Basic External Flash Tips

rleigh

We just got a 430EX in the mail yesterday for our Canon T1i.
LOVED playing around with it last night... bouncing the flash, etc. SO fun.

Anyhow, we are shooting our first "real" stuff next weekend. A wedding. AH! We are going to the church tomorrow for the rehearsal. Any tips on how to get down and dirty with using the flash? Should we just keep it on auto since we are "flash newbies"??
It's only a 38 page manual, and we did read thru some of it but I was just wondering if anyone had any tips/suggestions or good articles for us to read to learn quickly.
Someone recommended we set it on second (or rear) curtain sync... yay or nay?? Why?

Thanks so much, I'm so glad I found this great forum

Qarik

Sorry if this sounds harsh but why are you shooting wedding if you just got a flash? A wedding is not where you should be learning your equipment.

hgernhardtjr

Mount it on the camera, set everything to auto including the camera, mount a Gary Fong Light Sphere, and pray. Otherwise read what Qarik said above.

rleigh

@Qarik, no that's a good question. I took some snapshots with my Nikon D40 at a friends' brother's wedding and my friend loved them.. so she asked me just last month to do photos for her wedding, which is now just 2 weeks away... it's a very small ceremony with less than 50 people. She is completely comfortable knowing the equipment we have and the fact we've never done a wedding... and actually told us not to spend the money for a flash, but I knew it was a must-have so we did!! I take photos for our flyers at work so I know my camera quite well (I upgraded and bought the same body we have at work) and feel 110% comfortable shooting in manual (and would rather)... but I know this is dependent upon the flash.... I'm not sure I want to shoot in full auto mode on the camera???
(Also... all my shots at work are are product shots with either natural light or studio flash. This is why have no experience with mounted flashes.)

rleigh

hgernhardtjr wrote: »

Mount it on the camera, set everything to auto including the camera, mount a Gary Fong Light Sphere, and pray. Otherwise read what Qarik said above.

YES we will pray too The bride and I are definitely on the same page about expectations. You have to start somewhere, right?? Couldn't pass up this opportunity...

ziggy53

I moved this to the Technique forum since this is not an equipment question.

As Qarik has said, please, please reconsider shooting a wedding if you are to be the principal photographer.

A wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event and the images of the day, along with the wedding dress and sometimes the cake-topper, are the only tangible things afterwards. If anything should happen, do you have a second camera? Do you have additional lenses? Additional flashes?

It doesn't matter if the bride and groom have said they won't hold you responsible or not. If you accept the responsibility, you really must be responsible.

Get some experience as a second shooter first. There is tons you need to know beforehand.

rleigh

@ziggy, thank you for moving the thread. My fiance is going to be shooting with me. I'd almost say he is a better photographer than I, but I'm not sure I'd ever tell him that
We will have a second body, 4 lenses and 2 flashes.
At this point, there is no backing out... the rehearsal is tomorrow and the wedding is the 26th, so....... I couldn't do that to her just because "I don't feel comfortable". Since we will have two shooters, our chances of ruining things decrease significantly.

I have also done a lot of reading over the past month, but of course reading does not equal experience. I actually just skimmed through the sticky on newbie wedding photography and found it fairly inspiring.

(Also, I am from an Illinois cornfield too.... how about this SNOW? Grr)

ziggy53

OK, it sounds like you're taking this seriously and you are determined to make it work. Those are good things.

Please take some time to build a DIY flash modifier:

http://www.fototime.com/inv/908195739C4C0D3

This will be your best improvement to bare flash with almost no cash outlay. It gives you 2 basic advantages:

1. It lifts the light to put the shadows in a better position to look less like it came from a flash.
   
2. It diffuses the flash to soften the light.

These 2 basic improvements, along with shooting in Av mode, will give you a considerable advantage.

Landscape and portrait orientation are adjusted like this:





Manual exposure will give you better and finer control over your lighting but I think Av mode is your best bet for the limited time you have before the event. Adjust your exposure according to test results.

