Assignment #37: Fill Flash
Nikolai
Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
Still water can be fun, but it is what it is - still water. It does not require model release, it doesn't go anywhere - easy target!
Let's something more technical - let's use a fill flash.
As you know, fill flash is used to add some light to a front subject which otherwise would be too dark. Typical scenarios: contr-a-jour (shooting against the light); shooting in the twilight; shooting the nightscape with people in front of it. There are others, of course.
As a rule, when using fill flash you expose for the background and then add some flash to expose the foreground subjects. Full manual mode on both camera and flash unit is highly recommended.
Each entry should contain TWO images of the identical subject, taken within the same ambient lighting conditions. One without the flash (control shot), one with the flash (target shot).
EDIT: For the education purposes please provide pertinent exposure settings: ISO, aperture, shutter speed, flash unit model used, flash power level, distance to object (ballpark at least)
Multiple entries are fine, as always, but one pair per entry, please. :deal
Also, try to make your multiple entries really different, otherwise there is no challenge.
The point is to do it right. As you will see, it's very easy to overdo or underdo it. Prepare to spend some time experimenting. Once you learn how to do it it will become rather simple habit.
As usual: fresh pictures, moderate post-processing.
For the rest of the basic rules and index please check out this sticky.
Let's flash some fill! :-) :wink
Let's something more technical - let's use a fill flash.
As you know, fill flash is used to add some light to a front subject which otherwise would be too dark. Typical scenarios: contr-a-jour (shooting against the light); shooting in the twilight; shooting the nightscape with people in front of it. There are others, of course.
As a rule, when using fill flash you expose for the background and then add some flash to expose the foreground subjects. Full manual mode on both camera and flash unit is highly recommended.
Each entry should contain TWO images of the identical subject, taken within the same ambient lighting conditions. One without the flash (control shot), one with the flash (target shot).
EDIT: For the education purposes please provide pertinent exposure settings: ISO, aperture, shutter speed, flash unit model used, flash power level, distance to object (ballpark at least)
Multiple entries are fine, as always, but one pair per entry, please. :deal
Also, try to make your multiple entries really different, otherwise there is no challenge.
The point is to do it right. As you will see, it's very easy to overdo or underdo it. Prepare to spend some time experimenting. Once you learn how to do it it will become rather simple habit.
As usual: fresh pictures, moderate post-processing.
For the rest of the basic rules and index please check out this sticky.
Let's flash some fill! :-) :wink
"May the f/stop be with you!"
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Comments
Fill flash should be fun too.
Stan
Well, sometimes guys bend over backwards to get the shot (e.g. in Straight Up:-), acknowledging their entries and efforst is the least I can do.
And yes, I may need that luck in SF1,
Thanks!
here is some info on it I recently found: http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/slow-sync-flash/
I'm itching to mess around with some of those techniques. Now if only i had that FL-50 =/, but i guess the popup flash will have to do.
pyroPrints.com/5819572 The Photo Section
Here in Digital Grin, fill flash has been object of quite a few threads I had the privilege to participate, learning a lot from them.
This is one superb link to valuable information about this matter.
I hope to be able to post some shots.
I went out tonight to see what I could find, and shot some trees.
I shot the second with the flash to the right of the tree. I don't like the orange sky, but that is light polution
Stan
Well, that works! Nice entry!
Question: did you control the flash remotely?
Also: I modified the requirements a bit, can you please provide some exposure settings (please see the lead post)? Thanks!
Stan
Hmm, then how come it's not centered?
Stan
I got it. It was "painting with light" :-)
That's technically a subject for another WA, but what the heck...
Thanks for doing it!
Also, love your current SF1 entry, nicely done.
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You're most welcome! I appreciate your kind words! And, trust me, I'm having a lot of fun with this, too:-)
So this doesn't count either... I still had fun making it though
Here is the natural
This is with the 580 on board which does count
But these are with a 7,500,000 candle power torch (what ever that means)
and this was when I turned round and looked behind me.
They were all shot with my 24-105. I left my 10-22 at home but I wished I had it with me.
I will try again, if it ever stops raining. And use flash on board only or remote (but I don't have one)
Cheers
Stan
PS using a torch on a large ares is like using a brush in photoshop
Nice entries!
I guess now it's time to switch to daylight, no?
Work-a-holic, photo-holic, something's gotta give. I got the inspiration from Andy's SMUGMUG rock The wife thought I was in the pub, but that holic is not relevant since I was atleast 400 yards from the nearest pub and it was shut.
Cheers
Stan
Not a stunning entry, but it illustrates the concept...
I was alone with the boy at the zoo, so this was only with a P&S. Canon PowerShot A710IS.
