did like this on Friday night:
Landy at night by muddy_defender, on Flickr
Here's one I did like this on Friday night:
Landy at night by muddy_defender, on Flickr
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