Just one speedlight?

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rob13

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I got myself a 430EXII for Christmas, but aside from fill flash on portraits outdoors and the occasional indoor shot (on shoe), I am struggling to think of what else to do/how to use it.

I've had a look at Strobist but dont really know where to start!

Is there some kind of necessary item I need to buy to start getting results with one speedlight (please dont say 2 speedlights!) such as brolly, diffuser or stand?
 
A manner for triggering the flash, such an off camera cord, or wireless triggers is the main thing you will need. A stand will make like a lot easier, and then umbrellas, soft boxes etc will allow you to get creative with the light :)

Flash in the Pan on the Advertisers section of the For Sale sells some great stuff :)
 
grab a set of rf 602s and start playing :D

or maybe pick up a konig stand from 7day shop, a brolly adaptor manfrotto) and a dual duty brolly (mines calumet) :D

then read lighting 101 while you play
 
As above. Or even easier, right now, point flash straight up and fit a little bounce card with a rubber band. See here www.abetterbouncecard.com Many guns have one built in, but yours doesn't.

Try the same shot with flash direct, then bounced off the ceiling, then bounced with the card attached, and compare. Third one will look really nice :thumbs:

Post them up here ;)
 
also two things to try out are smoke photography and the ever so popular water droplets, the only lighting neccessary is a lamp and a flash for the smoke photo's and then just a flash for the water droplets. easiest way to get flash off camera would be a cord and some i have seen on eBay that are 30M long:eek:
 
Although I've got a 580EX II the principle is the same. Start learning about on camera bounce flash as I've managed to produce some very respectable pictures using this. Bounce it off the ceiling, off the wall behind, to the left of you, to the right of you, and also try using a small bit of white card attached to the flash head with a laccy band as a catchlight thingy.

Then when you feel you have stretched your legs enough with that, contact flash in the pan on here for triggers, brolly or softbox, and an adaptor to connect the light stand (from Amazon) to this kit which will include a cold shoe for your speedlite, then start playing with off camera flash.

It was a bit hit and miss for me but the people on here helped me out loads (some have posted here so thanks again), and finally got the hang of it. It's a great learning experience!
 
You can produce some stunning stuff with just one flash, just get it off camera. Try little things like getting some gels and shoot using an orange gel with the camera on tungsten. Use a green gel on the flash and a purple one in front of your lens..........

A cord or radio trigger allows you to get all kinds of creative. :)
 
If you are new to this a TTL cord would be a good start too.
Gives you the opportunity to have the flash off camera a little!
Enough to get a more pleasing result etc. for portraits.
I'm sure I saw a post somewhere mentioning a really long cable too!?

Worth a play to get you thinking!
 
Rob13, you can do all sorts with just one light:

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Just get yourself a triggering system (here) and set your flash to manual and you're set to go. You can make your own diffusers out of bits of paper and cardboard, tights, greaseproof paper etc...
 
yep you can do great stuff with just one flash. a way of getting it off camera (a cord or trigger) should be the first thing, secondly get or make a reflector. pretty much an instant 2nd light!

agree with the above on diying your light modifiers for the moment, though id buy a cheap stand and umbrella. you'll be suprised how effective home made snoots,doors and grids can be.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys, is the RF602 fitted to the camera to allow wireless flash firing?

I was looking at getting a cheap diffuser and a bounce card.

I have actually acquired a pretty old Nissin Flash with some kind of wireless trigger which goes off when the master fires. I'll keep it to one side for the moment to master using one before going to 2.
 
MartinM said:
If you are new to this a TTL cord would be a good start too.
Gives you the opportunity to have the flash off camera a little!
Enough to get a more pleasing result etc. for portraits.
I'm sure I saw a post somewhere mentioning a really long cable too!?

Worth a play to get you thinking!
Click to expand...

yeah that was me, i found a 30M cable on ebay (or it might of actually been 30ft) for something like £35
 
Have a look at the planetneil website, Neil van Neikerk does some great stuff with one flash on camera by bouncing and flagging.
 
icecavern said:
But he uses a bare bulb not a standard speedlight.

Pete
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Spoilsport! :D I don't think the end result would be that different if you were to use a diffuser - as the unit is masked by her legs, the incredibly small point source of a bulb or a slightly larger point source of a diffuser wouldn't make that much difference. Although you've got me intruiged now :)
 
tfboy said:
Indeed.

Zach Arias does full length high key portraits with just one light! http://www.zarias.com/?p=91

<snip image>

OK, he does have reflectors, and a few other modifiers to get the result, but still, only one little flash!
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It's an interesting technical excersise, but actually rather a lot of effort to get a dull and unattractive result in terms of lighting the model.
 
I know. You wouldn't do it like that by choice :) But I guess it's just an example to show what you can do with just one light.

I agree that the money and effort spent on getting that result from one light would be better spend getting more lights and giving you a better end picture anyway :D
 
tfboy said:
Spoilsport! :D I don't think the end result would be that different if you were to use a diffuser - as the unit is masked by her legs, the incredibly small point source of a bulb or a slightly larger point source of a diffuser wouldn't make that much difference. Although you've got me intruiged now :)
Click to expand...

It makes a big difference, you get a lot more light out of the bare bulb than a diffused speedlight ;)
 
mastertrinity said:
yeah that was me, i found a 30M cable on ebay (or it might of actually been 30ft) for something like £35
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30m....that's 90 feet :lol::lol: I think you mean 10m/33ft, I'm pretty sure there's someone in the UK that sells them, if only I could remember who it was.......
 
Flash In The Pan said:
30m....that's 90 feet :lol::lol: I think you mean 10m/33ft, I'm pretty sure there's someone in the UK that sells them, if only I could remember who it was.......
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Theres a chap on here called Flash in the Pan, I am sure he sells them.........Have you heard of him?
 
Flash In The Pan said:
30m....that's 90 feet :lol::lol: I think you mean 10m/33ft, I'm pretty sure there's someone in the UK that sells them, if only I could remember who it was.......
Click to expand...

How much?:)
 
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