ETTL Flash Control and Blinking

©JP Parmley

I have not run into the situation where a subject blinks on EVERY shot.  We all have our techniques to eliminate this for the occasional blinker, but in a recent family shoot one of the kids blinked on EVERY shot.  After running through all the workarounds I remembered an article about this.

I was shooting with three Canon 600EX-RT flashes, two of which were in ETTL mode.  Could the pre-flash of the ETTL be causing him to blink?  Well, after moving them to a manual mode and metering for the right output, the blinking went away.

Sure enough the pre-flash was causing the blink.  Normally I can get around this, but this one had me stumped until I remembered the article I read a few years ago.

Enjoy.

Exposing for the Ambient Light, Part 2

©JP Parmley

In a previous post, I described exposing for the background.  I wanted to share with you a few pictures from a recent wedding where this was put to use.  In each of these shots, I exposed the shot for the background that included a bright blue sky lit by a bright sun.  I then added two Canon 600EX RT flashes in ETTL each behind 36" softboxes.  Without the flashes, the bride and groom would be underexposed do to the faster shutter speed for the bright sky.  Once the flashes were added, one camera left and one camera right, the colors and depth of the shots exploded.  Take a look at the colors and the even exposure.....no blown out sky, no under exposed subject. 

 

1/200, f9, ISO 200, Canon 5DMIII

1/200, f9, ISO 200, Canon 5DMIII

1/200, f13, ISO 200, Canon 5DMIII

Once you have this method down you can start experimenting with under and over exposing the ambient light.  Take a look at these two pictures....which one was taken first in the day?  The answer might surprise you.  The  first one was taken 15 minutes prior to the second.  So how did we get the "Dusk" look.  I simply underexposed the background by moving the shutter from 1/200 to 1/300.   This small change gave me an appearance that the shot was much later in the day.

1/300, f9, ISO 200, Canon 5DMIII

1/200, f9, ISO 200, Canon 5DMIII

Enjoy

Umbrella of Light - The Actual Shot

©JP Parmley

Here are a few pictures of our clients using the Umbrella of Light method described in the previous post. We had a lot of fun pulling these off just before they left.

 Enjoy

Umbrella of Light

©JP Parmley

We are headed to a local golf community to shoot a wedding in a few weeks. Our client asked for a special picture that they had seen online of the bride and groom under a translucent umbrella that is flooded with light.  It gives an appearance that the umbrella is shooting the light down on them.  I had also seen similar pictures, but have never replicated it with a client.

This is actually a very easy picture to create using 2 Speedlites and one small softbox.  In the last post, I describe exposing for the ambient light.  In this case I was on my deck, it was about 10 min after sunset and there was still a lot of light compared to what the final image shows. 

Step 1 - Expose the Background the way you want it: So I wanted the background to look completely dark.  I took a test shot with no flashes @ 1/160, f5.6, ISO 640.  It was at least 3 stops underexposed giving me the black background.

Step 2 - Add the back light:  I added the a Speedlite with no modifier behind the model, on the ground, shooting straight up.  This flash was set in manual mode at full power. 

 

Rear light, no main light

Step 3 - Add the main light: Once I had the illumination of the umbrella the way I wanted it, I added the second Speedlite about 36 inches away from the model, camera left.  ETTL was giving way too much light because it was trying to light the entire dark scene.  I moved to a manual mode and ended up at 1/32 power. 

You can play with the power settings on each to provide a slightly different look.

Other than a little noise reduction in the dark areas, there was virtually no post production work on these pictures. 

I will post some pictures of our bride and groom in early June.

Enjoy

Expose for the Ambient Light

©JP Parmley

One of the topics that is initially difficult to understand is "Expose for the Ambient Light" for outdoor portraits.  I have had many questions about why I use off-camera flashes outdoors.  Flashes are for indoor use....correct?  Just the opposite.  I use flashes more outdoors that I do indoors, and here is why.

Expose for the ambient light.  What does this mean?  Simply, set the exposure to capture the ambient light correctly.  This means that your sky or background is properly exposed.  Now, if you insert a person into the frame, they are often a silhouette because the shutter is set very fast to limit the light from the bright background.  The background is correct, but the person is too dark.  This is where the flash fills in the subject so that both the sky and subject are properly exposed. 

So, expose for the ambient light and let the flash(s) expose your subject.  You will end up with the entire picture being properly exposed. Your subjects won't be underexposed and your backgrounds won't be blown out.   Make sure you set your flash to High Speed Sync to keep up with the faster shutter speeds.

In this example, you can see the blurred out grass behind the model.  I set the exposure for the background.  The settings were 1/500th, f7.1, ISO 200.  At these settings the model was well over 2 stops underexposed. If I would have exposed for the model, the grass in the background would have been well over exposed. With a EX600-RT in ETTL mode, shooting through a white umbrella just 18 inches from the model camera left, we bring the exposure back with out the over-flash look.  I added a second flash behind the model camera right at 1/64 power with a 1/4 stop CTO gel attached.  It gave that sunset look, when actually it was taken in mid afternoon.  It was very windy that day and I just needed a quick shot.......the hair was going all over the place!

Enjoy.

Using High ISO and No Flash to Create "Mood"

©JP Parmley
Wikipeda says that "A mood is an emotional state".

In most situations, I like to keep the ISO as low as possible even with the high performance of the 5DMIII.  Unless I was shooting a quickly moving subject indoors and needed a fast shutter, I usually try to stay below 800.

But I have been experimenting with some situations that for me, create "Mood".  Perhaps the emotional state you will get to from these images will be different than mine, but none the less, it is hard to deny that "Mood" is present.

In these series of images with the bride and groom with their parents, after I had taken several with an on and off-camera flash, I turned the flashes off and cranked up the ISO.  Taken at ISO 3200, f4.5, 1/60th these images create a feeling that the images with the flash just do not portray.  We have received more feedback on these images than any of the others.  Perhaps because the parents of the bridal couple felt the emotion or were reliving the "Mood" of that moment in time.  Whatever it is, shooting higher ISO images to help deliver the "Mood" is now a part of every event I shoot. 

The Power of Off-Camera Flash

©JP Parmley

I took this image on Jan 11, 2014,  our first wedding of the new year.  It shows the power of using off-camera flash.  After posing the bride how I wanted her, an off camera right 580 Speedlight at 1/64th power was shot through a white umbrella.  I had an additional 580 Speedlight on the camera with a white cap diffuser pointing straight up. 

Because the old wooden ceiling was about 20' high, I had it set at 1/2 power.  The diffuser allowed me to throw some light forward, filling the shadow on her face created by the off-camera flash.  If the ceiling had been lower and drywall, I would have probably only need about 1/16 or 1/32 power.  I used a set of Pocket Wizards to remotely fire the off-camera flash.  You can notice the two catch lights in her eyes.  The larger one is from the umbrella and the smaller one is from the front of the on-camera flash diffuser.

The image was shot on a Canon 5D Mark III, ISO 400, f 4.5, 1/80th.

If you have not started using or experimenting with off-camera flash, you should start.  It can add an extra dimension that direct flash just can't provide.

Enjoy!