City of Belfast Photographic hi Society Flash Photography Basics Adrian Wheeler 2015 1
"I I am a purist, I only shoot available light. " (Translation: I am scared shitless of flash.) As an ambient light photographer, h you only have one "correct" exposure. Maybe a little wiggle room if you are being interpretive. But as a lighting photographer, we control everything in the frame, independently of the other areas, by how and where we expose and add light. 2
Ambient Light Only 3
Ambient light dropped by 2 stops Lighting built back up with flashes 4
Ambient Light with Flashes 5
Ambient Light Only Ambient Light with Flashes Strobist t Photography h Take Control of the Light! 6
TTL or Manual? TTL Works together with camera to get correct exposure Just like normal camera metering can be fooled! Always a different exposure slight variations Best for on camera & where distance is always changing Expensive e kit required ed both flashes and triggers Manual Same exposure every time Best for controlled shooting. Kit much cheaper & simpler 7
On camera Flash Like being gp photographed p by a Photocopier Bounce, Bounce, Bounce! Not just off the ceiling aim for the walls to get directional light from on camera flash. Turns small light into large soft light. Black Foamie Thing to prevent direct light hitting model 8
On Camera flash bounced off wall to simulate directional off camera flash 9
On camera Flash Stofens very limited use not a magic cure. Don t even think about using outside! 10
Control of Manual Flash P. A. I. D. Power Power of the flash. In Stops Aperture Controls light coming in to camera. Also in Stops! ISO Sensitivity of the sensor. Also in Stops!! Distance Distance of flash to subject 11
Inverse Square Law 12
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Shutter Speed? Only controls ambient light! makes no difference to flash light Must keep under your synch speed or black bars appear. RTFM to find your camera synch speed 15
Shutter Speed Only controls ambient light! Flash exposure unaffected 16
Shutter Speed HSS High Speed Sync Beats this limitation though at a cost loss of power / range. HSS will not freeze action 17
2 Exposures in one! 50 Flash 50 Ambient Meter for ambient lighting first then add flash! 18
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100 % Flash 0 % Ambient Settings of camera (1/125 sec / F7.1) prevent ambient light from being part of photo 20
80 % Flash 20 % Ambient Lowered ambient light produces Gotham city look brings subject out of background 21
10 % Flash fill only 90 % Ambient Flash used as fill light only & to give catchlights. Abundant ambient lighting. 22
30 % Flash 70 % Ambient Flash used as fill light & setting sunlight to rear of model used as arim-light 23
50 % Flash 50 % Ambient Flash used as fill light & fake sunlight to rear of model 24
Dragging the Shutter Long Exposure 1/15 th sec Plus a Flash Exposure 25
Ambient light lets you create movement trails plus image frozen by flash 26
First the shutter opens and starts exposing the ambient light. At the same time, the flash fires, illuminating and properly exposing the subject. A flash will fire for an extremely short amount of time, freezing the position of the subject like a strobe light does. After the flash fires, the shutter remains open and subjects move out. The ambient light keeps coming in, even through the areas where the subjects used to be. The shutter then closes. 27
Hard & Soft Light Hard Light bare flash - Small light Soft Light flash through umbrella - Large light 28
Modifiers To make light soft = make it bigger relative to the subject - Bounce Flash turns small light into large light - Umbrellas shoot through and reflectors - Softboxes soft light but more controlled -Beauty Dishes half way between ee hard/soft - Ring flashes Shadowless light -Flags - To contain light spill from going a direction -Grids Contain spread of light 29
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Gels Special Effects & Backgrounds Orange gel on background light 34
Special Effects & Backgrounds Orange gel on background light same as before but white balance flipped 35
Gels Colour correction Flash is white balanced to Daylight requires correction if used with other light sources CTO Tungsten Plus Green Fluorescent Also CTB Converts tungsten to daylight yg 36
Recap Set Ambient Exposure First (Shutter Speed) Decide on depth of field (Aperture) Then Introduce Flash(es) Use ISO as Power reserve Remember P -A- I -D 37