first use of flash guns

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gembobs

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Hi Guys,

I am after some advice on using a flash gun, I have never used one before and it seems like a minefield when I have no clue what I am talking about. I have done a search, but still unsure what I should go fo!

We are having our marriage blessed this summer in my husbands village in Botswana. It doesn't sound like we will be having a pro tog (not worried, we already have wedding photos), but I would like to have some nice / semi decent shots when I get back to the UK to show family and friends who couldn't make it, and I know a flash will help with this.

I have seen that FITP is selling some for £54 - this says it has TTL and M modes, which I am assuming is full auto and manual, and from reading around the TTL doesn't have a pre flash (or 1st flash), as that is E-TTL - am I getting this correct?

Would it be possible to attach this flash to my 40D in Av, and hand it to someone (whom I trust!), who could then go around and snap away with the flash firing at the correct power for the shot (or near enough)? Do I need a flash that has E-TTL in poor light (the lights will be powered by generator as there is no mains electric at the village)

I don't really want to spend too much on this as I am mainly into landscape and wildlife rather than portraits, so I am hoping this flash will do!

Thanks in advance
 
I think you're right, there is no pre-flash with TTL.

I no nothing about a FITP, and use Canon flashes. I'd suspect that the cheapest Canon flash would be better, just because it has E-TTL, which makes things more idiot proof.

When shooting at night events in low light, with flash, I always use a high ISO, despite the flash - and camera in manual mode. This means that the dim lighting has a chance to burn in, and you don't end up with people looking like cardboard cut outs against a black background.

So, for example, ISO 800, 1/60 sec, f/5.6 with flash in E-TTL.

Enable high ISO noise reduction on the camera, that way the stored JPEGs will already have it applied, and saves you having to apply noise reduction to 200 photos later on.
 
I would suggest that whatever flash you get, make sure you get plenty of practice with it before heading out to Botswana. Knowing how the flash works under different conditions will mean you are enjoying your marriage blessing rather than if the photos are going to come out.

Take a look at the Strobist website. There is loads of info there about using flash including a couple of posts about balancing flash / ambient light
 
I was full of the same sort of questions before i got my flash (YN-465). The best thing to do is just buy the flash and have a play and you'll soon get a feel for it. It's actually not as hard as you think it is. Having read around on the internet first it took me about 10-20 shots to get the hang of manual. E-TTL is a lot more complicated for me to understand and i still don't really understand what it does fully.

The YN-465 has E-TTL mode and it works quite well, but i usually have mine in manual. There is no preflash in TTL mode, just a little burst of infra red for focusing in low light. That also works well.

Handing the camera over on manual is a risk as the exposure will change with focal length and position of the shot relative to any ambient light, but if you have the camera set to shoot in TTL and RAW you can fine tune the exposure if needs be. As far as i'm aware though, setting it to TTL mode and AV will just provide fill-flash as the camera will meter for ambient. someone who knows more about TTL will be able to explain this a bit better than me. With manual you will be able to fully illuminate your subject (you!) but if your friend is going to be using it then maybe it's not such a good idea!

The YN-465, with its E-TTL mode would be a good choice.

P.S - depending on what the generator lights are going to be (tungsten, flourescent) you'll need to adjust the white balance in camera and MATCH the flash to it using a gel. otherwise you'll have the ambient as one colour and the flash as another and there's nothing you can do about it in post-processing. strobist, (as mentioned above) "lighting 101" explains this well.
 
Thanks for the advice guys!

Been reading around the web this evening, and had realised that the YN-465 is E-TTL, so I will be getting that in the coming weeks (monday is payday, so may treat myself!)

I was planning on shooting in raw anyway so I can alter things if need be, but hadn't thought about the colour balance with the lighting - could this be got around by using something like a lightsphere or a diffuser / bounce card to put more ambient soft light on the subject?

I think during the day (when the blessing will actually take place) fill flash will be sufficient, at night, well, I will play around, but will still be happy - as at worst an external flash will give more reach than the built in one, and TBH any photo taken this way will be better than a point and shoot image.

Starting to seriously think about off camera flash too. I have an old Centon FG30 which my grandad gave me. I used it on my 40D twice to see if it worked, then found out it could fry my camera (it is fine), so I haven't touched it since. I am thinking with a convertable brolly, a lightstand, and maybe some triggers and / or a cable (I am wondering if my old flash will fry the triggers), I would have a pretty versatile 2 strobe set up to get me started on the world on strobes / off camera flash.

