First try with off-camera flash - C&C wanted, please!
Discussion
Evening All,
Having funnelled all my relatives in the direction of off-camera flash kit for my 40th, I've just got round to a first play with it. I'm fairly pleased with some of the shots I got, but I also haven't really got much of a clue what I'm doing!
The shots were taken with natural (overcast) light coming in from the left of the shot when looking at the chair, with one flashgun high to the left firing through a white umbrella, and another firing from a couple of feet lower into a reflective umbrella (although still with the white lining in). I'm not really sure though what difference shoot through vs bounce off makes? Or whether I should've taken the white lining out of the umbrella bouncing back?
Also, it seems as though all the shots I liked on the back of the camera were coming out between 0.5 to 1 stop under-exposed on the computer. Is this something which others find in this sort of setup? Not something I've really had an issue with before.
Anyway, shots below. Please feel free to provide pointers and opinions. I don't know how to do the click to biggify thing, but they're all on my flickr page
Having funnelled all my relatives in the direction of off-camera flash kit for my 40th, I've just got round to a first play with it. I'm fairly pleased with some of the shots I got, but I also haven't really got much of a clue what I'm doing!
The shots were taken with natural (overcast) light coming in from the left of the shot when looking at the chair, with one flashgun high to the left firing through a white umbrella, and another firing from a couple of feet lower into a reflective umbrella (although still with the white lining in). I'm not really sure though what difference shoot through vs bounce off makes? Or whether I should've taken the white lining out of the umbrella bouncing back?
Also, it seems as though all the shots I liked on the back of the camera were coming out between 0.5 to 1 stop under-exposed on the computer. Is this something which others find in this sort of setup? Not something I've really had an issue with before.
Anyway, shots below. Please feel free to provide pointers and opinions. I don't know how to do the click to biggify thing, but they're all on my flickr page
The first 2 look slightly under exposed but the rest look fine to me. The lighting balance between your main and your fill looks good. The bottom pic with your son on the chair is great.
I always shoot in RAW and then aim with the light settings to get some of the bright highlights to be clipped (i.e. on the LCD the camera flashes them as "blinkies"). A quick tidy up in lightroom and you are sorted.
I always shoot in RAW and then aim with the light settings to get some of the bright highlights to be clipped (i.e. on the LCD the camera flashes them as "blinkies"). A quick tidy up in lightroom and you are sorted.
I can't actually make my mind up whether they're under-exposed or not! The wall is cream rather than white, and I keep feeling inclined to up the exposure during the RAW conversion to whiten it, but then it looks a bit blown on the subject.
If I were to blow another £40 or so for another Chinese flashgun, is there any way to get it in tight behind the chair and then massively diffuse the beam to lighten up the background? I don't have much space to pull the chair forward in!
If I were to blow another £40 or so for another Chinese flashgun, is there any way to get it in tight behind the chair and then massively diffuse the beam to lighten up the background? I don't have much space to pull the chair forward in!
Another question springs to mind!
With the umbrellas being attached to my stand mounts, and then the added 12mm or so of the radio trigger between the top of the mount and the flash, the flash itself sits quite high up towards the top of the umbrella. It doesn't seem to be having much impact on the results, but should I be looking to get the flash closer to the centre of the umbrella?
With the umbrellas being attached to my stand mounts, and then the added 12mm or so of the radio trigger between the top of the mount and the flash, the flash itself sits quite high up towards the top of the umbrella. It doesn't seem to be having much impact on the results, but should I be looking to get the flash closer to the centre of the umbrella?
Kermit power said:
I can't actually make my mind up whether they're under-exposed or not! The wall is cream rather than white, and I keep feeling inclined to up the exposure during the RAW conversion to whiten it, but then it looks a bit blown on the subject.
If I were to blow another £40 or so for another Chinese flashgun, is there any way to get it in tight behind the chair and then massively diffuse the beam to lighten up the background? I don't have much space to pull the chair forward in!
Use the fill tool in LRIf I were to blow another £40 or so for another Chinese flashgun, is there any way to get it in tight behind the chair and then massively diffuse the beam to lighten up the background? I don't have much space to pull the chair forward in!
Sounds a little like you're metering but not accounting for how much light is being sucked by the diffusers. Or TTL is getting in the way. I'm also a ETTR'er, worked out I can pulll back a stop easily if needs be, usually go for just under half a stop
andy-xr said:
Use the fill tool in LR
LR? Assuming that's something to do with post-processing, I'm using Elements 8 and the Adobe RAW processor that comes with it. Would the "fill" slider therein have the same effect?
andy-xr said:
Sounds a little like you're metering but not accounting for how much light is being sucked by the diffusers. Or TTL is getting in the way. I'm also a ETTR'er, worked out I can pulll back a stop easily if needs be, usually go for just under half a stop
Nothing so sophisticated, I'm afraid! I'm using manual-only radio triggers, so it's all guesswork when it comes to the metering.On my screen they're a shade undercooked, they could go higher, but then again you could go Venture with them if you wanted to, and I'm guessing these have had some PP on them?
Might be worth chimping a bit, but not always believing what the cameras telling you. Maybe screen brightness is set too high on camera?
Might be worth chimping a bit, but not always believing what the cameras telling you. Maybe screen brightness is set too high on camera?
xrrr said:
andy-xr said:
Might be worth chimping a bit
Works for me every time when using flash!
Histograms.Kermit power said:
Nothing so sophisticated, I'm afraid! I'm using manual-only radio triggers, so it's all guesswork when it comes to the metering.
True Strobist technique.LR = LightRoom. So yep, Camera Raw or something in Elements should be available.
They look pretty good to me too. Balanced and without shadows. I would guess that the room's decor helps to diffuse the light coming in from all directions and thus minimises or eradicates the potential for shadows.
Positioning of the flash in the umbrella/reflector should not matter too much so long as nothing you don't want sneaks past the light adjuster.
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