So I just purchased two Canon 430ex ii flash units. With my 3 PocketWizard Plus iii transmitters, and my 2 Photoflex softboxes I feel ready for the world of outside portraiture. Watching some videos online it sounds like the light from the flash syncs at a constant speed. So all I adjust is the f/stop for ambient light; making the background more or less bright in the image as the model will always be illuminated the same from my strobes.
However I still remain stuck. I haven't figured out the "trick" or "tricks" yet. My images are either washed out from the strobes, or too dark to notice the strobes. In some images the softbox has to be extremely close and thus no fullbody shots. Am I just expecting too much from speedlights? Should I be shooting at dawn/dusk? or in mid day? If midday, should I have the subject in a shadowed area? or is it okay for them to be in direct sunlight? And I'm new to speedlights so I'm confused about the nature of 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, etc.. Help? I would love to hear advice and experiences from people who use the same, or similar systems.
I can't tell you about the Canon speedlight specifically as I use older flashes that you have to set manually. In general on a sunny day out in the open if you take a shot at ISO100 and shutter speed 1/125 second you will need an aperture setting of F16 to properly expose your image. It is called the "Sunny 16" rule. Most flashes at full power will give us about F8 to F11 through a disfuser depending on how close you get them to your subject. The f-stop you use depends on distance to the subject of the flash and the power of the flash.
Note that shutter speed is normally only used to affect the exposure of the ambient light (ie essentially the background).
I would borrow a light meter and create this string light meter to get a sense of the effect of power output and distance.
Essentially you don't have enough power to shoot in bright sunny light with a difuser unless you gang a bunch of speedlights together. For example I need four Nikon SB-27 flashes to get just F16 with an umbrella as a diffuser at 10 feet. If I want to underexpose the background by one stop (ie shoot F22) I need 8 flashes fired together.
If you are using E-TTL you may have more options. My understanding is the you specific how much above or below the ambient light you want the flash to expose for you and the flash does the calculation for you. Keep in mind you still need to raw power to do that.
I mainly use umbrellas outside. I generally start by letting all those Japanese PHd engineers in my camera have the first go at exposure via Nikon's CLS system and then adjust for taste.
One or two speedlights will not work in all instances. sometimes it takes three or four. Take them out of the softboxes for more power and use an umbrella. Before I got a mono light I would duct tape two speedlights to my umbrella stand with an existing speedlight on it for more power. The soft boxes outside won't help much. Don't bother. Use an umbrella or sheer fabric.
Images by MR
Posts: 6,021
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Their are many different ways to use speedlights. My advice is check out this site
and do lots of testing until you find what works best for the style of lighting you like.
And you are a little mistaken in your OP. Aperture controls flash exposure (as well as ambient, but primarily consider aperture = flash) its shutter speed that controls ambient light.
-JAY- wrote: And you are a little mistaken in your OP. Aperture controls flash exposure (as well as ambient, but primarily consider aperture = flash) its shutter speed that controls ambient light.
+1
This was the biggest thing I had to wrap my head around when I was getting started. Set your exposure for the strobe and then dial your shutter until it balances back to where you want it.
Something else to consider is that you might be beating your sync. If you set your shutter faster than your equipment can handle, your frame will look like the flash didn't fire.
At first it was difficult for me as well. It took practice and experimentation.But generally I like to try and set my camera for the background being about a stop darker then my flash. Although this can be difficult here in Washington because we almost always have at least partial clouds so lighting can change every second. But here are some examples of me using strobes out on location. I use one or two white lightning 1600 strobes
With speedlights you are going to end up shooting in the shade of trees or behind buildings for any type of modifier. I still use a duo bracket to hold two speedlights with hypersync ability for dof control. The best bang for return quality light is to bounce it off a silver umbrella. Don't expect it to work in direct sunlight with a modifier. Thats when you cross over to using strobes.
Creative Concept Studio wrote: I mainly use umbrellas outside. I generally start by letting all those Japanese PHd engineers in my camera have the first go at exposure via Nikon's CLS system and then adjust for taste.
put the camera in manual and get your exposure right for the background. shutter speed can't exceed sync speed unless you are in hypersync mode. don't try to shoot at f16 with a speedlite. f5.6 might be the best you can do without really straining the poor thing.
then take a test shot and see how your subject looks. if they aren't bright enough then pump in some flash. try having the flash in manual and start on like 1/8 power. i try to avoid using my speedlites at full power.
for fuller coverage you might have to move the light back but then you need more power.
at some point it's just easier to have a studio strobe with battery pack.
Shutter Puppy wrote: So all I adjust is the f/stop for ambient light; making the background more or less bright in the image as the model will always be illuminated the same from my strobes.
No. The the short duration flash exposure is controlled by the f-stop changes. That assumes the flash is in manual mode.
The ambient light is exposure changed with the shutter speed. If you need more ambient exposure (lighter), you lower the shutter speed. To get darker ambient (darker) you increase the shutter speed up to the max sync setting.
Shutter Puppy wrote: My images are either washed out from the strobes, or too dark to notice the strobes. In some images the softbox has to be extremely close and thus no fullbody shots.
When the flash is too dark, open the f-stop and use a shorter shutter speed to keep the ambient the same. If the shutter is already at max sync, then you must increase the flash power, put another unit in the box, use a more efficient modifier or move it closer.
When the subject is washed out, close the f-stop and lower the shutter speed to maintain the ambient exposure.
