I've heard many extol the virtues of off camera flash, but this mostly pertains to studio work. Does this also apply to just holding the flash away from your body as well? I have started taking portraits at events, but only with a flash mounted on my hotshoe. Will a small, bare, manual flash held away from me at arms length get me better results? The sunpak flash I'm thinking of getting weighs just under 4 ounces and is tiny. Despite this it allows for manual power output up to 1/16. What does everyone think?
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Off Camera Flash Question
- Thread starter Krichton
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Are you able to bounce it? If not what else are you doing for softening? That'll make more difference than the position changing by a few feet.*
*direct bare flash at arms length will produce uglier shadows than on camera.
In essence, getting your flash off camera is only a good thing if you're actually making a light that suits your purpose.
*direct bare flash at arms length will produce uglier shadows than on camera.
In essence, getting your flash off camera is only a good thing if you're actually making a light that suits your purpose.
I believe the flash has a wide angle diffuser built in, but that's it. I recently bought a used canon 550ex, which weighs about 18 ounces with batteries, and if I can't bounce I'm uncertain what purpose a flash like this serves at an event.
This is what the flash looks like.
http://www.sunpak.jp/english/products/pf20xd/img/photo.jpg
This is what the flash looks like.
http://www.sunpak.jp/english/products/pf20xd/img/photo.jpg
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There are many guides for Off - camera flash on the internet etc. One effect of having the flash camera on the body and forward facing is "red eye" when the person is looking directly toward the camera. Shadows are also very noticable with a bare flash gun when not diffused or bounced, as is image appearing very flat.
At events then you may not be in a position to bounce the flash, I would suggest defusing the flash or not getting to close, this will unfortunately force the flash output to high with the resultant exhausting of batteries and slower recycling time.
At events then you may not be in a position to bounce the flash, I would suggest defusing the flash or not getting to close, this will unfortunately force the flash output to high with the resultant exhausting of batteries and slower recycling time.
DG Phototraining
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Hmmm - I often use my speedlights bare and held at arms length at Weddings, I never diffuse them even when on stands some feet away - must be doing something wrong then 
But as has been said - hit YouTube for tutorials,then once you think you've got it - come back and ask again. What may take pages of posts to explain and still confuse can often be so simply said face-to-face, and YouTube is as close as you'll get for now
Dave
But as has been said - hit YouTube for tutorials,then once you think you've got it - come back and ask again. What may take pages of posts to explain and still confuse can often be so simply said face-to-face, and YouTube is as close as you'll get for now
Dave
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Same here - I find having it offset just that bit makes a nice difference - go too far and it will leave harsh shadows of course, but a little offset helps.Hmmm - I often use my speedlights bare and held at arms length at Weddings, I never diffuse them even when on stands some feet away - must be doing something wrong then
Hmmm - I often use my speedlights bare and held at arms length at Weddings, I never diffuse them even when on stands some feet away - must be doing something wrong then
But as has been said - hit YouTube for tutorials,then once you think you've got it - come back and ask again. What may take pages of posts to explain and still confuse can often be so simply said face-to-face, and YouTube is as close as you'll get for now
Dave
Tutorials on youtube will not cover the technique I'm talking about. If they do it's buried among all those videos somewhere. What is your suggestion for how far away the flash should generally be from the camera?
Fairly powerful for it's size I think.
DG Phototraining
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Firstly its a question of what lighting pattern you want on the subject, then composition determines where you can put the flash in terms of distance away as generally you don't want it in shot - so if its a wide shot it has to be quite a way from the subject, but in a head & shoulders it can/should be just out of shot to give softer lighting
Where the flash is relative to you purely depends on the lighting pattern and how wide the shot is. For a close head shot you could hold it just a couple of foot above the camera and get a Butterfly pattern, or off to one side for Loop (unless you have arms like an Orang-utan you'll not get as far as Rembrandt still holding the flash). I sometimes use my speedlights on an extension cord to still give me TTL flash metering, the flash is then no more than 6ft from the camera either on a stand or held by someone else
HTH
Dave
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A gn of 20* isn't what I'd describe as fairly powerful.
More power and flexibility is available for not tons of money.
20m at f1, 5m at f1.4, 1.25m at f2 at ISO 100, you're realistically looking at 800iso to keep it usable when a gun with a gn of 58 is a similar price.
If I'm just standing a few feet away then it should be more than enough. Even the pop up flash is more than enough in that situation. At the moment I don't have any working triggers, and I don't have a sync cord, so I've held off on the purchase. Not to mention I also have no one to experiment on even if I do get it.
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Given the comments above that for ISO 100, you would need f/1 at 1m distance, you would be encroaching on personal space using this flash for anything other than a catchlight. A cheap wireless trigger or flash cord could be gotten for £10 if necessary,
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Cough 20m cough.
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I can't even blame the drink. I knew it was wrong when I read it, but I just couldn't see anything other than 1m.
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Still doesn't make it what I'd call usable, that damned inverse square law and then a modifier. Consider the recycle times and there's just so many better options.