Flash Photography (Page 4): They want to show off the new house and baby. Shoot at a little before sunset. Have them turn on the outdoor lights, lights un every room that has a window.

M1911 Loc: DFW Metromess

They want to show off the new house and baby. Shoot at a little before sunset. Have them turn on the outdoor lights, lights un every room that has a window. open curtains so some I interior features show.

Pose the people and set your f stop for the flash, bracket with the shutter speed for the house to make it look warm and inviting. It should be a little underexposed compared to the people.

Your flash will freeze motion in the people and a tripod will keep the house looking good.

Dan Ausec

autofocus wrote:

Lots of good advice already mentioned above, but I think Gene's suggestion of this, "Even if you are shooting at night, there is always a way to get natural looking and flattering light from a flash - even if it means you need to bring a friend to hold a large bounce surface so that the light source is large and nicely diffused, yet directional." is an excellent idea. And if you can get say a piece of white poster board, maybe at least 2 feet by 3 feet, or piece 2 together for a larger reflector it would be ideal. You also would need an assistant to hold it.
Direct flash is a very hard light, very harsh, and very unflattering. The goal is to make that small light source larger by bouncing it off a larger surface. If you can do this you might want to start with the following setup:
1) swivel the flash around so the light is aimed over your right shoulder, and have your assistant standing back there with the white poster board aimed at the flash. That person should be no further away from the flash than 3-4 feet.
2) I would shoot in full manual and start with a setting of f/5.6, and a shutter speed of !/80 -1/100. This is slow enough to pull in some ambient light (of the Christmas lights) but not too slow to create the possible problem of motion blur that still can occur when using flash with too slow a shutter setting.
3) Set flash to full power, do a quick test shot and see how the exposure looks by checking the histogram. If you think it's too overexposed you can incrementally correct that 3 ways. 1) reduce the flash power output, 2) move the poster board a little further away from the flash, or 3) close your aperture down some, maybe to f/6.3 or f/7.1. My typical choice in a situation like this would be number 3, start by closing down your aperture. But, any one of those, or a combination of those will help.
A little tidbit about using flash or lights: your shutter speed controls the amount of ambient light entering the camera, and your f/stop controls the amount of flash entering the camera. And you can start with your camera's native ISO, maybe ISO 100 on your camera, but an ISO setting of 200 should also be fine. Lastly, disregard what the meter is showing you with the settings I mentioned above and with the camera in full manual mode...it will indicate that you are grossly underexposing the shot, but the flash if used properly will provide for that.

Lots of good advice already mentioned above, but I... (show quote)

azted Loc: Las Vegas, NV.

Check out an article just published on the Olympus website "Light it up: How to Photograph Christmas Lights" Useful information for any camera brand.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

sabfish wrote:

Thanks for the link to the article. I have used flash for years, but this is one of the best articles I have seen on the subject. I can always learn something new.

One point. The article focuses (no pun intended) almost entirely on getting effective light using bounce flash. If the requestor is taking pictures outside, she will not be able to bounce light off a ceiling or wall, but may want to try a bent white card taped or rubber-banded to the flash head to provide some indirect light.

That's why I suggested a large bounce surface, like a 4'x4' beaded insulation board - which are white on one side and reflective metallic on the other. The point of using bounce in this setting is not to provide indirect light, but to make the apparent size of the light source as large as possible. That being said, I don't think that a tiny bounce card is going to do much for the harshness of shadows, especially if he is shooting an entire family that will be illuminated primarily with bounce light - as key light.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

billnikon wrote:

I suggest a TTL flash with a revolving head, turn the head up at a 45 degree angle and aim it behind you, set the camera to manual and the flash to TTL. Drag your shutter (use about 1/30 sec.) and take test shots until you like the results, then shoot the family. ISO about 800, keep lens opening to about 2 stops back from wide open. ie. if you have a 1.8 lens, then close it down two stops. This would be a good starting point. Vary your ISO until you find a good combination.

Aim it to what? Open sky? Really?

k2edm Loc: FN32AD

with my canon 5 IV, when it is not inconvienent,I leave the flash on (even outside) as it fills in the deep shadows.. I let the camera worry about the exposure....[it is smarter than I am anyway].. Ed

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

sabfish wrote:

Thanks for the link to the article. I have used flash for years, but this is one of the best articles I have seen on the subject. I can always learn something new.

One point. The article focuses (no pun intended) almost entirely on getting effective light using bounce flash. If the requestor is taking pictures outside, she will not be able to bounce light off a ceiling or wall, but may want to try a bent white card taped or rubber-banded to the flash head to provide some indirect light.

You're quite welcome!