Shutter Puppy wrote: Am I just expecting too much from speedlights? Should I be shooting at dawn/dusk? or in mid day? If midday, should I have the subject in a shadowed area? or is it okay for them to be in direct sunlight?
Yes. The most powerful camera mounted speedlights are about 100 ws and unless you are in the shade, overcast, at sunrise or sunset a single speedlight may not be enough power with a box or umbrella. A beauty dish or direct flash is better.
Two speedlights may be better. If you have lower power lights, two may still not be enough for bright sun and bright backlighting.
If the you aren't in bright sun, increasing the ISO on the camera will help with the low power flash. but that is limited by the top sync speed.
Shutter Puppy wrote: And I'm new to speedlights so I'm confused about the nature of 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, etc.. Help? I would love to hear advice and experiences from people who use the same, or similar systems.
Images by MR
Posts: 6,021
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
twoharts wrote: put the camera in manual and get your exposure right for the background. shutter speed can't exceed sync speed unless you are in hypersync mode. don't try to shoot at f16 with a speedlite. f5.6 might be the best you can do without really straining the poor thing.
then take a test shot and see how your subject looks. if they aren't bright enough then pump in some flash. try having the flash in manual and start on like 1/8 power. i try to avoid using my speedlites at full power.
for fuller coverage you might have to move the light back but then you need more power.
at some point it's just easier to have a studio strobe with battery pack.
i find the whole strobist thing fussy. i've had so many times where the speedlite has fallen off the stand. i'd just much rather do the same things i do in my studio. so i lug my alienbees and my vagabond minis and my beauty dish which does well in the wind (whereas an umbrella can be a joke).
the time i like speedlites is on-camera for event coverage or light on a stick for rimlight.
but you have a point in that light is light and whether it's speedlite or studio strobe you still have to figure out how much ambient to pull in and you have to balance foreground and background and if you want full body coverage figure out how to get that, etc.
Images by MR wrote: How would that make it easier?
One thing is I might adjust my flashes manually. In my opinion its easier to learn your flashes manually instead of in other settings then you can adjust things one at a time, see the image, adjust again, etc.
Images by MR wrote: How would that make it easier?
Studio or portable power packs usually have much more power starting at around 200 ws and going upwards of 2000 ws. Compared to the top power of the camera mounted speedlights at 80-100 ws
e-ttl can be downright wonky, especially with canon. and if you are in aV mode with e-ttl not even god knows what will happen. lol.
1k-words-photograpy wrote: One thing is I might adjust my flashes manually. In my opinion its easier to learn your flashes manually instead of in other settings then you can adjust things one at a time, see the image, adjust again, etc.
Images by MR
Posts: 6,021
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Images by MR wrote: How would that make it easier?
Leonard Gee Photography wrote: Studio or portable power packs usually have much more power starting at around 200 ws and going upwards of 2000 ws. Compared to the top power of the camera mounted speedlights at 80-100 ws
I know studio strobes have more power than speedlights. Whats that have to do with making things easier or not?
I'm a strobist & have yet to find my speedlights not able to prove the light I've needed either outdoors on location or in studio.
that's like saying "is there a god?" dunno is my answer to both questions.
i've just had a lot of bad experiences with TTL being very inconsistent (like doing wedding formals) so i try to avoid it whenever possible. TTL gets it right some of the time but not often enough for my needs. i will say that my nikon D70 seemed better about that than my 5D MK II.
AVD AlphaDuctions wrote: which of these was done in manual and which used TTL?
twoharts wrote: that's like saying "is there a god?" dunno is my answer to both questions.
i've just had a lot of bad experiences with TTL being very inconsistent (like doing wedding formals) so i try to avoid it whenever possible. TTL gets it right some of the time but not often enough for my needs. i will say that my nikon D70 seemed better about that than my 5D MK II.
its so simple and reliable on Sony I never think about it. Even when I have the flash on manual for club/concert work I most often use the speedlight (s) in TTL. I hate to say it but it must be user error. The alternative is that Sony is better than Canon and Nikon
I hardly use it as a key light when shooting outdoors. I expose for the ambient or background and then just use the speed light to fill, or just light the subject.
Dan OMell wrote: > letting all those Japanese PHd engineers in my camera have the first go
> at exposure via Nikon's CLS system and then adjust for taste.
first time I heard this line almost verbatim was from Joe McNally 3
I deleted my reply above when I re-read the original post. What I missed the first time reading is that he's using dumb triggers, which means he has to be using manual power adjustment on flash. That elimates any diagnosis of ettl dymamics (which is what some of my deleted reply attempted to diagnose.)
I agree with others. I get the ambient the way I want it first..chimp or use a meter. Then for subject/model, adjust flash power until it gets the reading I'm looking for. I use a meter to do this, although many others don't.
You say you're using two speedlights/modifiers. Add ambient into the mix, and if you're truly a beginner, it may be difficult for you to isolate your issue. I find it simpler to start with one light to supplement ambient, then add a 2nd when needed.
Gregory Moore
Posts: 31
Huntington Beach, California, US
A Nikon SB900 costs MORE than an Einstein. And I have had Nikon SB600's fall out of their hot shoes while strobing and hit pavement and immediately stop working - three times @ $95 to repair each time.
Einstein goes 600 w/s down to 3 w/s and takes beauty dishes and softbox rings directly. And doesn't weigh much more. Profoto D1 250 goes from 250 w/s down to 4 w/s
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