Exposing for ambient lighting

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rob13

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Rob
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I'm very new to this strobist game, and will be investing in some triggers/receivers and a cord to get off camera flash. I'm also looking to get an Omni-bounce, making my own snoot and grid and acquiring some gels.

My setup is a 40D, 430EXII and I have also acquired a Nissin 360 TW with optical trigger attached. Now rather than jump in with two feet using the two strobes, I want to learn how to use one properly first....

So, going back to the original title, exposing for ambient lighting in a room.
Say I metered for the room and it gave me F5.6 at 1/50 at ISO400, to get ambient lighting could I just use the exposure compensation to drop it down a couple of stops or should I alter the aperture or shutter settings? Alternatively, do I just keep the metered settings for non-flash and adjust the flash strength accordingly e.g 1/2 power?
 
Meter for the ambient light, dial in -EV of whatever value in camera and then dial in +EV in the flash (or flash compensation in camera if you still have E-TTL communication).

Remember that the -EV in camera is a global adjustment to the image, where as +EV in the flash is local to the area the flash lighting is going to hit. Its trial and error to get the balance of ambient and flash right, but just like cooking a curry - add a little bit of light at a time and adjust to taste. :)
 
Aperature controls Flash light, Shutter controls ambient light. to quote mr Zak Arias

Expose using aperature, then adjust the shutter for more or less ambient light

Or at least thats how i'm going to do it
 
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