Am I doing something wrong? Please help

carolthomasburns

carolthomasburns

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,998
Name
Carol
Edit My Images
Yes
I have a Speedlite YN560 Flash for my Canon 300D. Now I know it is a strong one but for some reason it just wont work properly ....... or maybe I am just NOT setting it correctly. There are 3 settings on the back - M Mode (which can be set as you like) S1 and S2 which (as the manual states) are suitable to be used as off camera auxiliary light. I have tried it in all three modes. M was used while attached to the camera with the diffuser down and the flash pointed upwards (so as not to blind anyone ) and in S1 and S2 on a remote trigger set. All the photos came out with crazy lights shooting across the photo and way too much light in certain areas. I even tried a Flash Bender Reflector and that made things worse :( The room wasnt very high and had a white tiled ceiling and crazy disco lights bouncing everywhere which didnt help I dont think but maybe I an wrong there. I even tried using another smaller flash but the same thing happened.
I know I was doing something wrong but dont for the life of me know what. Has anyone got any ideas and advice please
 
Unfortunately I deleted the 'bad' ones by accident so havent really got anything to show :( I have looked at the flash settings and there is a zoom button with numbers 24, 28, 35, 50, 70, 80 and 105 Maybe the lowest setting might help and then work up until I get the right one? (I know it makes me sound like an idiot but I read the manual and it doesnt seem to have totally sunk in :( )The smaller flash isnt a manual one but that seemed to be doing the same thing with too much light.
 
I think what i really need is someone to sit there and say ' this goes here, this goes there!' etc etc lolol
 
there is a zoom button with numbers 24, 28, 35, 50, 70, 80 and 105
Click to expand...

This just sets the "angle" of the zoom head. 24 would typically be when you use a 24mm lens but you can change it as you want to make the flash "beam" wider (24) or narrower (105).

Were you shooting in manual mode on the camera or Aperture mode? If aperture mode (or shutter or program) the camera will meter for the light in your scene.
 
just going to check the ISO etc V8 - will let you know in a moment
 
I was using an 18-55 for some of the time mhuk and the camera was in automatic mode :(
 
In automatic mode the camera meters the light it see's and will expose for that light thus all your shots will be washed out and the camera shutter speed will probably be far too fast for the flash.
 
ah right - thats what they looked like - washed out completely! There was hardly any light in there except for the red, blue and green disco lights that the management decided would set the scene (didnt have disco lights at Wigan Casino in the 70s lol) If the camera was picking them up would that have caused a problem as well even though the room was dark?
 
V8 - the ISO was 400 on the ones I took with only the cameras own flash. Exposure was 3.2 which seems to be a very long time :( and aperture was f/4.0
 
So camera is automatically exposing for ambient whilst flash was on manual and flooding the scene with light.
Instead, set camera to manual with iso at 400 but shutter speed and aperture at more realistic settings of say 1/60th and f/4 to f/8 and then take some shots with flash bounced off the ceiling or wall to subject and play with the flash manual power settings and you will get more meaningful results.
 
:thumbs: Thanks for that V8 - I will try that and see what happens :)
 
Just throwing this out there as well. If you are getting terribly over exposed photographs, watch your synch speed. With your camera I think it's around 1/200th. Unless you have higher end triggers, using your flash off camera in the bright daylight might prove difficult unless you use very small apertures.
 
Thanks SMck :) Dont use any flash but the cameras own in daylight. It is mainly Dance Venues when I need to use the flash and most are decently lit anyway - was just this room that was very dark :(
 
As SMckPhoto mentions, if you exceed the sync speed of the camera or the triggers you will begin to see the shutter curtain as a black line down the edge/across the edge of the frame.
 
Once indoors, always switch the camera to manual if you're using flash. That way you have control of the shutter speed, experiment with your ISO/shutter and aperture to get it about a stop under (depends on lights) to give you an interesting background.

Then switch on your flash. Bounced flash using ETTL will expose your shot fairly well - use FEC to fine tune it. Manual flash takes a lot of calculating and experimenting.

In short - Manual camera / Auto flash.

Also known as dragging the shutter - as your slower shutter speed will expose the ambient light whilst the flash will freeze the action. Using a faster shutter speed will likely underexpose the ambient too much leaving you with just the flash exposure and a 'cave' look.
 
If you set the flash to the s modes, it becomes a slave unit and will only fire when it detects another flash firing. In the m mode, and it's fully manual. I this also means you need to use your camera in manual mode too.

Keep your exposure to less than 1/200. The slower your shutter speed, the more ambient light will come into effect in your shot (if there is any), . Situations like this are a lot easier if you have a flash meter, and but seeing as you don't, I its a bit of trial and error.

Set your Flash pointing upwards to bounce it off the ceiling (I'd also have a bounce card on there firing some of the light forward). Set your Flash on 1/2 power and your shutter speed at something like 1/100, your iso at 400, and your aperture at 5.6.

