Fill-
...why don’t we use it more?
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Flash photography has always been something that I have struggled with. I bought a top of the range canon 580 ex11 flashgun some time ago, but instead of persevering with it when I failed to get the shots that I wanted, I abandoned it to the back of the cupboard and carried on struggling.
The recent dull weather gave me an excuse to dig it out again and this time I stuck with it until I started to get some decent shots. I can’t believe that I ignored such a useful piece of kit for so long.
These first two shots show pretty well where I have progressed to, while the three
below demonstrate some of the problems that I had to overcome in order to get this
far. I wouldn’t say I have got it sorted, there is still a lot to try, but I do feel
that they demonstrate the potential of using a little fill-
I initially started using it to try and make up for the dismal light we have been having lately and to gain more speed, but for wildlife photography, it looks as though it cannot easily solve that problem without causing others.
In particular too much flash gives an artificial feel to the image. In the blackbird shot below, that manifests itself as a shiny edge to the feathers making them look as though they are tinged with silver.
The more flash you add to the image the harsher those shiny reflections become and unfortunately the background also becomes a lot darker; ultimately giving the impression that the images were recorded at night.
By setting the camera to expose the background correctly and just using the flash to fill in the shadows and to enhance detail and colours it all works very well. The moment that you let the flash take over, it starts to look very artificial to my mind. I seem to have reached a stage where the flash is little use for the problem I was hoping it would solve solve, namely that of too little natural light.
This problem becomes very severe as you add light to freeze the action which is why such flight shots often have black backgrounds. The only solution I can see if I want to freeze the action with flash and retain some background detail would be to light it separately with slave flashguns. I would imagine that would also look very artificial unless I can soften the light somehow; but that is for another day. Before I go down that route I plan to try and get to grips with a flash extender so that I can take this technique out into the field where the subjects are less obliging.
Even when you have the exposure correct there is very often a harsh spot light in
the subjects eye. It can be reduced by using a diffuser, but then it may become necessary
to re-
At the minimum focussing distance or thereabouts, I have been using the camera on
its Av setting and dialling in -
In the past I have really struggled shooting into the light with harsh shadows an
unavoidable side-
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Hard choices
Long lenses
Where ??
Sharp shooting
It’s not so easy
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Macro techniques
Creative seabirds
Going full-
Feeding stations
Art for art’s sake
