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What is the "best" use for Speedlight Flash?
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Apr 26, 2019 08:51:54   #
JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco
 
Vietnam Vet wrote:
The best use for a speed light is to imitate sunlight


I would disagree. The sun is a point light source, which results in harsh lighting. The larger a light source is, the softer the light is. By bouncing the flash or using light modifiers you create a larger, softer light source more like window light than direct sunlight.

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Apr 26, 2019 09:06:46   #
GLKTN Loc: TN
 
CO wrote:
I use flash a lot for fill flash. I dial in negative flash compensation to avoid the obvious flash look. I will often put the flash, mounted on a PocketWizard Flex-TT5, on a light stand. I trigger it with a PocketWizard Mini-TT1 on my camera. Those units support TTL metering so I can adjust flash compensation at the camera and that will be transmitted to the flash. I use a 33" silver reflective umbrella with the Kupo umbrella bracket. An umbrella with a pebbled, silver interior will reflect more light than one with a white interior. The pebbled surface helps to disperse the light better.

I used bounce flash for this shot. The room has a bright, white ceiling ideal for bounce flash.
I use flash a lot for fill flash. I dial in negati... (show quote)


I am going to photograph my 6 year old grandsons birthday party tomorrow. I am going to use on camera flash and bounce off of ceiling. I am going to use a diy bounce card made from white craft foam I saw on YouTube. This is all new to me. Going to start with -1 flash compensation ISO 640 and go from there. I usually shoot M. Is it better to use a different mode for moving kids? I have never used A or S mode. Thanks.

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Apr 26, 2019 09:42:00   #
Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina
 
You need to have sufficient shutter speed to stop motion in the subject's. Then you want to have sufficient DOF. You can shoot in manual but shutter priority and even aperture priority can work well also. I would probably shoot shutter priority and use TTL flash. TTL is good if the distance from camera and flash to subject is varying as is likely with Kids moving around. I would not get into FEC unless you really need too. Get there early and do some test shots to determine your baseline settings. Or shoot some indoor practice shots at home today to test. You may be surprised how little light is in some indoor shooting areas.

GLKTN wrote:
I am going to photograph my 6 year old grandsons birthday party tomorrow. I am going to use on camera flash and bounce off of ceiling. I am going to use a diy bounce card made from white craft foam I saw on YouTube. This is all new to me. Going to start with -1 flash compensation ISO 640 and go from there. I usually shoot M. Is it better to use a different mode for moving kids? I have never used A or S mode. Thanks.

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Apr 26, 2019 09:56:17   #
GLKTN Loc: TN
 
Thanks. Not familiar with FEC.

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Apr 26, 2019 10:19:44   #
GLKTN Loc: TN
 
Notorious T.O.D. wrote:
You need to have sufficient shutter speed to stop motion in the subject's. Then you want to have sufficient DOF. You can shoot in manual but shutter priority and even aperture priority can work well also. I would probably shoot shutter priority and use TTL flash. TTL is good if the distance from camera and flash to subject is varying as is likely with Kids moving around. I would not get into FEC unless you really need too. Get there early and do some test shots to determine your baseline settings. Or shoot some indoor practice shots at home today to test. You may be surprised how little light is in some indoor shooting areas.
You need to have sufficient shutter speed to stop ... (show quote)


LOOKED UP FEC. I understand.

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Apr 26, 2019 10:48:33   #
JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco
 
Notorious T.O.D. wrote:
You need to have sufficient shutter speed to stop motion in the subject's. Then you want to have sufficient DOF. You can shoot in manual but shutter priority and even aperture priority can work well also. I would probably shoot shutter priority and use TTL flash. TTL is good if the distance from camera and flash to subject is varying as is likely with Kids moving around. I would not get into FEC unless you really need too. Get there early and do some test shots to determine your baseline settings. Or shoot some indoor practice shots at home today to test. You may be surprised how little light is in some indoor shooting areas.
You need to have sufficient shutter speed to stop ... (show quote)


When you use a flash, it is the duration of the flash which stops motion, not the shutter speed. If the flash is the only light, you don't have to worry about shutter speed, so I shoot manual at the sync speed of the camera, choosing the aperture which gives the DOF I want, or to control the range of the flash. If I want to include some ambient light, I either shoot manual and use the shutter speed to control the ambient light - the shutter speed won't affect the flash exposure. Or if the ambient light is changing I shoot aperture priority and let the camera set the appropriate shutter speed for the ambient light exposure.

