Fill Flash
- This topic has 25 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Jun 12, 2008 at 12:56 pm by
.
-
Posts
-
I have seen Zach speak of this quite often in various threads and on podcasts. Is “fill flash” synonymous with flashing a subject when they are back-lit? I have listened to other podcasts and they speak of stopping down 1, 2, or 3 with a TTL flash. Again, the same thing? And what is a TTL flash, and how does it differ from any other?
Thanks, again, for the info.
DustyFill flash is a term to describe filling in the shadows on persons (or whatever) face when shooting them in daylight or backlit.
Most new DSLR cameras do a good job in auto with the flash in TTL – you need a powerful flash for hard light and will do better with smaller flashes if you keep close with a wide lens.Here in Oz the light is very hard and we tend to leave the flash on when shooting fishing stuff through most of the day.
On the water it’s very important where you have conflicting light bouncing off the water and from the sun.Here’s what I think of as a well filled shot done in very hard light on a dry lake bed.
The subject would have been almost black without flash.
(pro lighting)
This is in hard light around noon on a river – the fill is a bit dark but suits the fish.
(Canon 580EZ in TTL)
If you have a digital camera it’s easy enough to test out your gear and get used to what works and doesn’t.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
David,
Thanks for the quick and succinct response. It makes better sense now. I will have to try this next fishing trip.
DustyAaron, i don’t know exactly how tht shot was done, but i think you are close. The way the canon system works is that the camera exposure sets itself based on the ambient light, and then the flash will pop prior to the shutter to determine the flash exposure. When you adjust exposure in camera, it will effect only the background, or what isn’t being lit by the flash. The flash exposure compensation will effect what is being lit by flash.
http://www.usa.canon.com/content/Speedlite/index.html
The interview with steven wilkes gives a great intro into how exposure can be controlled with the camera and flash individually.
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008/05/joe-mcnally-desert-shoot.html
http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2008/05/19/david-of-the-desert/heres a couple more.
This was posted on the strobist today … http://bertstephani.com/blog/?p=71 thought the concepts were relevant. Would the fish respond better if we played them some 60s music? 😀
I don’t know about the 60’s music, but if i came home from a fishing trip with pictures like that m wife would put all my rods in the ceiling fan!!
I don’t know about the 60’s music, but if i came home from a fishing trip with pictures like that m wife would put all my rods in the ceiling fan!!
Aaron,
-1 (ambient) is great for big skies like the bike shot, but on the bottom shot it would have made the background a bit dark.
There’s no hard & fast rule – it’s all done by eye.
Here’s a shot from the same shoot where the background was run at normal:
(no fill flash – a scrim was used)
Here’s a background run at around -2 because it was a crap day.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
;D
I can post some shots of ugly people if it will help.. 😉 😀
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Love that first image David. Haven’t seen you around, for a while, and was getting concerned about you, glad to see you posting again:)
Yea, post the images of what you call ugly people, always fun to watch the interaction that comes from the people in these classified images
No need for concern, I was just spending more of my free time trying to have less free time.
Work needed a little kick up the date.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Cool… I love high-speed sync [ch9786] Now that the hotshoe strobes are made with this possibility, all kinds of new location shooting potential is available.
I can feel your pain mate but honestly, how can you possibly call that ugly. You and I both know that PS inmates will line up and even offer to pay you, for letting them touch that shadow up. Lucky Bastards 😉
If you grow tired of the bikini shoots, I’ll be glad to trade you one of my: “Daughter of a Mongolian Nomad in a Marmot coat running through the Gobi Desert” assignments and give you a break from all of that beach stuff. ;D ;D
Love the very first image, that you posted in this thread, a lot of technical attributes that I really like in it.
Ben, it’s not all glitz and glam here either.. 😉
Can you get me a snip of the Marmot ?
I love the stuff for nymph tails.. 😀Dusty, sorry I didn’t answer the ‘TTL’ question, I missed it..
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Can you get me a snip of the Marmot ?
I love the stuff for nymph tails.. 😀LOL… David, Isn’t it funny how our thoughts have changed? Not like the old days when we used to sneak our parents National Geographic, just because we had a special interest in the native cultures of the South American Indian tribes ;D ;D. I sure hope that you didn’t plant a seed in my mind as I don’t think anyone would get that I am thinking, “I sure would like to tie a Nymph out of that”. ;D ;D
Dusty, I too am sorry about missing that and not answering the TTL question. Yes, it stands for ‘Through The Lens”. To give a simple answer to a complex set up. A long series of mathematical formulas, (considering distance to subject, ISO an aperture), must be conducted in order to obtain the proper flash exposures. The TTL system allows for a more automated format that calculates the formulas for strobe exposure but the software will then shut the strobe off when the algorithm has determined the proper amount of light has hit the sensor. It is a much faster and safer method of controlling strobe exposures but is not an “all cases use”. That is why the other settings are also available. You may notice a short beam of light, which comes through the TTL strobe, prior to firing. This is not to assist in auto focus as it is the TTL system measuring the distance to your subject and formulating the mathematical calculations prior to firing. It is pretty complicated but that is the basic function of TTL.
Oh yes, I almost missed the other part of your question: In a case where the photographer is using TTL, they most often will start out with the camera zero settings. What this means is; the exposure value of the TTL units will be set to their default setting or zero setting. For special lighting effect, the photographer can full or part step the values up or down (not to make it more confusing, this is also known as the f stop of the flash). This is where the strobe and camera communications tell the flash to either strobe longer or shorter, which increases or decreases that amount of flash. It is great to now be able to have command units that control several strobes at once and independent of each other. Hope this helps some…
Guys,
All of your communications have been helpful. I have learned a lot from this thread. Thank you for your participation. Now knowing all that these flashes do, I guess I understand why some of them are in the $400-$500 range. I may have to resort to selling flyrods to be able to pay for flashes and lenses.Dusty, yep it’s tough, but you need a powerful flash to do good fill in hard light.
If you only have a cheaper & less powerful one you can get more out of it by keeping close to the subject to keep the power up.
Using a wide even for close up shots will help.www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.