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I've been asked to decribe as a photojounalist,how I use Electronic Flash.The best way to control the dreaded RED EYE,is to raise the flash high over the lens,and to tilt up the flash tube head .So direct flash does not enter your subjects eyes.This can be done more efficiently with a bounce card attached to the flash.So as to re-direct some light bach at your subject and (spread) add extra fill around the room.Some times it is even better to remove the flash from the top of your camera by way of a flash connector cord,shown is the SC-17 used with my Nikons and SB 26 flash.Holding it out to the side or over head with a free hand or on a stand.To keep everything portable I still keep on the bounce card.
Which incidently is of my own design.This homemade Bounce Card I have sold to many of the other Photojounalist in our newsroom-for $5.00 ppd. including enough Velcro for the flash head for Verticle or Horizonal shooting.It's a sturdy plastic card.
If it's a hazard to hang a cord from camera to side mounted flash, I've found this electronic sensor from B& H photo of NY most useful.Made by Ikelite Lite-Link TTL Slave. A couple can be used to back light a subject and add fill.
I even add little pieces of colored gels from a Roscoe swatch book (free from most camera stores) taped over the flash tube for theatrical effects.A good look when used on the background, using the red or yellow or blue gels.
Follow Ups:
...have sold this to other people? ROTFLMAO!!!!! Good for you...but - WOW! What kind of feeb do you have to be to not understand a white card and Velcro?I use a Sunpak 120J, bare-bulb a lot, & sometimes with a white reflector in place of the metal reflector. I've also confected a small translucent dome that goes over the flash tube for really soft light effect.
In a professional working group of photogs,perception is everything.Why else does one need to outdo others with 200mm f1.8 or 600mm f4 lenes.I did not force any PJ's while I was their photo editor at our newspaper.To buy a pliable plastic translucent bounce card of higher qualities than an opaque paper 3x5 card,(which we all at one time use).They just saw the quality of shadowless flash ,that I produced in my pic's.You must use as broad a light source as posible to eliminate shadows.This bounces light at(your subject) and up thru the card to spread it's light on a subject.Directing a small flash head straight at what your lens is pointing to, produces a hard and heavily shadowed amateurish photo.
Besides which,it mearly passed on my actual costs,and whenever they lost one I made up another free.
One of my PJ's(photojournalist) has your 120 J, but we see that barebulb leaves shadows too.It must be soften with whatever.
One little Tip- use as low a shutter speed as necessary when indoor shooting. I usually put it on 1/30th or 1/15th at f 5.6.In order to gather enough ambient light that mixes with your bounce.To completly eliminate Shadows.
for all of the info. After doing photography professionally for about 35 years I've always wondered why you used those really cheesy little flashes with white cards for PJ work (not).We never had those when I started. I carried around a huge Graflex "potatoe masher" unit that used a 5lb 480V dry cell battery. No tilting heads, no place for reflectors. Just straight-on pure power - and lots of it. Made lots of shadows, everywhere. Rather Weegee-esque but then it was fast snaps for publication - not art.
I really don't get the "no shadow" deal. I do architectural photography and go out of my way to do light setups with streaks across walls & strategically placed shadows so that the room looks like it is "naturally illuminated."
When I do my own environmental portrait work, I use a 750 Watt-second mono-light shooting through a white umbrella so that I get a north light window look to the work complete with soft wrap-around shadows. No shadows = unnatural in my book.
The one I carried around was :)Yeah, they weighed a freakin' ton, didn't they?
-- Do not seek the treasure! DO NOT SEEK THE TREASURE!
..freakin big & seemed to last forever. Could have been 510V - that was over 30 years ago & I've had beers since then.I do remember this teenage kid following me all over the place during one shoot & being a general pain in the butt by jumping into the frame and saying, "hey, take my picture, take my picture!!" I took one photo of him with the strobe set at 1/4 power & he thought it was so much fun he started doing it all over again.
