Back to the begining

Recently, a few people asked me about how to start shooting with the flash off camera. So I thought it would be good to start from the beginning. I will step through all the basics to get started.

First thing, of course, you need to have a flash! :) There are so many to start with, but the one most important thing to remember, if you are looking to get a flash, be sure the flash has full manual settings. DO NOT start with an Auto flash unless you already have one and want to play with it. Once you have more experience, you will be able to better determine what the next flash to get that will work the best for you.

Remember, there is no one answer that will fit everyone. I write about what works for me and try to put it in context so you can better use my information to help you make the right decision for you.

I have a number of flashes, including the SB-900, but for someone starting out, my favorite flash is the Sunpak variety. There are a few models to choose from. Again, any of the basic ones will work fine, as long as they are the full manual models. Here's two that you can find on ebay regularly for around $20 to $25 each.



Notice that they have different model numbers, but look identical. It is because they are identical! :) Something to do with different markets, US model and Europe, or something like that...no matter, as long as they work.

Also, both have a wireless receiver already attached. These are CTR-301p. They do not come with the flash. I will get into this in the next blog.

These types of Sunpak flashes can come with different hot shoe mounts. The most common are the generic, Canon, and Nikon. I think the Pentax are fine as well, but I've read that the Minolta's are not standard hot shoe types.

For off camera work, if you stick with the generic, Canon, and Nikon, you will be fine. It does not matter if you have a Canon or Nikon. I've shot with Nikon for 25 years, so I know Nikons, and a little about Canon, so if you are shooting with something else, then you may want to do a little more research. And, speaking of research, below are the two best places to start with:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/

By the way, this is going to center around wireless. So, next blog...wireless triggers...

More from my trip to San Jose

A few more from my trip to San Jose last week for the Gallery :)

When there's good natural light, use it :)


Straight out of the camera, no post edit done:


Kylie sharing a moment with mom.


Some rim light.

Share More

Just a quick note that I plan to be more active in 2010 and to share more details as well as more ideas/thoughts/what I'm learning. And, I will post more "gallery" pics, more often.

One Light

Been on vacation the past week and this week, so not much to post. Well...lots of pics but I will wait until I get back home to pick some out for the gallery.

I was able to get a few shoots in with Trish while in SJ. Here's one with a simple $20 Sunpak w/DIY snoot and grid. The snoot is made from a Foamie craft sheet, while the grid is made with a bunch of cut up straws. The Sunpak from ebay, used. You can do this for about $25 easily. Trish's sister hand held the flash.



This was just before sunset. It was cloudy and if you look carefully, it started to rain. I wanted to blend the back ground light into the shot, but obviously, if I exposed for the back ground ambient, then the subject's face would be a bit too dark. Plus the subject's face would be a bit flat since there were no real directional light. Remember the clouds are like a giant softbox. It softens the light every where. This is why I used a simple flash+snoot+grid.

The snoot limits the lights splash and the grid helps soften the edge of the light. This allows for a slight glow of light on Trish's face and upper body only. The light drops off pretty quickly so the tree behind her is not overly bright either. Since the flash is hand held, you can easily fine tune the light intensity be having the flash move a bit closer or further.

I shot this with my D700, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR @ 200mm f/2.8 1/100s ISO 640. If we had more time (due to the rain), I would have taken another shot at f/3.5 or f/4 to see what I like better in the end. The DOF is nice on this one, but I would have liked to see a bit more behind Trish.

Anyway, just another example of something you can do with inexpensive, used flash, if you wanted to give off camera flash is try.

backdrop color

Something to keep in mind. There are times when you want a specific backdrop color, but depending on what you want out of it, you don't always have to change the actual backdrop.

Gels - in one of my previous post, gels are cheap to get. With a basic white backdrop, you can throw a gelled flash to change the color of the back ground color.

Here's one with a green gel


Here's a blue gel.


You don't even have to use a gel to change the backdrop color shade. Often, you will see off white/gray backdrop. With a white sheet/backdrop, you can manage the light fall off, which will create a shade of gray. Here's one with a plain white bed sheet.


Placing the key light, shooting through the umbrella, close to the subject, you can lower the power of the strobe. This means less light will reach the white sheet and reflect back to the camera. In the example above, I also added an accent light, a Sunpak 422D on the ground, pointing up at the sheet to give the area around Ashley's head a bit of a glow behind it.

inexpensive macro

I had this reversing ring for a while now. I'm personally not really into macro shots, but it's fun at times. This past week, I had an idea about some macro shots and dug out my reversing ring. Couple of quick shots from yesterday:

I started out with an idea about a broccoli macro, but I did not like what I got.


Then I got the idea to shoot the TrackPoint from an IBM laptop.


The above shots were pretty simple. The reversing ring is about $15. On one end, it has the lens mount which you mount onto your camera. On the other end, it's just a filter thread. The most common is the 52mm which is what is on the 50mm lens. You screw the ring onto the 50mm lens like a filter. Now you have the 50mm lens mounted backwards on your camera. Be careful now, since the inside glass is now exposed, so don't hit anything with it.

Since the ring is just a "ring", it will not meter and auto focus with your lens. It's not hard though. Just move the camera closer or away to focus and take a test shot to see the exposure and then adjust...until you find the correct exposure (see my exposure triangle post if you need more info on what affects exposure)

On the two shots above, I used a Sunpak 422D manual flash with a DIY snoot to help light the object.

Light budget - revisit

So, the question came up recently and I thought it would be a good time to do a quick revisit about all the lights I have. If you are on a tight budget, or if you are not, but just don't want to spend a lot of money on strobes for studio/portrait use, then you don't have to! Basically, everything you see in the picture cost about the same as ONE new SB-900!

Here's my studio lights


Lights: from left to right
285HV new $90 (used is even cheaper, I didn't know better at the time :) )
Sunpak used $20
Sunpak used $25
no name auto: free
Flashpoint 320A Mono new: $99
Total: $234

Accessories:
Light Stand x 4 @ $30 = $120
301 RF trigger x 4 = $60
Umbrella holder x 2 = $35
Umbrella x 2 (not shown) = $35
Total accessories: $250

Total Studio lights and accessories = $484. Of course, you can find some of the stuff used and drop the cost even more.

And, no, I still bought a SB-900, but it's because of the event type stuff I'm shooting and I need the iTTL and the SB-900 is great for that. But, for studio type stuff, I still use my budget lights exclusively. Why not. They work great as well.