Portable Flash accessories for best results?

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dancook

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I have a 600XT, and so far I've been bouncing it off the ceiling to achieve results like these.


IMG_5324 by dancook1982, on Flickr


IMG_4724 by dancook1982, on Flickr

I have been reading up about flash and the way to diffuse it, and also positioning. I think in the circumstances above when I'm at friend's party or work christmas party I probably wouldn't be carrying an umbrella or flash stand.

I've seen some options,

hand held flash with a diffuser
flash bracket to position it higher
ring light diffuser
soft box diffuser

Any suggestions? Thanks
 
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There are also a lot of different type of bounce cards to suit all kinds of flashes.:thumbs:
 
jockwav said:
There are also a lot of different type bounce cards to suit all kinds of flashes.:thumbs:
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The flash has a small bounce card built in, however when the camera is in portrait it's not pointing the right way anymore.

I saw a video where a guy made a bounce card, and demonstrated it - but not in portrait ... so what's the deal here?
 
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Have a look at the Lumiquest Quik Bounce. Just the job for that kind of situation, works for portrait framing too http://store.lumiquest.com/lumiquest-quik-bounce/ More versatile than most, works outdoors too. Best single flash accessory out there IMHO. For simple indoor flash situations like that a Stofen diffuser cap also works well, similar to the built-in bounce card.

All these things work in basically the same way and results are highly dependent on the environment - main light is soft from the ceiling/wall, with a dash of direct fill-in light to lift shadows under eyes and chins.

Technique #2 is to drop the shutter speed to pull in some ambient light to the background in larger rooms, and #3 is to use a light orange CTO gel to balance the flash to the colour of the ambient.

Shoot on Av and the camera sorts the exposures, then adjust flash brightness with +/- compensation on the gun (adjusts power) and moderate the background brightness with +/- comp on the camera (adjusts shutter speed). Lots of control that way, very fast and easy :thumbs:
 
Both interesting, that LQ ceiling doors are quite clever. Also I see how these can solve the landscape->portrait issue.

Would you keep the flash on camera as a compromise for portability?
 
I'm still training myself to do this, but I think the best bet with a modern camera with on camera flash is to always shoot landscape and crop to suit. It avoids most of the disadvantages of shooting with on camera flash portrait orientation. Giving more consistent results.

The other option is a flash bracket of course.
 
I have seen people talking about fitting the reflector to the narrow side of the rectanglar shape of the flash head and when you shoot portrait you turn the flash head 90degrees and then using the bounce angle its pointing upwards again. This you tube videos show what I mean. (sorry about it being a sales promo but this is not easy to explain in words. :shrug: )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYkFgguq_jg
 
dancook said:
Both interesting, that LQ ceiling doors are quite clever. Also I see how these can solve the landscape->portrait issue.

Would you keep the flash on camera as a compromise for portability?
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Yes, leave the flash on-camera. Makes everything 100% easier. The important thing is the light comes from off-camera, ie ceiling/wall, from above, and is much softer because of the larger light area.

The direct fill-in component actually looks okay on-axis and the extra height of the LQ Quik Bounce helps to put any shadows cast lower behind the subject. Quik Bounce is very easy to use for portrait/vertical framing, though you do lose some of the height. You can also moderate the ratio of bounce-to-fill by zooming the flash head - max zoom will put about another stop out of the top and therefore one stop less from the front, a ratio of 4:1 - handy for higher ceilings, or use the wide-panel in small rooms to reduce the fill-in ratio.

Outdoors things are much harder, with no bounce surfaces to help out. Use a short cord and hold the flash up in your left hand, Quik Bounce fitted to soften the light a little. QB works quite well outdoors, especially as it doesn't waste precious light out of the back and sides. I use it a lot for fill-in in bright sun, with high speed sync.
 
I'm watching the video, and I'm loving the idea off camera flash.

So I'd need to either hold it, use a bracket or a stand. Then I need to either use a cable, or a wireless trigger. Since it's a 600xt I could just get another 600xt to control it...

and it's getting expensive hah..
 
dancook said:
I'm watching the video, and I'm loving the idea off camera flash.

So I'd need to either hold it, use a bracket or a stand. Then I need to either use a cable, or a wireless trigger. Since it's a 600xt I could just get another 600xt to control it...

and it's getting expensive hah..
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What gun have you got? A 600EX or (hopefully) a 600EX-RT? Get an ST-E3 remote controller for that.

