Basic Noob question

[lazaroonie]

Ok, so I am learning all about exposure and shooting manual. I understand how the TTL light meter 'decides' when I am underexposing and over exposing, and how I modify the Aperture and/or shutter speed, and or ISO to make sure I get the right exposure.

so all is good.

my question is what happens when you introduce a flash into the equation ? If a scene is too dark to shoot in natural light, how do you know what to set the aperture/shutter speed to, bearing in mind that the flash is going to brighten the scene somewhat. Is it just trial and error. ?

 

[GFWilliams]

The flash is just a burst of light, I would recommend that you stick your camera and flash to manual and experiment, It's how I learnt.

It is trial and error to begin with, but once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy!

If I was say shooting an evening event (such as a night club) I would probably use a small burst of flash, and a slow shutter speed with a fast apparture and highish ISO.

HTH

 

[who?]

Basically the flash is very brigh instant light - your shutter speed will have no effect on the light from the flash (other than it needs to be less than the camera sync speed-ie the speed at which the camera shutter and the flash work at the same time - typically less than 1/200th. Read up on your own camera. If you find the flash is not having an effect then it is going off when the shutter is not open)

So you control the light from the flash with the aperture. The aperture and shutter speed settings will get oyou your background exposure, and the flash and the aperture will get you your foreground (or flashed) exposure.

As said, try experimentation to check results. Generally the flash light will overwhelm the ambient light and freeze any action.

Are you using built in flash, on camera flash, off camera flash, etc?

If you do some reading there are a lot of threads here discussing this.

 

[specialman]

Read your camera manual. Manufacturers produce great, easy-to-follow advice to go with cameras and flashes so that'd be my starting point.

Flash is a huge subject and like Who? has said, there is a plethora of subjects that have been covered in this section. Unfortunately, flash photography is a bit like that question, how long is a piece of string? There are so many variables involved.

Read your manual and play around with your built-in flash to get a basic understanding of what's happening and then move on from there.

Also, check out www.strobist.com - it might be a bit advanced for you but it's nonetheless pretty much the best flash photography (strobism!!) site on the internet.

 

[lazaroonie]

thanks to all for taking the time to reply.

The section in my manual (400d) relating to flash is pretty limited. I also have a dedicated flash unit which I am interested in using.

so what you are saying basically is if we are taking a shot in poor light, we should expose for the background, and the flash will light up the foreground. To get the foreground well lit we should experiment with the flash position/bounce and also the sync speed.

does that sounds reasonable ?

 

[LJR]

so what you are saying basically is if we are taking a shot in poor light, we should expose for the background, and the flash will light up the foreground. To get the foreground well lit we should experiment with the flash position/bounce and also the sync speed.

does that sounds reasonable ?

Yes. That's about the crux of it. You are using the flash to light your subject how you want it/him/her. The aperture you set will have quite a bearing on what power you set your flash to. The shutter speed duration should be set to be long enough to expose more of the background and surrounding area - depending on what you're trying to achieve.

At least if this is incorrect then you and I share a misunderstanding lol