Use the rehearsal to practice and to discover any problems with the venue. Look especially at the foreground and background to see if certain shooting positions are better than others. Ask the Officiant for shooting position advice. Be sure to ask the Officiant whether flash is allowed during the ceremony. If not, be sure to practice with the ambient light as well. See if they can set the church/venue with the same lighting as for the actual ceremony.

divamum

Also, with Canon: Av would be a great mode to use without flash (just check to make sure your shutter speed is high enough to avoid camera shake with whatever lens is in place), but if you're not familiar with how to balance your flash with ambient exposure in manual mode (the best choice), I'd switch to "P" when you add the flash - Canon's Av+flash = sometimes weird results.

Art Scott

ziggy53 wrote: »

OK, it sounds like you're taking this seriously and you are determined to make it work. Those are good things.

Please take some time to build a DIY flash modifier:

http://www.fototime.com/inv/908195739C4C0D3

I am not finding any photos..but alink to posts at dpreview scratchdunno

I am also looking to making one.

ziggy53

Art Scott wrote: »

I am not finding any photos..but alink to posts at dpreview scratchdunno

I am also looking to making one.

The DPReview link is where he got his inspiration. Rats, it looks like he took his instructions and images down. I'll try to contact him to see if he moved the stuff elsewhere. If he doesn't have a current link, I'll see if I can create some construction tips of my own. (It will take me a while so no one should count on my contribution anytime soon.)

In the meantime the construction is pretty simple. Look at my photos below to see the resulting shape.

I use 2 sheets of "Foamies" and I staple them together. One sheet is white (the diffuser and light shaper) and the other sheet is black (the backing). Cuts are made 2 inches and 4 inches from the top and 2 inches in. The top corners are lightly trimmed, but they could be rounded if you want (only aesthetic).

Velcro is attached to allow the contraption to wrap around the flash head to be secured at the bottom of the scoop and additional Velcro attached to hold the top section into the scoop shape per the pictures. Feel free to improvise as it's only the final shape that's important, not how you achieve it.

Note that if you wish you can also open up the top and allow much more light to spill onto the ceiling if you wish. The scoop shape is highly desirable for times when ceiling bounce is either impractical or when you have no time to change between venues.

Construction time is 10-15 minutes and construction costs around $3USD.

Art Scott

thanx Ziggy.......

I think this is approximately the same thing...... http://super.nova.org/DPR//DIY01/

I sent a email thru the foto time contact and heard back from Brian Zimmerman asking for the Link and I sent the one posted above.

rleigh

Thanks all! Will definitely be building one of the DIY flash modifiers. Those look perfect and will be a blessing to have I'm sure. @Richy, thank you so much for the links. I skimmed them and will read in dept tonight. You can never been too educated!!

We went to the rehearsal and the ceremony location has great ambient light, not too dark at all. We can actually use go f/3.5 and 1/50 shutter speed and come out ok. Not too shabby.
We are not allowed to use flash during the ceremony but thank goodness we can use it for the bride's entrance and the processional.
That is what I am most nervous about, getting the flash right and getting the perfect shot of her walking down the aisle. Talk about stressful.
The officiant was extremely helpful! Luckily, the pews at the front are not open and there is a sort of retainer wall, so I will be able to crouch below without being seen at all.


Also I found out that there will NO formal reception so having to take pictures of the first dance, garter toss, etc, are totally out of the picture!!! It will be all candid shots and "detail" shots of her decorations, etc. (They have just rented out the basement of a local bar)

Art Scott

Links restored by Mr. Zimmerman ......Ziggy's links is working again!!!!

ziggy53

Thanks Art.

rleigh

We didn't get chance to make any type of modifier. The holidays got the best of us and we were out of town for 5 days, etc...
ANYway... here are some shots of the night using the flash. I am actually more pleased than I thought I would be!
These were taken using a 580EX Canon Flash

jimqjr

Great Job. I hope the bride and groom were pleased based on the two pics I would think they are. Congrats.