Photography 101 - Making of a better photographer

**Derf** · 2012-02-13, 12:31 PM

BRENIZER METHOD - LEARNING THREAD

The Macro - LEARNING THREAD

Looking to expand this thread a little bit.... should have more soon

**Derf** · 2012-02-13, 01:09 PM

Flashing

There are 3 different ways I flash

1-Non Tripod Off camera
Using a flash (in my case 2) off camera and set the camera below 250th of a second (some rebels require 200th of a second). Previously I was using optically triggered flashes but recently I ordered radio poppers that do the job as well.

Here two flashes were at 45 degrees on tripods

Here I did the same thing but looking at the nose you can see the off camera flash was off and the two flashes were at a 45 degree forward of the nose.
(TIP!) Anytime you see a persons picture, look in their eyes to see if there was a flash, soft-box or umbrella used. Eyes DO NOT LIE.

2-Long Exposure
This is easy, open the shutter and run around....the longer the shutter open the more ambient light seeps in. This is where people see me running around the ramp like an idiot getting winded.

as you can see there is a background on both the above images as it took a min or two to keep the shutter open. The longer your open the brighter the surroundings... You can usually control this if it is dark enough by running faster or leaving the shutter open longer. During Airshow, I am not a fan of this method...nor is my feet or heart.

3-sync speed to kill the backround and make it black
Last but not least....my latest fun, with the radio poppers and photoshop!!

In this example I walk around (NICE AND SLOW) while using the radio trigger on the flash, my camera and one in my hand to trigger both. Camera set to 250th of a second I walk around the aircraft and Pop it over and over. The AAM was in the backround of both of these images but I can easily kill the lights in the backround of the AAM by using the fast sync... (that was a composite of over 20 images to make one) then I merged it with an HDR to bring out the AAM

Below is the tutorial on how I did it with photoshop

Video Click Here!

This second one I did an HDR and used it as the first image

I love to Flash, it is fun. I also like using my flashes in photography, that is fun too! Please comment or ask questions so I can see if anyone is really interested or if I am just wasting my time and I would be better off playing battlefield 3.

**Derf** · 2012-02-13, 01:11 PM

Yongnuo RF-603C radio poppers

Poppin on a budget

I love off camera flash work and purchased 2 expensive flashes, the Sigma EF-500 DG Super and the Sigma EF-530 DG Super because of the off camera optical flash Capability. Optical means that when 1 flash fires from any camera, the Sigmas' will fire. It sucks when your at a wedding and you have it set to full power, it will take 7-8 seconds before the flash is charged enough before they are ready to fire. If I keep one flash on the camera, I can trigger the other flash without doing it where everyone is using my flash (But then I only have 1 flash off camera)

Downside 2 of my sigmas'

Line of site and distance. During the day it needs to be within 30 feet for it to work, your always having issues with distance but it did the job, Just not great. Line of site, I am always struggling with making sure the red face was facing my camera because just a little off and the flashes would not fire, the further away, the bigger the issue.

Shot triggered Optically from my 40D

Pocket Wizards....the Cadillac of radio popper's.... If you have these you can tune to the right channel at MSG and fire a dozen strobes in the ceiling and strobe the entire area. This is what the pros use but they are like $250 a piece!!!! I would need one transmitter and 2 receivers and that is WAY over my budget. They are pretty reliable but because of the frequencies they work at the flash cap and charging may interfere with the actual shot leading to misfires. The misfires are not many and from what I have had and read it is about 1 loss in 25 popps but that also is VERY dependent on the equipment being used. The Pocket wizards are also TTL and that is a big plus.

While shooting long exposure and using painting with light will not work with radio poppers like above, the photo below shows where your popping a subject, this is the perfect use and will same me LOTS of frustration due to Sigma's line of sight limitations. Also will allow $60 flashes to replace my $250 sigmas!!!

EL CHEAPO - Yongnuo RF-603C radio poppers Quantity 4 for $65.00

Positive
VERY INEXPENSIVE
Can use as a wireless trigger (very long range trigger)
Each RF-603 can be Master, Slave or wireless trigger with included wire
VERY LONG RANGE 100 feet plus, some people have claimed up to 800 Feet but I do not believe it.

Negitive
No Lock for hotshoe (Cheap fix $5 lock on Ebay)
No TTL transmission

So far I am in love, Distance seems limitless, I can walk a block away and move my flashes...move just out of frame and click the trigger off, then move my flashes and pop it again and again and again! Sure, No TTL but from a block away I really am not going to use TTL as well! I can not wait for Hockey this weekend! This is going to rock!

I have 4, two for flashes, one for camera and one for a remote trigger. All four cost me $60 and 1 pocket wizard is $250!!!

Having some more fun with my poppers

Loving my new triggers and have done a few shoots. It has really helped me creatively and made my life a lot easier. One thing about
them is that they do not have a hotshoe lock and I purchased for a few dollars a hotshoe lock from ebay

I would recommend only one type of rechargeable battery, Sony Eneloop battery are the best as they DO NOT LOOSE A CHARGE like other rechargeable batteries. These are important because the flash trigger uses very little power and your regular rechargeable batteries will probably die from non use as regular rechargeable battery will drain over time without use. The Eneloop batteries will retain 95% charge over a year!!!!! It is almost like alkaline batteries as it does not discharge. I find these batteries to be better than any rechargeable I have ever used.

Chargers For me there is only 1!!!

Charge slow, medium or fast. This charger will discharge the entire battery and recharge if you choose... it will deep discharge, recharge and tell you what the mAh of the battery ACTUALLY is so you can see how good or bad your batteries are. It will refresh where it discharges and recharges over and over until there is no gain in performance to get the battery working as good as it possibly can!!! ( had 4 AA's getting abouit 200mAh and after a refresh was getting about 1200 mAh and that was 2 year old batteries that were useless...now they power remotes and my wireless mouse very well!!!

I love my LaCrosse Charger! I swear by it! Anyone else have it?

**megatop412** · 2012-02-13, 10:23 PM

I use a couple SB-600's off camera when shooting for a friend's horror website:

**megatop412** · 2012-02-13, 10:33 PM

I too love screwing with the off-center stuff:

**eric8669** · 2012-02-13, 11:27 PM

off camera flash.

**gonzalu** · 2012-02-14, 12:05 AM

Love studio strobes!! Not that speedlights aren;t great and useful... but Studio strobes are oh so much more fun!! If you ever get the chance, go for it.

Or no strobes... nothing but fluorescent tubes

**eric8669** · 2012-02-14, 12:07 AM

I spot Liz Ashley.... :) One of my favorites.

**gonzalu** · 2012-02-14, 12:11 AM

This one used three Nikon speedlights in manual mode, fired via Pocket Wizard wireless triggers. One for the hair... one above and behind my camera and one main light to the left of the camera... reflector to the right...

If I only had time with a plane and I could light it myself the way I want to... oh what fun

and then you know why I am jealous of Fred and Moose!

Two speedlights and a Nikon Coolpix point and shoot

and no strobes at all... just pure plain twilight... pays if it is a little overcast!