Flashgun Workout Colin Leftley

	Bounce Having the choice to position the flash allows creative control. Look at the shots closely and you can see that different lighting effects all have something to offer. All were produced with just one hand-held flash unit.

Many photographers overlook the creative potential of hand-held or off-camera flashguns treating them like they're just big versions of the one built into the camera; they use them when the light gets slightly dim, or just for high-days and holidays. But with a little thought, and a bit of effort, there's a good chance that your accessory flash unit may be able to do a lot more for you and your photography.

Side issue

If you fit your flash into the hot-shoe of your camera life is very convenient and fuss-free. But you may have noticed how flat-looking the resulting photographs are, in particular people look washed out - like they've just emerged from a particularly dismal winter, even when the shot was taken on the first day of August. Let's be honest, direct flash is stark and unflattering and best avoided at all costs.

Just treating yourself to a simple flash extension cord is one simple and inexpensive way of improving flash photography. By holding the flash up and to one side of the camera greater depth and modelling will be revealed by the lighting on the subject. If your camera and flash are fully dedicated this lead may still offer through-the-lens metering and will deserve the title of TTL cord. This makes flash exposures more foolproof, especially when the position of the light is unusual, but for simple off-camera flash work the auto feature on the flash head should work fine with the lead simply synchronising the shutter to the flash.

With the flash suitably connected to the camera experiment with different positions of flash compared to the subject. To some extent this will be limited to the length of your arm, which in practice will be more than adequate. In instances when you feel you'd like to move the flash out further, enlist the help of a friend or mount it somehow on a spare tripod or lighting stand of some kind.

Soft option

Moving the flash off-camera may create more modelling and more interesting shadows but the small size of the light source relative to the subject will unavoidably create a hard edge to shadows. For a spot lit effect this is of course great but may not be what you intended. At its simplest you could try lightly diffusing the flash with a hanky or similar and see what results. But such ad hoc arrangements may be tricky to repeat consistently, and care needs to be taken to ensure that the heat from the flash tube doesn't surprise you and melt or burn your diffuser of choice! Treat yourself to a diffuser or mini bounce attachment that will fit neatly over your flash tube in seconds. Many attach using Velcro™ or in the case of hard plastic diffusers, these push over the heads of the flashgun.

Obviously the larger the diffuser the greater the toll paid in light loss. With zoom lenses of modest maximum aperture this may be significant so check what the loss factor is and weigh this against the aperture you're likely to be able to use at your chosen shooting distance. If the loss factor is not given or if you are working with a DIY diffuser, then do a few simple test shots to see what the effect is like - this may seem like a waste of film, but it could save disappointment later. Diffusing the light with clip-on attachments is certainly a convenient and effective way of improving your flash photography but if you've more time, and are prepared to take the trouble, try taking the bounce flash option.

There are many situations where fill-in flash can help cope with contrast. Here the natural light created an unwanted silhouette even though the shot was taken digitally.

Bouncing with confidence

Especially for indoor photography, bouncing the light or your flashgun off nearby walls or ceilings can make a huge difference to the quality of your flash-lit photographs. In this way you can affect both the direct and the quality of the light reaching your subject. It's worth mentioning here-- especially if you haven't yet treated yourself to an accessory flashgun -- that biggest is best. Bouncing light around even a modest sized room takes its toll on light output and may give you grief, especially if you work with slow speed film. So aim for a metric guide number of around 40 plus, and avoid fancy features if this will help keep the flash head within budget.

Swivelling heads are useful if the flash doesn't offer TTL metering, as it keeps the sensor pointing in the right direction and allows the camera to be mounted on the camera. But, in practice it's easy enough to hold a flash head in one hand as you fire the camera with the other, especially if you can use autofocus and if you have auto winding (for film users).

Digital users will benefit greatly here as their first bounce flash efforts can be quickly reviewed and fine-tuned along with the 'correctness' of the exposure received by the camera. If you have this option try the three flash lighting techniques on a few subjects and judge the differences for yourself.

	Metz 45 CL-3 flash was used to bounce light off the ceiling and the auto setting on the flash was adjusted to be one stop wider then the cameras aperture. This created -1 stop off fill for a fairly natural-looking result.

Occasionally you may come across a situation where not suitable bounce surfaces exist! The room may have bright pink walls or a black ceiling, for example. Here keeping a fold-out reflector like those available from Lastolite™ handy may pay dividends; you can bounce flash off your panel once it's suitably positioned.

Filling you in
For coping with high contrast backlit situations there is very little to beat the convenience and effectiveness of fill-in flash. Here the flashgun is made to work in harmony with the available light to brighten otherwise dark shadows. The trick is to arrange the flash to under-expose slightly so the shot doesn't look over-lit. Achieving this has never been easier, thanks to automation, and there are a few ways to get there.

Simplest of all is to use the flash compensation facility available on some modern cameras. Set it to -1EV to begin with and see how it works out for you. In certain circumstances you may want a more subtle result and this figure may need to be varied to suit. It takes just a little experimentation to see what works for you in given circumstances. Once again, digital shooters have the advantage when it comes to experimenting to see what works. The balance struck between flash and ambient lighting is also affected by the overall exposure given, so bracket your shots slightly to gain the right effect - you may want a slightly over-exposed background when shooting into the light to maintain a bright sunlit effect.

If you have a simpler set up and have an auto flash with its own sensor, then fill-flash is still pretty straightforward. All you need to do is set the camera at a particular aperture using manual or aperture-priority metering, say f/8, and then set the flashgun's aperture to f/5.6. In this way the flash will deliver one stop less light than is needed for you camera's shooting aperture and you have the deliberate under-exposure you desire! A flash unit with a good range of auto aperture settings is useful here as is a camera that syncs with flash at fastish shutter speeds of 1/250sec or so; digital cameras are less limited here.

Water droplets create facntastic patterns and shapes but move very fast. Here I connected a Metz 45 CT-3 to a Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom and shot these drops hitting water in a wine glass. The flash was about 30cm to one side and was aimed at the white background which ensured minimum output and minimum flash duration.

Action-packed potential

The potential of even the humblest flash unit to freeze movement goes unappreciated by many photographers. Simply by ensuring that your flash fires at its minimum burn will provide you with a device that allows you to capture fantastic studies of movement which would otherwise be beyond our visual grasp. To do this simple place the flash unit off-camera so the sensor aims towards a white surface or a mirror. Light output will be low so small subjects placed close to the flash tube work well, especially if you use slow film or modest ISO settings. Water droplets, sowing machines in action, insects in flight are now subjects within your grasp just as long as you can time the event. Once again, digital shooters will benefit from being able to quickly preview their results.

Fill-flash with an auto gun is easy to achieve by making the flash deliver, say, one stop less light than is needed for you camera's shooting. A clear calculator dial is useful and a unit with a good range of auto aperture settings helps.

Posted in Posted by cheewooi at 5:48 PM