3 Stooges

[Lance Nelson]

Yesterday I received my very first flash (Canon Speedlite 430ex). So I've been messing around with it quite a bit today to try and learn a few things about it (this is my first time ever using external flash).

This is a shot I did today while I was sitting around the house. Let me know what you think. Pretty much what I did was bounce the flash off of a white piece of paper I had set up against a wall so it would hit the characters. Then in photoshop I made it black and white and added noise and made the photo look weathered.



Here is the original photo also...


And Exif in case anyone wants to see that...

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/16
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/2 EV
Flash: Flash fired

[clockdoc]

The angle of the light makes me think it was bounced off the ceiling and not from the side. Was the flash mounted on the camera's hot shoe? For grins, check the direction of the shadow of the golfer in the background. Bounce the light off the ceiling/wall to the right, if your flash can be redirected, to try to match his shadow if you want to experiment with directional flash. Nice exposure and matching a good background tone. Have fun while learning to use your new flash.

[Lance Nelson]

Now that I think about it, it may have been bounced off the ceiling. I took like 10 different pictures with the flash at different angles. So I can't exactly remember, haha. Oh man, the shadow... I'm glad you pointed that out! I need to find a way to reverse that, hard part is that it's a painting behind it, hmmm... And yes, it was mounted on the hot shoe.

Thanks, Clockdoc!

[clockdoc]

If you have the capability to get the flash off the camera via a cord or a remote means of firing the flash (even by hand using either Bulb or a slow shutter speed) you will find a big difference in your results. EL (ELAY) recently suggested a site called strobist at www.strobist.com . It is dedicated to off-camera flash photography and is an excellent site. I highly recommend a visit even if you just have the one flash unit at this time. Keep experimenting and I'll look forward to future posts.

As for the painting, it may be easier to manipulate the shadows on the wall painting with Photoshop. Change them to match your figures if you feel the need to do so.8-)

[ELAY]

I love the concept, and I have to say that although you did a technically good job on the weathered version, the colour version jumps out at me.

Even if you can't get your flash off-camera yet, you can try your reflector bouncecard trick if you want to reshoot this, to get the shadows aligned.

Good eye Lee on the golfer's shadow.

EL

[Lance Nelson]

I need to look into getting a cable so I can go off camera with the flash.

Thanks for the compliment/idea ELAY!