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Apr 26, 2019 11:36:13   #
dick ranez
 
Just to share a quick shopping hint about lighting equipment. Explore wish.com - all sorts of very reasonably priced light stands, backdrops, etc. I've ordered several items and other than the shipping delays of two weeks to a month, I've been satisfied with the results. I'm not sure I'd buy it if I were setting up a professional shop, but for occasional usage that won't break the budget, I'm sure it's sturdy enough.
(there is also all kinds of little stuff - battery boxes, brackets, cables, that are cheap).

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Apr 26, 2019 12:03:02   #
Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina
 
You make some good points but I would contend that it depends. Depends on the mix of ambient light and flash for one thing. Also depends on the shutter speed as too slow of a shutter speed might introduce camera shake. You wound be safe in many cases with the sync speed as you suggest. Of course we have not talked about first or second curtain or high speed sync either. Flash photography can have many challenges for sure.

JohnSwanda wrote:
When you use a flash, it is the duration of the flash which stops motion, not the shutter speed. If the flash is the only light, you don't have to worry about shutter speed, so I shoot manual at the sync speed of the camera, choosing the aperture which gives the DOF I want, or to control the range of the flash. If I want to include some ambient light, I either shoot manual and use the shutter speed to control the ambient light - the shutter speed won't affect the flash exposure. Or if the ambient light is changing I shoot aperture priority and let the camera set the appropriate shutter speed for the ambient light exposure.
When you use a flash, it is the duration of the fl... (show quote)

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Apr 26, 2019 12:18:09   #
khorinek
 
Notorious T.O.D. wrote:
You need to have sufficient shutter speed to stop motion in the subject's. Then you want to have sufficient DOF. You can shoot in manual but shutter priority and even aperture priority can work well also. I would probably shoot shutter priority and use TTL flash. TTL is good if the distance from camera and flash to subject is varying as is likely with Kids moving around. I would not get into FEC unless you really need too. Get there early and do some test shots to determine your baseline settings. Or shoot some indoor practice shots at home today to test. You may be surprised how little light is in some indoor shooting areas.
You need to have sufficient shutter speed to stop ... (show quote)


Actually, the flash from the speedlite will capture the motion. Speedlites are as fast enough now to capture the motion. I usually shoot no slower than 1/125 for shutter speed but if it is really dark and want to show a little background I will shoot as slow as 1/80. There is a technique called dragging the shutter where you shoot slower than you normally would in order to capture some background in your photo. If you shoot too fast all you get is your subject and a black background, which is ok if that's what your going for.
https://digital-photography-school.com/dragging-the-shutter-balancing-fill-flash-with-ambient-light/

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Apr 26, 2019 12:57:07   #
jamesl Loc: Pennsylvania
 
ballsafire wrote:
Just for ordinary photographers (not professionals), what, or how do you use speedlights -- mounted on camera? What modes do you shoot in and do you use extra speedlights? Just wondering and reading about speedlights.... I have an old Canon T1i/500D camera and three speedlights (a Canon 430EX II, an Opteka IF-980 and an Altura AP-FLS-UNV1). Any ideas on how to use one or two together? I think the Opteka qualifies as a MASTER and the others as SLAVES. Should I mount the Opteka on my camera's hot shoe and disable the built in flash (I think the built-in flash can be used as a MASTER). I like the idea of using the flash in bright daylight to get rid of the shdows under their hats, etc. How do you use your speedlights?
Just for ordinary photographers (not professionals... (show quote)


--------
The Altura flash can be used as a master but it isn't able to use eTTL. You need to be shooting manual flash with it.

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Apr 26, 2019 13:35:06   #
speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho
 
ballsafire wrote:
Just for ordinary photographers (not professionals), what, or how do you use speedlights -- mounted on camera? What modes do you shoot in and do you use extra speedlights? Just wondering and reading about speedlights.... I have an old Canon T1i/500D camera and three speedlights (a Canon 430EX II, an Opteka IF-980 and an Altura AP-FLS-UNV1). Any ideas on how to use one or two together? I think the Opteka qualifies as a MASTER and the others as SLAVES. Should I mount the Opteka on my camera's hot shoe and disable the built in flash (I think the built-in flash can be used as a MASTER). I like the idea of using the flash in bright daylight to get rid of the shdows under their hats, etc. How do you use your speedlights?
Just for ordinary photographers (not professionals... (show quote)


Yes, I use speedlights a lot, everytime I find the ambience lacking, I grab one of my speedlights. Sometimes I do have it on the camera (usually with bounce and flag), but mostly I have them off camera!

