How To Use Flash - Part 3 of 3

May.08, 2009 by Michelle
Photography Tips

In Part 1 we talked about flash and how to change modes. In Part 2 we talked about bouncing light and touched on camera settings. Now we are going to delve further into your settings by learning how to balance your light.

ISO 200, F/1.8, Shutter Speed 1/50, Manual Flash

For this picture, I wanted the christmas lights to really show up. That means the amount of light recorded from the flash had to be close to the amount recorded from the lights. I also wanted them to be really blurry and I did not want the tree to show up. I moved her away from the tree and positioned the flash high enough to avoid lighting the branches. I then started with a aperture of 1.8 to make the lights blur out and appear bigger. I didn’t want a lot of grain and with the large aperture (small F/#) I didn’t have to go too high - ISO 200. I chose my shutter speed based on my histogram, getting the lights to show up very well - 1/50. The focal length was 50mm, so if I needed to go longer I would have raised my ISO one more time. Once that was all good, I turned on the flash and took a few test shots, checking my histogram all the way and making adjustments. I don’t have a record of what the % of output was, but all that matters is that is was right. :)

ISO 1000, F/2.8, Shutter Speed 1/30, Manual Flash

For this engagement picture, I wanted to record all of the carousel lights. In order to do that, I needed a high ISO, because I didn’t want to open up the aperture any more than F/2.8. I wanted them both in focus. I also didn’t want a longer shutter speed than I had - 1/30. I wanted some blur to capture the joyful confusion of the ride, but not so much that the entire frame was blurry. I used a Lightsphere Cloud (with tunsten top) to bounce and spread the flash around. The output was very low, just enough to give them some nice light on their faces and make them stand out with a little bit of difference in color. I braced myself against the back of the sled and shot many frames to get this one. In order to get a shot like this, get your (non-flash) settings down first, using your histogram as a guide, and then add the flash in.

ISO 800, F/2.8, Shutter Speed 1/40, Manual Flash

Again, I got my background exposure the way I wanted it first. I wanted just a tiny bit of movement in the background from the ride, hence the 1/40. I also wanted some of the ambient light to record on her hair, so that her hair didn’t disappear into the background.

I didn’t want the entire background to record as bright as them this time, because it was in fact, dark. I lowered my ISO and used the histogram to check it. Most of my histogram was dark, with a tiny spike on the right for the lights. I wanted the tungsten lights in the background to record whiter (as opposed to yellow), so I used the tungsten top and white balanced accordingly. As a side bonus, the blue added to compensate for the yellow put out by the tungsten flash and lights made the sky more blue. :)

ISO 320, F/4, Shutter Speed 1/250, Manual Flash

Since this was taken on a bright day, there was no need to drag the shutter to make the background record. If I hadn’t used flash, I could have exposed for the background and made her a silhouette. Or, I could have exposed for her and the background would have recorded white. I wanted the background to show, but not cause a distraction. I decided I wanted it slightly blown out.

Since I didn’t want to drag the shutter, but add more flash instead, I started with a shutter speed on 1/250. I wanted her in focus but not much else, so I used the preview button (under the lens) and chose F/4. Then it was just a matter of choosing my ISO based on my histogram, ISO 320 blew out the background as much as I wanted using these settings.

I set up a shoot-thru umbrella, positioned it to the side so she woudl have some shadowy areas to flatter her shape and break her away from the already-bright background. Then - you guessed it - I used my histogram and made adjustments to my flash until I was happy.

I hope this series gave you a lot of ideas for photographing your family using flash!