rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I love fast lenses and I hear a LOT on the hog about how someone "needs" a fast lens because they are going to take pictures of their nephews 10th birthday party...

But fast lenses aren't the "be-all-end-all" of indoor photography and I'll tell you why...

1.) The depth of field on a 50mm lens at f/1.8 is VERY narrow so your focus has to be spot on and you will miss shots. Not only that, you may want more background detail than a "total blur" 50mm at 1.8 will give you.

2.) The actual ambient lighting may not be pleasing in it's location and hence, the shadows. If the lighting is overhead, then you will get some raccoon eye syndrome going on...and without a catchlight in people's eyes...they will lose some sparkle.

3.) A new fast lens is expensive...I guess you knew that.



So what's a good alternative?


Well...flash.

I know, I know...."I'm a natural light photographer"....I've said it and I've heard it countless times. What it really means is..."I haven't found a way to make flash look good..."


I have a suggestion for getting use out of that f/4.5 kit lens indoors in low light.

Put a flash up high somewhere (like on a bookshelf) and diffuse it with something; a cheap 10.00 umbrella from Adorama, or a pillow case or something. Point it towards the wall/ceiling joint and fire away without worry. You WILL need some wireless triggers for this to work but you can get good cheap ones.

The trick to making flash look natural is to just give it enough juice to boost the ambient and enable yourself to hold a reasonable shutter speed and f/stop while keeping the ISO REASONABLY low.

I set this up this morning and took two shots...one of my cat and one of my dog....I didn't tweak a lot, I could have done better to make the flash more "invisible" but I just busted it out quickly...I put the flash on my entertainment center and put the umbrella up there...no frills...I didn't even move the nicknacks...(and I don't have white walls...I have puke yellow walls.)

I shot this with a 200mm lens! No way could I have hand held this lens without flash and gotten a sharp shot...no way. So imagine what you can do with just a 35mm or a 50mm lens and some light fill flash in the corner.

In my opinion, neither looks "too much" like flash and putting a small catchlight in Pancho's eyes, and giving him a slight "side light" improved the look in the room.

One thing is that I DIDN'T gel my speedlight...I should have but was lazy and it's about time to get to work...so you can just imagine that the color of the light from the flash and the ambient balance better.

And one last thing; using flash WILL sharpen up your shots...it tends to make shots look much crisper than shots taken without flash...bonus!

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Very nice post!!Folks do have to learn how to control their flashes. The key as you said is the out put and where you have it pointed. I got away from my flash for a while and am now coming back to it. A little of a learning curve, but with digital you can shoot and look. How cool is that!! I shot Nikon and just got an su800 which is a slave to set the flashes off. It is on the camera. Works very well, and I am haven a blast playing with the flashes again. And yes folks should take the time to get out all there lenses and play. Each one will give you a different look in some way.
Thank you for this post.
Erv

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Thanks...by the way...that was f/4 for the aperture I used in those shots....I don't think I mentioned that.

skidooman Loc: Minnesota

More and more "Natural light" photographers are popping up out there. Learning to balance ambient and flash is a skill, and when to use a gel requires some effort. Although natural light photography sounds appealing,,I don't think it requires a lot of skill. Just like our brains, most people won't use all the capacity of their flash.

Nice post.

kerfree Loc: Sebago and Sanibel

rpavich, this is best post! A call for sanity, contentment and mastering the equipment we've got, instead of wishing for more and better! Thanks! Besides that I really appreciate your instruction on just how you set up your flash - very helpful tip for me. By the way, your shots are proof of your wisdom. Thank you for the lesson!

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I think that people use "natural light" because they don't fully understand light...they see a window and they put someone in front of it...if they are semi-good at it...they face them sideways to get side lighting, rarely do they ask themselves "is this light the best that it could be or do I need to do something else?

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

You are very welcome...I put it up because I've been guilty of the same thing many times...

Weddingguy Loc: British Columbia - Canada

Finally . . someone who knows what they are talking about! I find this quite refreshing after reading so many suggestions from those that really don't know what they are talking about.

I love bounce flash when the conditions are right. Here's a favorite short video on one of the effective ways to use bounce flash.
http://www.litegenius.com/new/home/promo2

Thanks for this post . . I am going to keep it handy so I can refer others to it when the same old questions comes up about what lens or camera do I need for crappy light.

Your answer is perfect . . . use the camera you have and fix or replace the crappy light.