Without Flash - f/4, 1/600
With Flash - f/4.5, 1/500, "Normal" Flash power
Camera was about 4-5 feet from subject. The ISO is not in the EXIF... darn P&S.
Exactly what I was asking for! Good entry by all means!
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Hey, man, that's the whole idea :-)
I hope I have all of my info correct... Here's the first picture taken without flash. The location of the shot was beside my mom's house - the flowers in the background had beautiful natural light, while my daughter sat in the shade cast by the house.
ISO 250; f/4.0;(set at aperture priority). No flash. I found that I needed fill flash but did not bring my SB-800. I had to use the flash on the camera. Here's the resulting picture:
ISO 250; f/4.0; shutter speed 1/160; flash used; EV -1/3 and I used a diffuser. In this photo I stood approximately three feet away from her. Actually I was laying in the grass. I thought the photo turned out much better with fill flash.
www.jennifernicholsonphotography.com
Well I read the descructions for my camera and got a few interesting results. The subject is my Newfoundland Chloe. The goal was not to get great shots but to see the technique that Nik is talking about. Previously I have found the the flash really can change the level of detail seen in her fur.
Here is the first shot basically in "P Auto Mode"
Here it is with the Flash changed, I think to be on the closing edge (2nd Curtain) if I remember right... I need to write the order down so I know what I like
Then I messed around with "Compensate for Flash Adjustment" feature and came up with a way over flashed photo...
You can find all 12 I shot at this link, no touch ups done just converted from RAW to JPEG.
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Jen,
thank you for the entry!
I would say that didn't need that much of a flash. Also, imho, diffusers do not help much outdoors. With your situation (shade) you probably needed like 1/32 of the flash power, 1/16 top.
Brad,
while I appreciate your efforts and learning process, this is not what fill flash is used for. Fill flash is used to highlight the foreground, while exposing for the backfround, be it an object been lit by the sun in front of the camera or a nightscape. Your shot is just low light, it's not backlit or anything.
HTH
You know - that's interesting. I just used the diffuser without trying to see if there was any change in the photo. I've used my lightsphere before outdoors and I like the effect but I didn't with this one. I also used my onboard flash - so I didn't realize I could change the flash power. I'll need to check on that. Oh and I just realized... I didn't use a diffuser because I used my onboard flash and not my SB800. On to more trials!!! and more reading!
www.jennifernicholsonphotography.com
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Thank you for the entries!
As you can see for yourself, it works much better in your second example.
The reason: that is a textbook case for the fill flash: bright b/g, f/g subject in the shade
The first one is simply a dark scene with foliage pattern, it's hard to recover from it without blowing out parts of the image (which is exactly what happened)
Nikolai,
Let me know if I am going about this wrong but I don't usually prefer natural light and so I don't think I have fired the flash on the Sony H1 more than a half a dozen times in 18 months. Partially because I light natural light, and mostly because the flash is the equivalent of a tactical nuclear weapon.:D
The flash is the one built into the camera and has three adjustments; +, Normal, and -. I stuck to '-' for these shots. What I was trying to do with these shots was expose for the sky and then fill in the gravestones with the flash. It was near sunset so the areas at the ground were pretty dark and exposing there would blow out the sky. Let me know if I am off base here.
#1
This is 1/80 sec at f/4 with a 10.9 mm focal length, no flash, ISO 64. Shot taken 17 May at 7:33 p.
and here is the shot with the flash.
Settings basically the same. The settings are 1/80 sec at f/4 with a 10.9 mm focal length,
flash at '-' setting, ISO 64. Shot taken 17 May at 7:33 p.
Shot #2
Here the sky is a little better and I tried to fill from the side a little bit.
Here the camera is shooting without flash, 1/320 sec with aperture of f/3.5 , 6mm focal length, and ISO 100.
and here is the flash shot.
For this shot the flash is on, 1/320 sec with aperture of f/3.5 , 6mm focal length, and ISO 100.
Other than cropping, no post processing done on any of these pictures. Thanks for the critiques.
Website: Tom Price Photography
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I think your first pair is right on the spot. You have birghter b/g which you want to be exposed properly and you have the all-important f/g subject (a thumbstone) that does not stand a chance unless you help it. Which you did.
The second one fails to provide the correct settings. It's simply too dark overall to use the "fill flash" concept. At this point a longer exposure would be your tool of choice. Also, note that there is no primary target on the f/g. You're shooting down the alley, and flash is a poor instrument for this kind of scene, since its light falls off too quickly with distance (squared too quickly, to be precise:-).
As a reminder: fill flash is not there to be noticeable. It is there to avoid the inadequacy of the linear "all-objects-are-created-equal" light recording capabilities of the camera as opposed to the target-oriented and real-time-adaptive human eye.
HTH