How to destroy otherwise good pictures by using a flash
Very easy. Put flash on camera, open aperture wide, get subject VERY close,
flash at full power, and blast away.
How NOT to destroy otherwise good pictures by using a flash
This is harder.
Flash as primary illumination
This is tricky. Often, flash as primary illumination comes out.. nasty.
Direct on camera flash is a somewhat displeasing look.
Bounce if you can, diffuse if you can't.
Or, do both if you've really got a lot of extra equipment hanging around.
Bounce
Bounce flash is using an on camera flash, but pointing it up towards the
(LOW) ceiling. 8-10 foot light colored ceilings work best here. The light
comes from a semi-diffuse source above the subject, so there is no redeye.
There are shadows below the nose, etc. so that the lighting looks "natural".
You need an insanely bright flash to bounce off a much higher ceiling.
Diffuse
Straight on flash looks better if it's diffuse. That is, if a physically
larger light source is emitting the light, it looks better. A diffuser is
essentially a big translucent object that makes the flash's light emitting area
bigger. I use a little Lumiquest mini softbox and I'm happy with it.
Both
This requires multiple flashes, or a special adapter on your flash that allows
it to fire in two directions at once.
I went the two-flashes route, largely because I upgraded flashes and nobody
wanted to buy my old one.
Since there is only ONE hot shoe on the camera, you'll need a bracket.
And you'll need a way to attach the other flash to the sync, since the hot shoe
is in use. I use a sync cord. I know, I really shouldn't, yadda yadda yadda.
It works, and it hasn't burned out the camera yet, or either flash.
Get the bracket. Get the diffuser on the flash. Get the sync cord.
Set all the flashes for their various power settings. Put one flash on the
hot shoe, one flash on the bracket, attach the sync cords. Point the diffuse
flash forward, the other flash upward toward the ceiling. You want the primary
light source to be the bounce flash, so set the camera's exposure for that.
Set the diffuse flash as 1, 2, or 3 stops BELOW the bounce flash, just to fill
in some of those nasty shadows and provide sparkly highlights.
Nothing to it.
Flash as the non-primary light source, a.k.a. Fill Flash
Get the flash on the camera, probably with a diffuser.
- Focus
- Set the aperture for what the flash tells you with its calculator, based
on distance, etc.
- Set the shutter speed based on the ambient light, i.e. exposure meter
OR aperture priority autoexposure.
This will make your subject look just as lit as the background.
To make the subject LESS lit, you want 1 or more stops LESS flash than ambient.
The easiest way to do this is to dial the film speed in HIGHER than what it
actually is on the flash calculator. -1 fill provides nice detail, and a cool
shadowed look on the subject. -3 provides a hint of eye twinkle. Haven't seen
much -2, and -4 probably isn't enough to bother with.
Shutter Sync
The shutter has to be open when the flash goes off, or it's really not much
point in having it... is it? You'd be lighting up the scene when the film
isn't looking. Who cares? Should have left the flash at home and brought
more film in that case.
The shutter has to be ALL the way open when the flash goes off, or only
part of the film is looking at the flash. Again, should've left the
flash at home.
Certain cameras with focal plane shutters (i.e. most 35mm SLRs, some MF SLRs)
cannot sync at high speeds. Sync stops at 1/30th or 1/60th of a second.
That's no problem when it's dark. But, it's not always dark when you want to
use flash.
Other cameras with dedicated EF units can sync at 1/4000th of a second (sort of).
More practically, if you've got a TLR, view camera, rangefinder, or other
camera with a leaf shutter, you're way ahead of the game. Your top shutter
speed is lower, but your top flash sync is WAY higher. No tricks... 1/500th,
typically. Unless you've got a Super Speed Graphic with the 1/1000th second
leaf shutter. All those poor sots with 35mm SLRs are stuck with 1/125, 1/200,
or 1/250th of a second if they're lucky.
So a 35mm SLR is not the greatest for fill flash, but an older camera
can work JUST fine with a flash... if it's dark. Or if you use some massive
Neutral Density filters and a similarly huge flash.
But I'd say buy a TLR first....
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