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01/21/2005 07:02:10 PM · #1 |
To get high quality flash pictures with a digital camera, you must use an external flash. An external flash will allow you to shoot from an angle or bounce the flash to get desired shadows and give you a picture with depth.
Most people use a slave flash, but the problem is for the slave to operate, the built-in camera flash must be used too. I found when the built in flash is used with the slave, I do not like the effect of the extra fill it provides.
I found the best way to supress the cameras built in flash it to tape over it with slide film. The slide film should be completely black. This would be equivalent to a picture taken with slide film while the lens cap is on. Once you obtain this, you can put it over the built in flash with scotch tape. The shiny side of the exposed slide should be touching the flash.
What this does is block the visible light from hitting your subject, but allows infrared light to pass through which is enough to setoff your digital flash.
Your digital flash should be one that fires on the second flash, since digital cameras produce a pre-flash. If your flash only fires on the first flash, you can get a slave or flash bracket from Ebay that will fire it on the second flash.
Here is an example of a picture I have taken using this technique.
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01/21/2005 08:15:59 PM · #2 |
Best digital flash tip or flash tip at all that I know, at least for beginners, is to use a flash when you don't think you need it and don't use it when you think you should.
Most people think a flash is for lighting up the dark, when really it is best used for balancing the sun in bright light, as an example of the above. |
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01/28/2005 05:06:37 PM · #3 |
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01/28/2005 05:21:11 PM · #4 |
I think the initial post is a bit misleading or make/model specific. It's not so much about digital cameras, but a certain make/model not capable of certain things or work differently.
"Most people use a slave flash, but the problem is for the slave to operate, the built-in camera flash must be used too. I found when the built in flash is used with the slave, I do not like the effect of the extra fill it provides."
- There's no extra fill-in if your built-in flash can be used as a 'commander' as in Nikon D70. The flashes from the built-in does not change the lighting or exposure, but acts as a smart trigger. |
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01/28/2005 05:54:35 PM · #5 |
| OK Since you brought this up: Does the onboard flash of a Canon 10D Trigger a slave Speedlite 550EX? If so how? |
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01/28/2005 08:05:44 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by drydoc:
OK Since you brought this up: Does the onboard flash of a Canon 10D Trigger a slave Speedlite 550EX? If so how? |
No... the 550EX can be a slave for another 550EX but not for the built-in flash.
A 420 can be used with the 550. That's what I usually do (when I'm not using my studio strobes). Mount the 550 on camera, and use the 420 for fill. There is a pre-flash that the 550 puts out that communicates to the 420 when and how much it should flash.
Canon also makes a unit that mounts on your camera as a master which doesn't act as a flash. I suspect it still puts out infra-red to accomplish the same thing as the 550 as a master.
The main thing that surprised me when I bought these, is that I thought they communicated through radio frequencies. Especially because you can tell the 550 not to fire and still control the 420. But the first big clue is that the 550 still fires ... the pre-flash! It's the exposure flash which you can turn off.
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02/03/2005 09:10:27 AM · #7 |
| Actually my best digital flash tip would be geared towards studio photography. My advice: avoid softboxes like the plague. The only acceptable softbox in my opinion is a strip-light softbox. All other softboxes kill creativity like a plague. If you learn to shoot with umbrellas, barndoors, beautydishes, reflectors and what not- you'll be much better off. In my experince there are hoards of photographers out there who never improve past a really simple, low-level of technique because they use softboxes too much. My 2 cents. |
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02/03/2005 09:41:03 AM · #8 |
Not to change the subject but... Was the photo taken with a digital camera of a real person or is it of a print? I ask because there is a scratch running from the lower left to nearly the center of the image. Also curious why you chose the green hues instead of straight B&W?
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02/05/2005 09:59:15 PM · #9 |
This is a scan of a digital print I had mounted and put in a glass frame.
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