To complete a flash photography assignment, I borrowed a Vivitar 283 flash from the university. This is a universal manual type flash that can be mounted to the top of many different brands of cameras. The flash can be swiveled so that it can either be bounced off of a reflective surface onto the subject or directed right at the subject. The electronics work like this; you set the flash to the ISO that your camera is at and then you based on your distance from the subject--10, 15, 20, or 40 feet--you set the flash to one of four color coded settings and these settings in turn tell you where to put your camera's aperture. The shutter speed has to stay generally constant, a speed at or below the speed of the flash. My camera's flash synch speed is 1/200 of a second, but to acquire more light I could set it lower than the synch speed.
It's not really as confusing as I make it sound but getting a great pictures was not an easy feat. I took 200 photos inside my home based on a list I made of things to try and these are the ones I chose to submit.
Direct Flash. The area was lit from the chandelier above but flash was needed because it was an indoor situation and with motion to boot. I chose direct flash because since the walls were very close and both visible in the scene, bounce flash off of one of the walls would have created a very bright spot on the wall in part of the scene. This photo is cropped, so only one wall is shown.
Direct Flash. This one turned out well. The shadow created by the direct flash creates depth in the image, and the washed out white feeling created by the harsh direct light enhances the washed diaper scene. In this situation the room was lit from the recessed lights. I chose to use direct flash because the camera's tripod was situated outside of the room's door and because of the way the doorway is built there was not any place to bounce a flash.
Bounce Flash. This was the first photo that I took and I played with it a lot to get it to look this bright. I ended up bouncing the flash off of the vaulted ceiling, which I think is 18 feet from the floor. I was bummed that I couldn't capture the grandness of the window in the background, but that is one problem with a bounce flash; if you turn the camera on it's side to get a vertical image, the flash is also turned, which means you can only use direct flash or flash bounced off of a wall. Bouncing a flash off of a ceiling is out of the question unless the camera is horizontal. This is a 40 foot bounce.
Bounce Flash. This photo turned out more dark than I had planned. This was the last photo that I took and I think the batteries were giving out becuase I was having trouble getting the flash to fully charge. With these flashes, you can set them off before they are fully charged and they'll give a fraction of the light that they would have if you wait the full time. As I backed away from the subject, there was not enough light on him and when I came closer, he had shadows on his eyes. In the end, I'm not sure that the eyes are important ... like the photo above, it is more about symmetry.
Fill Flash. Fill flash requires depth in the background and a slower shutter speed than the synch shutter speed. In this photo I slowed the shutter to 1/20 second from 1/200 to catch some of the light of the chandelier which at 1/200 is non-existent. The flash is pointed directly at the subject, but is slightly diffused by tissue paper that I had taped over the flash. It would have been a bit better if I'd had a taller tripod. In class the students titled this photo for me: Domestic Diva.
Fill Flash. Here the depth is not in the room, but instead outside. At 1/200 you don't really see the light outside, but at 1/20 you can see the colors that the low November sunlight casts outside. The direct flash provides some light on dog. It was very difficult to get the majority of the flash to hit the dog and not the window (glare!). If he had been taller and wider, it would not have been such a challenge.
And one last photo ... the best photo I've gotten Santa Clause. I used a 40 foot bounce off of the ceiling above us and the effect is really quite nice I think. You are used to seeing this scene with the use of direct flash and that way it looks much more flat therefore less intimate.