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Apr 26, 2019 14:38:47   #
Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina
 
Based on my meter testing my Speedlites have a duration of roughly 1/1000 to 1/44,000 second with the shorter duration at minimum power. In theory you may be correct, but I can assure you it depends n the speed and direction of the object in motion as well as the distance to the subject. You would quickly realize this if you tried shooting drag racing after dark...

khorinek wrote:
Actually, the flash from the speedlite will capture the motion. Speedlites are as fast enough now to capture the motion. I usually shoot no slower than 1/125 for shutter speed but if it is really dark and want to show a little background I will shoot as slow as 1/80. There is a technique called dragging the shutter where you shoot slower than you normally would in order to capture some background in your photo. If you shoot too fast all you get is your subject and a black background, which is ok if that's what your going for.
https://digital-photography-school.com/dragging-the-shutter-balancing-fill-flash-with-ambient-light/
Actually, the flash from the speedlite will captur... (show quote)

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Apr 26, 2019 16:53:31   #
Silverrails
 
ballsafire wrote:
Just for ordinary photographers (not professionals), what, or how do you use speedlights -- mounted on camera? What modes do you shoot in and do you use extra speedlights? Just wondering and reading about speedlights.... I have an old Canon T1i/500D camera and three speedlights (a Canon 430EX II, an Opteka IF-980 and an Altura AP-FLS-UNV1). Any ideas on how to use one or two together? I think the Opteka qualifies as a MASTER and the others as SLAVES. Should I mount the Opteka on my camera's hot shoe and disable the built in flash (I think the built-in flash can be used as a MASTER). I like the idea of using the flash in bright daylight to get rid of the shdows under their hats, etc. How do you use your speedlights?
Just for ordinary photographers (not professionals... (show quote)


If possible,You should use Speedlights recommended by the company that made your Camera. Ex. Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc. A off brand flash is sometimes not synced properly with your camera and can even damage your Camera. when using a speedlight flash you should try to bounce the light either into umbrella, off a white wall, a reflector, etc. Off camera Flash is a different subject by itself, and you should investigate that aspect of Flash Photography.

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Apr 26, 2019 16:56:21   #
pego101
 
CO wrote:
I use flash a lot for fill flash. I dial in negative flash compensation to avoid the obvious flash look. I will often put the flash, mounted on a PocketWizard Flex-TT5, on a light stand. I trigger it with a PocketWizard Mini-TT1 on my camera. Those units support TTL metering so I can adjust flash compensation at the camera and that will be transmitted to the flash. I use a 33" silver reflective umbrella with the Kupo umbrella bracket. An umbrella with a pebbled, silver interior will reflect more light than one with a white interior. The pebbled surface helps to disperse the light better.

I used bounce flash for this shot. The room has a bright, white ceiling ideal for bounce flash.
I use flash a lot for fill flash. I dial in negati... (show quote)


That's Tilly.

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Apr 26, 2019 17:07:39   #
CO
 
GLKTN wrote:
I am going to photograph my 6 year old grandsons birthday party tomorrow. I am going to use on camera flash and bounce off of ceiling. I am going to use a diy bounce card made from white craft foam I saw on YouTube. This is all new to me. Going to start with -1 flash compensation ISO 640 and go from there. I usually shoot M. Is it better to use a different mode for moving kids? I have never used A or S mode. Thanks.


If you bounce flash you probably won't need to use negative flash compensation. Not only is the light intensity diminished but it's spread out over a large area. Start bouncing flash with the flash in TTL mode. See how that looks and then dial in flash compensation if needed.

Negative flash compensation is good if you firing flash directly at the person. You can often create fill light without the obvious, harsh light of direct flash.

You probably won't need to go as high as ISO 640. See how the ambient and flash light looks. Your shutter speed will affect the ambient light also.

You can have the camera in manual mode but why not use one of the priority modes like aperture or shutter?

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