Great flash system, but expensive yes.

Edit: Syl Arena is good. Lots of good lighting stuff on that video link, though not much about specific modifiers. His book is also excellent, Speedliter's Handbook, covers everything really for Canon users and easy to read :thumbs:
 
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HoppyUK said:
What gun have you got? A 600EX or (hopefully) a 600EX-RT? Get an ST-E3 remote controller for that.

Great flash system, but expensive yes.

Edit: Syl Arena is good. Lots of good lighting stuff on that video link, though not much about specific modifiers. His book is also excellent, Speedliter's Handbook, covers everything really for Canon users and easy to read :thumbs:
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600EX-RT - didn't know there was a non-RT, it's only £357.95 v £209.99 - is it not worth investing a bit more to have another flash on camera which can control both?
 
dancook said:
600EX-RT - didn't know there was a non-RT, it's only £357.95 v £209.99 - is it not worth investing a bit more to have another flash on camera which can control both?
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Absolutely, though 600RT is a big lump if you only need the master controller functions.

If you want to take both guns off camera you'd need another master but a good way around that is to use a cord for the nearest gun which can then still act as a master that way. You can get them up to 10m.

Then you're into some seriously strobist stuff, which is brilliant, no looking back. It's the difference between creating pictures and merely recording them - or decoumentary vs pictorial as Syl calls it in the vid :thumbs: Get his book, and learn about light - that's the key, the kit just makes things easier.
 
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thanks, I have ordered the book - I've ordered the Lumiquest Quik Bounce for now - since I already bought an mp-e and mt-24ex flash this month!

I'll give it a bit longer before buy more gear:)
 
Any recommendations on a TTL cord? that I can just play with hand held off camera flash? seems like a cheap/portable way to try it out.
 
dancook said:
thanks, I have ordered the book - I've ordered the Lumiquest Quik Bounce for now - since I already bought an mp-e and mt-24ex flash this month!

I'll give it a bit longer before buy more gear:)
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That's quite enough for five minutes :eek:

Though the Quick Bounce is as good as it gets with on-camera accessories, the problem is always the compromise between what's best and what's practical. I have a flash bracket modified to take two guns and a softbox, and it works brilliantly I have to say, almost a studio on legs, but it's a very heavy and cumbersome thing. Attracts plenty of attention, mostly laughter.

Have to emphasise the learning about light part. Just spending money won't get you far without it. Key basics:

- The larger the light source, the softer the shadows. Size is relative to distance, eg a big light moved back gets harder.

- Light falls off rapidly with distance, basically following the inverse square law that says double the distance equals one quarter the brightness. That's a drop of two stops, which is a lot.

- Light bounces off a surface at the same angle it strikes, like a snooker ball off the cushion.

PS Any E-TTL dedicated flash cord should be fine. A short coiled one is ideal for just hand holding the gun, get a straight un-coiled one for longer lengths.
 
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jockwav said:
This video i have just watched,its about 1hr.3/4 long but well worth the watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5byuHJ9uBns
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Thanks for that link. The Speedliters Handbook referenced by HoppyUK is a great resource not just for Canon users as there is plenty about flash & lighting fundamentals. The one thing that won't find favour with keen Strobists is that Syl Arena is a big fan of E-TTL flash & letting the flash gun & camera do all the calculations which doesn't find favour with those who insist that Real Men Do It Manually:)
 
nigelbb said:
Thanks for that link. The Speedliters Handbook referenced by HoppyUK is a great resource not just for Canon users as there is plenty about flash & lighting fundamentals. The one thing that won't find favour with keen Strobists is that Syl Arena is a big fan of E-TTL flash & letting the flash gun & camera do all the calculations which doesn't find favour with those who insist that Real Men Do It Manually:)
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The smart shooter uses both auto and manual.

The big advantage of auto-TTL flash is speed - it will get you a decent exposure first time. And in situations where distance is changing unpredictably shot to shot, there's just no way that anyone can keep up with that in manual. You can also shoot E-TTL/manual, using the system's on-camera controls but to set the output manually.

However, in situations with maybe a couple or more remote guns, set up speed is mostly irrelevant and you usually have plenty of control over what's happening. In that case, when you don't want E-TTL to make any slight auto adjustments just because of normal movement happening within the set (which is quite likely) you want to lock the exposure and full manual is the easiest way of doing that.
 
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