Just making sure i have this right! When shooting portraits at sunset, I should lock my exposure on the sky, recompose and then shoot. Then I will get just the right amount of fill flash. I will also be using my Fong. :)
I usually shoot in Av mode. Say I focus on the sky and get an exposure of f/5.6 at 1/250th. Can I switch to Manual, dial in f/5.6 & 1/250th and still get the correct amount of fill flash?
Why not put it in manual, expose for the sky......then all you'd have to do is focus?
That is what I was asking. I just want to make sure fill flash works the same no matter if I am using AV mode or Manual. I am not the brightest crayon in the box when it comes to using flash..LOL
As for the fong... if you have the clear lightsphere II, I'd suggest pointing it straight at your subject. The lightsphere will still diffuse it some. But if your sunset is still bright, you're gonna need a lot of light on the subject. Anyway, play with it.
You might want to bracket the exposure some. I often find underexposing the sky just a bit is more natural looking.
I can autobracket the shots with the 20d, right? Basically so it automatically takes 3 different exposures or something. I really could just go down and look at the camera..LOL
I can autobracket the shots with the 20d, right? Basically so it automatically takes 3 different exposures or something. I really could just go down and look at the camera..LOL
Umm.... in this case, probably not. But don't worry, it's easy to do it manually.
The problem is that you're in manual exposure mode. So what does it mean to bracket your shots in manual exposure mode? Should the camera change the shutter speed or the aperture? In manual mode you've told it you want to control both of them yourself. So that's okay. Meter your sky. If you get, say, 1/125 at f/5.6 then take one shot at 1/60, one at 1/125 and one at 1/250.
You might want to bracket the exposure some. I often find underexposing the sky just a bit is more natural looking.
I can autobracket the shots with the 20d, right? Basically so it automatically takes 3 different exposures or something. I really could just go down and look at the camera..LOL
Yeah, it should autobracket... RTM ;-) Also, check what your top shutter sync is... not sure about the 20D, but the 300D is 1/200.
One last piece of advice:
With flash photography, your aperture controls the amount of flash exposure. And shutter speed controls the amount of ambient light.
So, if the background is not light enough, drag the shutter a bit. If the subject is too dark open the aperture some and vise versa.
Man, I haven't seen my manual since the day I bought the camera. But you're right. In manual mode it *still* autobrackets. It adjusts the shutter speed while leaving the aperture alone.
Learned something new tonight. I can go to bed with a smile on my face. :-)
Also, if you have another flash (Canon 420EX for example), you can light your subject from the side like this:
Shot with a 420EX mounted on a light stand shooting through a white translucent umbrella.
Love this shot. I am getting the 580ex to use with my 420. Can I use the 580 as the master and the 420 as the slave ? Do I need anything else to make that work ?
Love this shot. I am getting the 580ex to use with my 420. Can I use the 580 as the master and the 420 as the slave ? Do I need anything else to make that work ?
The 420 won't do master, so it has to be the slave. The 580 could be master or slave, but it's cheaper to use 420's as slaves.
I like using a shoot thru umbrella because it's highly portable (more than a softbox) and it softens the light (much more than a lightsphere or other on-flash modifier would).
You can do similar stuff with a on-camera flash and a bounce ... gold or white would be good.
How do you bounce from an on camera flash? I'm still new so I don't have any flash equipment except the one built into the camera. You can bounce from that? Or did you mean an external flash bounced in addition to the on camera flash?
How do you bounce from an on camera flash? I'm still new so I don't have any flash equipment except the one built into the camera. You can bounce from that? Or did you mean an external flash bounced in addition to the on camera flash?
It would have to be an external flash, mounted on the camera. You can rotate the heads on the external flashes. So you could point the flash off to one side or the other and bounce it off of a reflector.
The difficulty, IMO, of doing this is that it is hard enough to point a reflector in the right direction when you have an always-on source of light (such as the sun). It would be that much harder to get it "right" by having to aim the reflector for a burst of light. You'd probably want to use a flash light or something to try to get the reflector aiming in the right direction first. (hold it on top of the flash, pointed in the same direction as the flash, then rotate the reflector until the subject can see a reflection of the flash light)
the problem with autobracketing might be how fast the flash can recharge. if you've got a pocket battery pack for the flash it might recharge fast enough for the bracketing -otherwise i would plan on bracketing manually.
tape a white piece of cardboard to the flash to direct it in the direction of the thing you want it to bounce off. the on camera flash isn't that powerful though - so don't expect to be boucing off 14' ceilings with good result.
Originally posted by Sheryll:
How do you bounce from an on camera flash? I'm still new so I don't have any flash equipment except the one built into the camera. You can bounce from that? Or did you mean an external flash bounced in addition to the on camera flash?
....I just want to make sure fill flash works the same no matter if I am using AV mode or Manual.....
The flash works quite differently in AV/TV vs. Manual vs. Picture mode. I don't know all the details cause I prefer the effect in AV where it lets the background light in and fills for the foreground.