If you remember the unit there was a button that only looked like a red rubber dot on top of the flash head so you could dump the charge when you were done shooting or test the unit. I flipped the switch to full power, the little bugger was about 3-feet away from me and I said, "hey - kid..." and he looked over at me & got a face full of light. Took him about 30 minutes to recuperate so his eyes worked right & he didn't see a blue flash tube on his retina.
I know the dump button. Btw, I dug up a reference to the battery. See below. It was 510 volts, and you recalled the number correctly!
-- Do not seek the treasure! DO NOT SEEK THE TREASURE!
All I know is the strap kept sliding off my shoulder from the weight.It could clip to my belt,but messed up my Tux. I don't miss those days!
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh3.sph/FrameWork.class?FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist_html___19185___GB510V___REG___CatID=435___SID=F331E2C8FD0
-- Do not seek the treasure! DO NOT SEEK THE TREASURE!
ever burn your fingers with hot flash bulbs? I've been in the game since '72, and doing weddings I carried 497 battery,Metz and yashica TLR.Now it's my Hassy and modern 800 asa films with more ambient light shots and/orbounce flash.Sometimes portable umbrellas.Certainly you can recognize that PJ work differs from the past!Faster shooting styles,get different angles and perspectives. Require high speed drives, small cameras and flash held out to the sides ,for that side lighting natural look.Yes! getting good shadows and facial modeling is still desired.I was talking about ridding ourselves of that strong heavy black shadow behind a subject.Inorder to make a less obtrusive softer one.So we are not that far off in our shooting style,you and I.
Also in a news gattering situation,where there are maybe up to 50-100 PJ's all fireing together the subject is more comfortable seeing us bounce flash and not blinding them.See my above pic.
In my commercial shoots,I also use creative flash/umbrella with reflector boards and gobos,for emulating natural shadows , such as palm fronds,window blinds.On room walls or on models themselves.
But we are getting ahead of most shooters here on Shutterbug st.Maybe not!
Ooops!!! here is the pic I meant to show in above post.Notice the celebrity and imagine how many of us PJ's were shooting Gorbechev.
You were shooting the map of the Philipines on his forehead to find out if it contained any covert information....Flashbulbs....yeah...we did a photo shoot of a large canyon area using #1 & #2 flash bulbs when I was a freshman in college. Would be much easier today using strobes & radio remotes to trigger them. Have some nice dc powered location units that would be just the ticket...
Do you guys see the same thing I do? Gorby is smiling with his lower face, but his eyes are hard?
:-)
Joe,You were right. Besides you, me and Feedbag, nobody cares. What a drag.
Jerry
Guess I'll go over to the outside forum and stir up some trouble there.
I've seen the Ikelite, but since I shoot a Nikon, I use the Nikon SU-4 TTl remote. Works nicely and has a built in swivel, so you can position the sensor to look at the master flash. I typically use my SAB-23 for the on camera trigger flash, and Sunpak 433D units for remotes. It's also possible to use the SU-4 with an off camera cord like the SC-17 or my Duo-Sync to put the sensor out where it can see the trigger flash, and the flash itself behind something (like the subject) for a hair light, for example. Lots of flexibility with these TTL units. And not all that expensive.I use a flash bracket and extension cord for a portable rig. Your card looks interesting. How does that compare to "the Shell" or the "Pocket Bouncer" ? I notice yours is curved, and that's probably important. Have you tried a negative curve to diffuse the light?
One of my favorite setups, from years ago was an SB-23 on camera, and an SB-15 off camera on a Duo-Sync cord (held high and to the left with my left hand) to trigger both flash. Got some great portait "candids" with my FE-2 with that set up with the Nikkor 35-105 manual focus lens.
On camera flash seems to be what everybody wants to do, but it's really only a snapshot technique. Modern electronics or not, flash seems to be something you have to be willing to work at. Having said that, I'm very glad my N-80 has a built in flash. It's not very powerful, but it is convenient.
Call me wierd, but I set up my main flash automatic, set up the secondary to the right exposure, and zap away, using the built in slave on the secondary.White ceilings are handy, too. :)
-- Do not seek the treasure! DO NOT SEEK THE TREASURE!
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