Take a shot and you will have 3 scenarios...

1: shot comes out exposed correctly.... Unlikely but possible.
2: shot is over exposed. Either reduce the flash power, use a lower iso or a smaller aperture, or a combination of the 3.
3: shot is under exposed. Either increase flash power, increase iso, larger aperture or a combination of the 3.

As you sound to be suffering from number 2, I'd have lowered the iso first, followed by closing down the aperture. Shutter speed shouldn't really come into it as the flash duration is the same wether you shoot at 1/80 or 1/160.

Using manual flash is a bit of a balancing act, and but once you get used to the relationship between flash power, exposure, iso and aperture things soon become a lot simpler

And make sure you use your lens hood to reduce any flaring.
 
Last edited:
Phil got in there while I took a silly amount of time typing that!

Am I right in assuming the yn560 doesn't have any form of ttl? So it would be manual flash/manual camera?
 
Last edited:
Phil V said:
Once indoors, always switch the camera to manual if you're using flash. That way you have control of the shutter speed, experiment with your ISO/shutter and aperture to get it about a stop under (depends on lights) to give you an interesting background.

Then switch on your flash. Bounced flash using ETTL will expose your shot fairly well - use FEC to fine tune it. Manual flash takes a lot of calculating and experimenting.

In short - Manual camera / Auto flash.

Also known as dragging the shutter - as your slower shutter speed will expose the ambient light whilst the flash will freeze the action. Using a faster shutter speed will likely underexpose the ambient too much leaving you with just the flash exposure and a 'cave' look.
Click to expand...

Perfect summation. Just to add a wee bit more of how I approach flash and the fact that shutter speed controls ambient and flash controls subject (more or less!):

Daylight: Camera in AV so I can control depth of field for portraits. Let camera expose for the background. Flash on ETTL to fill in shadows on the subjects - usually -1 FEC or thereabouts. To darken or brighten the background to suit, simply use the exposure compensation dial on the back of the camera. With the triggers I use (Yongnuo 622C) I can get High Speed Synch off camera if I choose to shoot through umbrellas/soft boxes.

Indoors/Night: Camera in M. Shutter speed to start with at 1/80th and aperture at whatever I feel I need for, again, depth of field. ISO at 400. Test shot and check background exposure... too dark - slow the shutter... too bright - speed it up. If the shutter gets to around 1/40th then it's too slow to avoid camera shake or motion blur so I play with the ISO or... use second curtain synch which is a topic all on it's own ;)

Those two approaches allow one to take great pictures in most situations and I hope they have helped you! I'm no flash master... upping my game recently but the above still applies!
 
Thanks for all that info and advice guys :) Will sit and go through it all stage bu stage and see what I get :)
 
Thanks Mark - will have a look tomorrow :)
 
there's no ettl mode on the flash for use on camera. Manual flash is tricky but at least with digital, learning is easy. and the flashgun appears to have great manual control.

but you might decide to buy an ettl flash for ease. then once you've got used to it, you can break out your current flash to use as a slave.
 
was thinking of doing that Phil :) any suggestions to what model I should try please?
 
mhuk said:
If you'd like to truly fill your head with all things lighting have a look at http://www.strobist.blogspot.co.uk/ :-)
Click to expand...

A GREAT website start on the 101 and you wil learn so much.

Phil V said:
there's no ettl mode on the flash for use on camera. Manual flash is tricky but at least with digital, learning is easy. and the flashgun appears to have great manual control.

but you might decide to buy an ettl flash for ease. then once you've got used to it, you can break out your current flash to use as a slave.
Click to expand...

A good plan, but expensive

carolthomasburns said:
was thinking of doing that Phil :) any suggestions to what model I should try please?
Click to expand...

The other way to start is to:

1) Put the flash on the camera. Set the camera to Manual mode. 1/125th sec shutter, f5.6, iso 200. Set the flash to full power. Take a shot inside of anything, your living room, it really doesn't matter, night time with just a couple of lights on will make the flash effect clearer to see.

If it's too bright back off on the flash power

If it's to dark change to f4 or f3.5 and try again (or move closer to what you are photographing.

This will get you a properly exposed image. Then you can change the settings, bounce the flash and see what happens.

Flash lighting is a HUGE subject and there are loads of lessons to learn, but the recipe above will help you start off.
 
carolthomasburns said:
was thinking of doing that Phil :) any suggestions to what model I should try please?
Click to expand...

It gets tricky because some flashguns aren't compatible with some others even though they've all copied the Canon system and can all be triggered by Canon guns.

It'll take a little research.
 
Thanks Hodders :) am going to try that one and see what happens - technical head will have to be applied this afternoon :/

Thanks Phil - will see what I can find :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top