Quick Help Please.... Flash Query...

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DaydreamJay

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Jason
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Help! I am a novice but improving. The barmaid from my local has just messaged me to ask if I'd like to go out and take some photos of her this afternoon in a local poppy field. This was quite unexpected and as she is HOT I am not going to turn her down.

Unfortunately I have only just purchased my flash unit - a Pentax AF360FGZ and I have no clue how to use it. Yes I have read the manual and I am still no wiser - I would have more chance of landing a space shuttle safely than operating this thing.

As it's a really sunny day I have read that you are supposed to use fill flash to get rid of ugly shadows in portraits. Can someone give me a brief overview on how to get my flash to do this? I have a Samsung GX20 which is basically a Pentax K20D. I shoot on manual mode usually and I am presuming that the flash will not fire as it will not realise that it is needed due to the sunlight.

I am picking her up in an hour.... any advice most gatefully received... :lol:
 
Hey! They don't call me tripod for nothing!

I'll be checking back to this thread periodically to see if anyone can help - I'll post pics later.
 
Well as we get pics later- it might be worth giving some advice ;) Use flash compensation, set at approx -2, as you only want it to fill some of the shadows. Its really trial and error- well for me anyway :)
 
What aligibbs said really, it's a bit trial and error and a few test shots will help you understand what's going on.

As you're adding more light into the shot you need to underexpose to compensate for this, with the weather we've got at the moment a reflector might be a useful alternative but I'm guessing there's no time to aquire one and by the sound of it you'd rather someone else wasn't there to hold it! ;)

Good luck with both the pics and the girl - we'll await the pics later.
 
Here is one of the pics I got today. It was a real struggle to be honest - the flash was firing buit I had no idea how to adjust it's intensity, I didn't know whether I did it on the camera or on the flash itself.

As you can see there is still a big shadow on her face - but given that it is caused by the hat do you think that it is an acceptable amount of shadow? Or should there be no shadow at all?

Thanks,

28481_418627616312_588166312_4456766_3275561_n.jpg
 
For someone who had no idea what to do 20 minutes before that's not bad :lol: :thumbs:

The shadows (and the dots of light coming through her hat onto her face) are very distracting though, ideally you want to get the flash off the camera and/or use a reflector to illuminate her face properly...
 
For me the shadow caused by wearing the hat is a problem. Did you take any photos without the hat? If so the piccys may be great.

I must admit I haven't took a photograph of a person /people for a very long time and going through an unpleasant experience at the moment, so I may be talking crap. However, if I had seen this post earlier I would have advised you to use AP/AV @ f4 @ ISO 100/200 considering the weather and TTL on the flash.

Then again, if it was me doing the shoot, I would have metered for the sky and used both manual flash (with a bit of trial and error) and ETTL, perhaps with some flash compensation applied and off camera. But I do have PW's to try this and perhaps you don't?
I would have also tried some shots with my relector and no flash.
 
Yeah Nigel - I'd have done all that too if I had the foggiest idea what you are talking about :lol:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
For someone who had no idea what to do 20 minutes before that's not bad :lol: :thumbs:

The shadows (and the dots of light coming through her hat onto her face) are very distracting though, ideally you want to get the flash off the camera and/or use a reflector to illuminate her face properly...
Click to expand...

Do you mean putting the flash on a tripod? And the reflecting it off something onto her face? Does that have a better effect than it being directly onto her face?
 
Best thing for you would be to read the Strobist 101. There's LOADS of information on there to get you going with your flash, suggest starting from the beginning it's VERY detailed but if you follow it through it'll make sense.

The part for this photoshoot thought will probably be the balancing flash with ambient section. But definately worth reading it all to get some great shots :)

http://strobist.blogspot.com/
 
As a very rough guide to Jason for flash, it's really quite simple once you get the hang of it. Yes, it's a bit pf trial and error.

Shoot in manual mode, this allows you to change the aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

The shutter speed needs to be below/or the maximum sync speed for the flash (which is usually 200 or 250 of a second).

Use the aperture to control how much light is let in (of course, this alters the Depth of Field too), Depending on the situation, something around f9 or f11 (just have a play until it works!)

I use a Jessops 360AFD flash, and the only two things I control are the power (intensity), usually you get options such as full power, 1/2, 1/4, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64 etc... you'll find that if you're shooting in bright conditions that you will usually want to shoot on full power, to counteract the sun. The other thing to control is the zoom. some flashes go from 24-85 (I think mine does) others go from 16-200!

So, that's a brief guide of flash, I'm no pro so if I'm wrong please tell me :-)
 
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