Shooting the xmas lights is the easy part. These were taken in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn NY in 2016. The trick will be to get the family properly illuminated with a realistic amount of light, using a speedlight with a large bounce surface that is at least 4'x4' so that the entire family is lit. Distance from the flash to the bounce is going to be critical so that he gets as much light on the bounce surface as possible and still have enough power to illuminate them. A good exposure starting point for the background would be around 1/30 sec, F5.6 and ISO 1600.

_DSC0132 by Gene Lugo, on Flickr

_DSC0130 by Gene Lugo, on Flickr

_DSC0206 by Gene Lugo, on Flickr

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

[deleted]

Francisco Fernandez

Hello! Not to panic. What I suggest you do is to handle every thing manually. I know, I know it sounds scary, but it’s not, going manual gives you total control of the situación, camera and flash. Since your session is outdoors at night, first I would set the ISO at 400 and maybe a little higher. You shouldn’t have any problem with your D7200, it can handle noise very well and at 400 you won’thave any noise issues. I don’t think using TTL is a good idea outdoors, since the darkness out there might fool the meters, anyway recreate the scenario you think you’re going to find in your real session, outside your house, using some friends or family as your models. Now regarding the camera, start by setting thr flash and the camera on MANUAL MODE. Set the flash at 1/4 of its power an the camera at 1/125 and f/5.6, see how it comes out. There you will have a good start and a very good idea of what you have to change. Remember changing the camera speed won’t affect the flash brightness only the enviroment. But you can change your perture settings and / or the flash power to increase or decrease the light reaching your subjects. You will see that if you practice first without the pressure of the real session you will be able to do it perfectly. Maybe this is the little push you needed to get into flash photography. Whish you the very best! Don’t forget to write down your parameters during your rehearsal. And please let us know how you did it. GOOD LUCK!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

M1911 wrote:

They want to show off the new house and baby. Sho... (show quote)

Have you ever done a shoot with a new baby involved? They determine when the shoot will take place, not the photographer. No point in taking pictures of a screaming child in order to fit the perfect lighting scenario. BTW, it it may not be necessary to shoot when there is still a little light in the sky.

M1911 Loc: DFW Metromess

Yes I have, thousands of infants, toddlers an d preschoolers, including 4 month old quadruplets.

If tests are run beforehand then minimal time will be required in futzing with the mechanics.

I feel that some detail is needed in the house which is why I made my suggestions the way I did. Kind of an architectural shot with portraits thrown in.

M1911 Loc: DFW Metromess

Yes I have, thousands of infants, toddlers an d preschoolers, including 4 month old quadruplets.

If tests are run beforehand then minimal time will be required in futzing with the mechanics.

I feel that some detail is needed in the house which is why I made my suggestions the way I did. Kind of an architectural shot with portraits thrown in.

aberthet Loc: San Clemente, CA

[quote=Etram]
I have a Nikon d7200. The speed light I own (Altura) cannot not be set-up for TTL? (just learning about off-camera flash) so has to be manual and I am not sure of the settings I should use. Help! Please be kind. I never use flash and was hoping for a quick lesson so I can get a decent shot for her tonight.

Martha I'm sure you know that your D7200 has a built-in flash, but I understand why you would prefer using a off-camera flash. Remember the maximum shutter speed you can use with flash is 1/250 for your D7200.
If you use the built-in flash you can alter the flash output by -3 EV to +1 EV by the using the flash compensation feature (see p 151 of the OM).
Good luck

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

M1911 wrote:

Yes I have, thousands of infants, toddlers an d preschoolers, including 4 month old quadruplets.

If tests are run beforehand then minimal time will be required in futzing with the mechanics.

I feel that some detail is needed in the house which is why I made my suggestions the way I did. Kind of an architectural shot with portraits thrown in.

Then you know you can't plan the time part. Everything else has to be in place but the baby will determine the schedule, unless a picture of a sleeping or screaming infant is acceptable. Just sayin'

jamesl Loc: Pennsylvania

Etram wrote:

Hi- br I am a hobbyist photographer who mainly sho... (show quote)

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You didn't say anything about it, but you will need a light stand and a set of wireless triggers too. Set the flash to slave and your ISO to 100 or 200 to try it. Set your camera on manual with the shutterspeed to 200 and try an aperture of about f/8. Set the flash power to 1/8 power and place it 8 ft from you subject, slightly higher than their heads and pointed down at them. If the subject is too light or too dark adjust the flash power until it is where you want it. I have used this a few times when using a flash I'm not familiar with and it worked pretty well. Take a couple test shot before you go to take the actual shots and you can tweek the adjustments to get the best starting point for the shot.