Flash Advice: Am I right in what I am thinking?!?

[Blebo]

Hi,

Only got my first DSLR a few weeks ago its a canon 1100d. I wish to buy a flash for it as I don't like the harshness of the pop up flash. I would like to cover all the bases with the flash as in the future I want to explore various elements of photography including studio work. I also need to keep the camera user friendly so the wife can point and shoot in auto mode.

I am thereofre thinking about buying the jessops 360 AFD as this has TTL support so the camera will still be point and shoot.

When I then start dabbling in studio stuff etc. Is it just a case of buying some Yongnuo 460's and using them in slave mode to blow backgrounds etc?

I am trying to keep this simple and cost effective as we have a baby on the way who will be my test subject for a lot of my projects so I dont want to waste money by getting things wrong. I also dont want mum missing vital points in life cause the camera isnt point and shoot either..

I hope the above makes sense as I think I am right :shrug:

 

[Blebo]

Bump - My Christmas money is burning a hole in my pocket

 

[Yv]

I have moved this to talk lighting for you, where it will hopefully get you a better response.

In theory what you say is correct, however as I have no experience of either Canon cameras or Jessops flash units, I would probably wait until a more experienced user pops by before splashing the cash, just in case there are any inherent issues this Nikon user would be unaware of

 

[arad85]

I don't like the harshness of the pop up flash

OK. Choice of flash gun aside, the way you reduce this harshness is to diffuse the light source. If you just stick a flash gun on the top of the camera and point it at the subject, you will still get harsh images, even if you pay for the most expensive flash gun in the world.

The way to diffuse the light with a flash gun on the camera is generally by bouncing the light off anything handy (ceilings are a good starting point) to make the light source appear bigger.

Until you go off camera for flash (which clearly starts putting that in the non-auto criteria) you are limited by what you can do creatively.

One tip: light obeys the laws of physics - if you understand how light changes over distance and reflects off surfaces, you'll have a much better idea of how to use it. A good starting point for understanding this is Strobists lighting 101 (http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html) which although deals with off-camera flash a lot, should give you some understanding.

Bottom line: how you use the flash is more important than which gun you use (assuming the gun you use works correctly and consistently). I've only ever used a 580EXII so can only say what that is like, so can't help advise on the Jessops. One thing I would say though is a large flash on top of an 1100D will make it feel like you have something attached to a flash rather than a flashgun attached to the camera....