We will be going up north on safari too with my parents, so will be spending evenings sat outside, and I think with the off camera flash set up, could get some really nice shots with the ambient natural light and fill effect, and also nights sat around any fires.

I am starting to think my family are going to hate me! :bonk:
 
I've just had a play with the FITP Yong-Nuo 465 in question, in a fairly dark room, with two single lamp light sources and a wooden chair as the subject.

AV mode and TTL WILL NOT WORK IF ITS FAIRLY DARK, because the camera meters for the ambient light. In this case the ambient light wasn't much so it's giving a 1 second plus exposure with a bit of fill-flash. the result is a blurred pic with an orange hue (my desk lamp gives out an orange light). The camera is opening the shutter until it has all the ambient light it needs and the flash is secondary. if the ambient is a dirty orange street light then that's the colour of the resulting photo.

Better for your friend would be to set the camera to TV mode and set the shutter speed to 1/80 or 1/100 with TTL and flash pointing at the subject and let him fire away. this way there are no long exposures and blurry pics. you just have to choose the ISO, which will determine the strength of the ambient exposure (400 is a fair starting point), the camera will choose the aperture (probably wide open if light is low) and TTL will choose the flash power.

think about if you want the flash pointing directly towards the subject or if you can bounce it off a wall/ceiling, as bounce-fill is more flattering. If you're friend is feeling brave, set your camera to manual and 1/100 shutter speed, choose the aperture you think is safe (only you know this depending on the location and how much DOF you'll need) and show your friend how to adjust the flash power and how to use the swivel head. This way he might be able to bounce it off the ceiling or perhaps adjust the power
depending on what focal length he's using.

you have to remember that the flash and the ambient are two separate exposures. Get yourself a flash and read the strobist "lighting 101" on balancing flash and ambient and all will become clear.
 
oh, and about the white-balance. Auto - WB should be fine. If at night the only ambient is from the generators, find out what sort of light it is and gel your flash to suit. i think CTO gels (colour temperature orange) are for tungsten and greenish gels are for fluorescent tube lighting. if the lights are white-ish in temperature (ie not orange and NOT fluorescent), don't worry about it. If the ambient is a beautiful Botswanan sunset then you're sorted ;)

just to add an afterthought, the beauty of manual is that you can set the flash power as low as you like for some very subtle flash/ambient balancing. couple that with a softbox and a sunset and you'll have some great portraits of friends and family. the only problem is that everyone will want you to take their picture, which is sometimes a PITA, especially if you just want to relax and have a beer :)
 
dan-marsh said:
I no nothing about a FITP, and use Canon flashes.
Click to expand...

FITP is Flash In The Pan. He is an advertiser on the Forum. HERE is his thread. He sells 3rd party flashes.
 
Thanks for the advice Bomberman, it will all be taken on board when I get the flash to play around with. I have a feeling that many of the night time shots will be outdoors or in a tent, so will probably have to buy / make (?) a bounce card.

Strobist 101 is already bookmarked!

Going to have plenty to learn, but my husband has agreed to be a willing model for me!
 
I think there is some misunderstanding of how auto-TTL flash works - it always fires a pre-flash. You can't see it as it goes off immediately before the main flash so quickly the eye can't separate the two, but it's always there. The camera needs the pre-flash to work out the exposure and set the power output.

If you put the camera on P and the flash on auto-TTL, that is as close to foolproof point-and-shoot as you can get. The camera will moderate the shutter speed as best it can to balance with the ambient light, but (unlike Av) on a 40D it will not go longer than 1/60sec to avoid those blurry ambient light backgrounds. It just lets the background go dark instead.

If you want to balance flash and ambient exposures, use Av but watch out for movement with long shutter speeds. Also, the background will tend to go orange and this can look a bit strange compared to the clean whites of the foreground flash exposure, so that is when you would fit a CTO gel and set the white balance to tungsten, or do a custom white balance.
 
I think I am following you Hoppy, but as it is late, and I have been reading loads on using flash all night, my head is starting to spin!

I am hoping to order the flashgun next week, and will start to have a play with the basics of on camera flash.

Thanks for all the advice - got loads to think about!
 
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