Comments on: choosing your direction

By: Neil

Neil — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:49:19 +0000

Benjiemc .. I replied to a very similar question to yours in this thread on dragging the shutter. Scroll down to post #64 (Dec 10). In short, I think it is generally more valuable to keep with one specific mode, whether TTL / TTL BL (if you shoot with Nikon), or Evaluative / Average (if you shoot Canon) .. and get used to how your camera and flash responds. And then adjust your FEC as necessary, depending on the scenario. Neil vN

By: benjiemc

benjiemc — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:30:11 +0000

this is a very informative blog. but why you are not mentioning TTL-BL,Matrix or evaluative? i think this is also a valued feature of a camera and speed light/flash to ease the job.

tnx.

By: Trevor Dennis

Trevor Dennis — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:09:30 +0000

My goodness. I thought I was reasonbly good with ETTL, but after reading your site right through, I’ve taken a huge step forward. Even things that I sort of knew worked, but not why, I now have a much better handle on, and it is so much easier to work stuff out if you know WHY you are doing it.

Thanks for the insight.
Trevor

By: Neil

Neil — Sun, 04 May 2008 18:45:54 +0000

Tom …

This won’t happen often (if at all), because of my working distance to my subject, and bouncing the flash upwards behind me (as opposed to directly backwards) .. and also because my light source is now so large that there isn’t really much chance of a shadow anyway.

Neil vN

By: Tom Kaszuba

Tom Kaszuba — Sat, 03 May 2008 06:11:47 +0000

Superb info on this blog Neil. You have taught me more than you can imagine and I thank you for this.

Question……Do you ever find that when bouncing flash behind you that your own body blocks some of the light that should be falling back on the subject (a bride for example)?

Regards,
Tom K.

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:35:35 +0000

Jusuf … the problem you’re experiencing with inconsistency is probably mostly due to your WB being set to Auto.

Even though bouncing off different colored surfaces will give you a color cast of some kind, it should be consistent within the same scenario.

Neil vN

By: jusuf

jusuf — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:42:47 +0000

Dear Neil,

Awesome blog, indeed! I’m totally newbie in flash photography. On practicing yr concept, I bounce my flash off of the walls but I noticed inconsistency among subsequent numbers of shot. That being said, white balance keeps changing all over the shots.

Yes, I put WB setting on auto, this is the culprit. But, under same lighting conditions and most potentially the same angle of flash bouncing, theoritically speaking, I could expect to see same result. Or, am I missing something here?

Setting I use for above scenario: camera on Manual, f2.8 ISO 100, speed about 1/100, iTTL, Nikon D80, indoor, halogen lamp (spotlight).

Thanks,
Jusuf, Indonesia

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:37:12 +0000

Rob … I am using my speedlight in TTL mode most of the time.
But with the way I am using flash, directing most of the flash away from my subject, it does mean I am wasting a lot of the flash’s energy … so it will quite often dump near full power.

Neil.

By: Danny Foo

Danny Foo — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:45:43 +0000

I really learned alot from your flash photography techniques but I always keep wondering when you say bounced over your shoulder, how will it look from a 3rd person perspective?

Photography is a hobby I’m picking up on my own so I really want to learn how to use my gear properly. :)

Thanks.

By: Rob Jaudon

Rob Jaudon — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:55:30 +0000

Neil, So when you turn the flash around are you using it at full power or is that decided on location for each shot?