Where to Start... Flash Photography!

captures.in.time

captures.in.time

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I've always relied on natural light in my photography... but I do have a hotshoe flash which I bought on a whim years ago to use for some daylight fill in... and I think it's about all it's good for... but maybe I just dont know how to use it! It's a 220EX and I have an EOS 5d mkI.

I generally shoot landscapes, days out here or there and travel photography... but im doing a 52 and want to do stuff in the house like still life, water drops etc... I'd love to do macro too but need a lens and I've got my eye on the 70-300mmISL before I buy macro...

But if you could give me any tips on where to start using a flash and indeed the one i've got rather than buy another I'd be greatful!

In case you dont know the 220EX just seems to be a bit bigger pop up type flash for EOS cameras that dont have a pop up flash... you cant bounce!

Oh and what is high speed sync?

Please help a flash newbie!!!

Mark
 
Hi Mark,

Also a newbie to flash, infact all things photography :lol:

I came across this forum (hope thats ok to post Mods/Admin?) and found it a good starter point.

There are some books of course which no doubt will soon be recommended. I did find that post helpful (for me) at least.


Andy
 
I would buy a different flash, one without a fixed head so you can bounce off ceiling and walls. A jessops 360 PERHAPS IF BUDGET dOESN'T ALLOW A USED 430 EX OS 550 EX ETC.

HSS is commononly used when you need fill-in flash in bright weather. Without HSS turned on the Shutter speed sync at 1/250, this speed may be too low in sunny conditions. The reason for using flash in bright sunny wheather is to lift shadows from people's faces.
 
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I'm in the same position as you. I'm looking at flashguns to buy and was wondering whether a Yongnuo would do the job in comparison to the expensive Nikons or Metz flashguns.
 
Ah... I thought High speed sync would be something to do with the flash syncing with the shutter ... are the likes of a jessops gun any good???
 
Ok for the money, but not as good as the 5550 and 580's I have. They will do TTL with your camera, but I can't remember if they can do HSS
 
Hoppy UK has a better explanation for HSS on your other thread. He's very good with great advice. :thumbs: (Sync with a mk1 is 1/200th,nnot 1'250 as I said ;) )
 
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You need high speed sync for flash on faster shutter speeds because of the way the shutters work. To get faster shutter speeds, the second curtain starts to close before the first has even fully opened. As shutter speed increases, you get essentially a narrow slit moving very quickly across the sensor, exposing each part of the sensor only very briefly.

This is a problem, because a flash is typically much faster than the shutter speed - think of the burst of light from a flash as instantaneous, when compared to the shutter movement. So down to approx 1/250th of a second, you're ok because the shutter is fully open at some point and so the flash goes off at the point that the sensor is fully exposed. Beyond 1/250th of a second (though varies a little between cameras) the sensor is never wholly exposed at any point, and so a single burst of light will only be captured on part of the image. What HSS does is strobes the flash, so you get several very quick flashes in succession, to cover the whole time that the curtain needs to move across the sensor, so you've got flash for the whole image.

Probably a better way of explaining that, but hopefully makes sense.

I know of a good set of photos illustrating how the curtains work - will try to dig them out.

Edit: here we go, have a look at that, quite good to be able to visualise how the mechanics of the shutter actually work - http://regex.info/blog/2008-09-04/925?nc3

David
 
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Thanks guys... That last explanation was great! Id never really thought about the mechanics of high speed shuttering before... Feel ive learnt something from that post!
 
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