wegriffin8642 Loc: Houston, Tx

I finally decided that the built-in flash on my 77D and my 80D just don't do my pictures justice, so I took my 430 out of the box and decided to learn to use it. With the camera selector in Auto, it seems that, between the camera brain and the 430 brain, there is nothing left for me to do but to compose and press the button. Is it really that simple or am I overlooking something?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Welcome to the modern world.
Our world.

If you want to experiment more, work with Flash Exposure Compensation to add or subtract brightness from the flash output.

wegriffin8642 Loc: Houston, Tx

Thanks...I will... I appreciate the response.

Old Timer Loc: Greenfield, In.

Flash can open a new field for you. As mentioned you need to read up on flash exposure compensation as well as using it for fill light and high sync photography. Youtube has several good tutorials.

wegriffin8642 Loc: Houston, Tx

I have Peterson's book on Flash Photography and will study it closely. Thanks for the replies...

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

If that's your shooting style ( always shoot everything in auto)!

wegriffin8642 Loc: Houston, Tx

I will use auto until I've had time and patience to explore the use of the other modes with the flash unit.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Assure too you have a diffuser and you bounce the flash when there's an opportunity. Both are methods to soften the light and avoid harsh shadows and / or the overpowering bright light of the basic on-camera flash.

wegriffin8642 Loc: Houston, Tx

Peterson talks about that in his book, even mentions colored diffusers for different moods/scenes...

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

First, get the camera out of Auto ("point n shoot" mode)... That puts all kinds of restrictions on what you can do... far more than just auto exposure.

Next, set the flash to ETTL mode.

Now use any of the camera's auto exposure modes (Av, Tv or P), and the flash will act as FILL.... The camera will set exposure according to the ambient light condition, and use the flash to supplement it. The flash will fire at approx. -1.66 EV.... enough to open up shadows, add catchlights, etc. This is great when shooting outdoors midday or backlit subjects.

Or, switch the camera to manual mode (M with Auto ISO off), and the flash will fire FULL... You actually still get an auto exposure, even though the camera is set to M. But in this case it's the flash being measured, not the ambient light (though depending upon your camera settings, ambient light can be part of the image and can influence overall exposure).

With either FILL or FULL flash you can dial in more or less flash if you wish, using Flash Exposure Compensation via dial or buttons on the flash, or in some cases, with the camera's controls.

ETTL flash mode is auto exposure.... it works by firing a low power (about 1/64) burst that's used to determine a "correct" exposure,

On your 80D you can use any shutter speed up to 1/250 with the flash. On 77D it's up to 1/200.

However, with either camera you can set the flash in High Speed Sync (HSS) mode and it will fire a longer duration that allows it to work with faster shutter speeds. Using HSS does significantly reduce the distance the flash can reach, though. (I think the 430EX series have an LCD panel on the back that will display the range possible with the current camera & flash settings. (Change the lens apreture and ISO to change the range fof distance the flash covers).

There's a lot more... But those are the basics you need to know to use the flash pretty well.

P.S. I recommend you learn to work with direct flash... diffuse it with a light modifier of some sort, if you prefer. Putting the flash on a bracket that's off to the side and higher up also can improve it's appearance a lot. Personally I do all I can to avoid using bounce flash... it wastes a great deal of the flash's output, forcing the flash to fire much more fully and take a lot longer to recycle. There also can be all sorts of problems related to the color of the bounce surface, texture, etc. Using bounce introduces a lot of variables out of your control.

An exception is using a bounce card that mounts on the flash... wastes some light, but not as much... and you can control the color etc..... but bounce cards and brackets to hold them tend to be rather large and bulky.

Ron Dial Loc: Cuenca, Ecuador

If you set the flash for minus 1.5 stops and use it when you are taking things like family snapshots, it will fill the shadows but will not look like you had a flash on. Just a tip.

CO

That's an extremely useful feature. I often dial in around -1EV to -2EV compensation for fill flash to avoid the obvious flash look.

CO

I have that book (3rd. edition). Check out the technique he describes in italics on page 14. It's a way to deal with situations when the main subject is close to the camera. He gets a more even exposure in the foreground and background. I've tried it. It works great.