• Club member Keith Blackwell spoke to The Club about On-Camera Flash.
Keith explained that one of the reasons that we use flash is to separate the subject from the background and therefore we are actually dealing with two exposures. He went on to say that the basic properties of light are quality, quantity and direction. From there Keith spoke about basic flash operations and how to adjust our individual units.
Keith left us with this flash exercise to try on our own:
Set both your camera and flash unit to manual mode (don’t use ETTL on your flash).
Set your camera to ISO 100 or 200, Aperture f/8 and 1/100 Shutter Speed.
Set your flash to 1/1 (full strength) output power if it’s not already.
Choose a subject where the background is far away (don’t stand a subject right against a wall or tree).
Stand roughly five meters from your subject and take a test shot. Preview the image on your back LCD screen and take note of the light falling on your subject versus your background.
The result isn’t important for now. This experiment is purely for learning purposes.
Now adjust your Aperture from f/8 to f/16 and take another test shot. Notice this time the flash hitting your subject is darker. Next, adjust the Aperture from f/16 to f/4.6. This time notice the light hitting your subject is brighter.
Re-adjust the Aperture back to f/8.
By now you should understand that adjusting your Aperture will effect the flash output hitting your main subject.
Next you’ll learn how to darken or lighten your background (ambient light). Select a slower Shutter Speed, for example 1/20 second. Take a test shot. Notice how the background in the resulting image is now much brighter?
Now select a faster Shutter Speed of 1/200 sec or 1/250 (the maximum sync speed for your flash model). Notice how your background is now darker?
For another look at basic flash use, check out this YouTube video.
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• Our next meeting will be a live get-together on October 24th at 7 PM when Chris Jorgensen will give a presentation on how to create a panorama.
– We will also review the results of our October Photo Challenge.
– Members are encouraged to take part in our montly Print Display by bringing in a print of any size, any subject for display and discussion.
“The subject matter is so much more important than the photographer.” – Gordon Parks
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