Question regarding shooting parties/receptions

Photometric

In a discussion recently, someone who I speak to regarding photography said they 'real pros' never use ttl and always shoot flash using manual settings.

I just wanted to hear from the pros. Do you go full manual, or do you use the TTL (NIkon vernacular) to determine the best exposure/flash power.

pathfinder

Joe McNally says he uses iTTL some times ...............

You do know who Joe is, right? -- http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/

But I don't think it is either iTTL or manual, but the ability to use either or both as dictated by the situation

If you can tell the subject where to sit/stand, and the lights never move, use manual.

Art Scott

pathfinder wrote:

Joe McNally says he uses iTTL some times ...............

You do know who Joe is, right? -- http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/

But I don't think it is either iTTL or manual, but the ability to use either or both as dictated by the situation

If you can tell the subject where to sit/stand, and the lights never move, use manual.

Exaxtly ........thumb

Qarik

Photometric wrote:

In a discussion recently, someone who I speak to regarding photography said they 'real pros' never use ttl and always shoot flash using manual settings.

I just wanted to hear from the pros. Do you go full manual, or do you use the TTL (NIkon vernacular) to determine the best exposure/flash power.

uhh..I ALWAYS use TTL. For true candids... subject distance, bounce distance, ambient light is changing from shot to shot. If you want keeper rate greater then 10% you better be using TTL. Now depending on situations you can dial down or up the TTL but full manual flash? no way.

JohnBiggs

As a Canon user I use full manual. I don't get consistent enough results with TTL. Maybe that's just me, but lord knows I've read everything I could and tried all the techniques. In the end, manual just was not as hard.

Step 1. Get an exposure on the camera 1 stop below ambient.
Step 2. Set flash power to expose a subject from your usual working distance.
Step 3. Flip the flash power up or down depending on the changes in distance.

No other camera settings to mess with. You can control your flash power in a more analog way by changing the angle of your bounce card

craig_d

Photometric wrote:

In a discussion recently, someone who I speak to regarding photography said they 'real pros' never use ttl and always shoot flash using manual settings.

I think real pros are averse to simplistic rules like that, and are able to use their tools in a variety of ways -- whatever will make the most of a given situation.

You might as well say that "real pros" always shoot in full manual mode, always focus manually, or don't chimp. None of which are true.

richmoffitt

I don't consider myself a pro, but if I walk into a room and need to pull off a shot in 10 seconds, I might not use full manual mode. If I have a minute to take some test shots and want to control the balance of ambient light in a shot, then I'll use manual mode.

JohnBiggs

richmoffitt wrote:

I don't consider myself a pro, but if I walk into a room and need to pull off a shot in 10 seconds, I might not use full manual mode. If I have a minute to take some test shots and want to control the balance of ambient light in a shot, then I'll use manual mode.

I can take a shot in 10 seconds in full manual.

60th/5.6/1600 with 1/8th flash power is a first try setting for most receptions and my camera is on that setting before I walk in. After one click I know what I need to adjust.