The new flash

So, the Speedlite 580 EX II arrived yesterday. Got a chance to mess with it today.

I'm amazed, intimidated, confused, and intrigued by it. WTF, flash photography?!

The screen at the back with all the buttons and icons --- no idea what anything does. I read here and there to set it to ETTL (no idea what that means), and I read here to use a shutter speed of 1/200 or 1/250 when in a small room so that the flash will be the main source of light, and it won't be overexposed due to ambient light. Plus, if there are more than two types of main light with such different color temperatures (tungsten = warm; flash = daylight), the shot won't look that great.

...actually, I'm just talking about out of my you-know-what, here; I have no idea what I'm doing! Trial and error, baby...

Here are my five experimental shots, with absolutely ZERO editing whatsoever, SOOC:

No flash, Av:


M, 1/250, Flash, aimed straight at subject:


M, 1/250, Flash, aimed straight up:


M, 1/250, Flash, aimed straight up with built-in bounce card out:


No flash, M, with the exact settings that I used for the flash:


Obviously, the shot with flash straight up and bounce card out is the most appealing one. Now I just have to learn the intricacies of it all. Shooting outside in daylight and using flash for fill will be a whoooole different animal.

(P.S. -- All shots here were at ISO 200, f/3.2. All but the first were with a shutter speed of 1/250. The first one (in Av) was at 1/8 of a second.)

I wanted to try also just taping a white index card to the back to use as a larger bounce card -- just to see how much of a difference the size makes. Next time.

Wow, flash. Never thought I'd be here! I'll get it eventually...

Flash after all

Well, I've been doing a lot of reading, and I've decided that I need to have a good external flash in my bag if I want to shoot people. It's critical to have light on at least part of the face, and especially the eyes, and if Mother Nature won't do it, I'll have to.

Canon has some rebates going on through the beginning of July, and the Speedlite 580EX II is on there, so I ordered one yesterday. Then I'll just have to learn to use it!

Actually, a friend sent over a site that she reads that has some really awesome flash tutorials on it. I've already read a bunch of them, but I feel like the real learning will come when I have the flash on my camera and am experimenting with it. Trial and error is pretty much how I've done things so far -- flash will likely be no different.

I've avoided flash thus far because I was kind of afraid of it, and I thought it would be really difficult to learn. Well, it probably will be difficult, but I'm not as afraid of it anymore; I think it will open up some new possibilities that I'll be thankful for.

Snow's getting old

More snow, and I'm tired of it already. But it did give me a chance to try some more shots of snow, and this time I experimented a little bit with the skies.

So here's a few I took this morning before I went to work, just around our neighborhood:






















It was taken at ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec. Now, here's the original:





















As you can see, I lightened the trees quite a bit, but unfortunately, I think that brightened the skies too much. I know there's a way to brighten one part of a photo and keep the rest the same, but I think it has something to do with layers, or masks, and I don't know how to do that in processing yet.

I wonder if I'd bumped the ISO if that would have helped with the trees. Hmm. Probably would've hurt the tones in the sky, though. Something to try for another day.

So here's a few more.




































Now this one was interesting. It was taken at ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/320 sec. I took it because the sun was shining directly onto this tree, and it looked so awesome. But that doesn't show in the photo at all! In fact -- it looks kind of flat. The colors are all too close to the same hue. But I still think it's interesting, just in a different way.

Here's another with a somewhat interesting sky:



















I amped the colors in the sky in this photo a lot. It was taken at ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/400 sec. I have a hard time stopping myself when I'm editing sometimes -- how far is too far? When does it start to look unnatural? It's hard to be objective when you're in the throws of editing.

I think they all have a slightly blue-ish tint to them, but I kind of like it. I almost wish that someone else (someone more pro) would edit my photos with me at the same time, but totally separately. Then we could come together and see how our versions differ. I don't know how else to learn post-processing techniques other than trial and error. It can be a little frustrating at times, but I'll probably internalize it better this way.

dpreview.com, flash

This shot of Mer from the last post ...



... could have been much better if I had utilized some flash equipment.

I am learning so much. And I have found my place on the web. The forums at dpreview.com have already helped me immensely with decisions about gear and post-processing techniques, and of course all of the reviews are really nice. I've made a wish list, which is probably a bad thing. In order (I think):

1. EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5 (goes for about $720 on Amazon now)
2. an upgraded crop body (details below)
3. EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 (going for about $990 on Amazon now)
4. a longer zoom (this is so far in the future that I'm not spending time thinking about it now, ha)

I've pretty much decided that I'll stick with crop bodies for a while. Full-frame bodies are expensive, heavy, and offer advantages that I'll probably not even use (at least for many years, if ever!). Though the one thing that appeals to me about them is the fact that the larger sensors mean that those bodies perform better in low light. However, I think I can get more than adequate performance with crop bodies, good lenses, and the right exposure settings, so saving money by staying with crops is definitely the plan.

I'm interested in the 50d and 7d now, but if they come out with a "60d" (thanks, canonrumors.com) in the next 6-8 months, that could be a definite possibility. My must-haves are:

1. excellent ISO performance at higher ISOs
2. at least 10-12mp (which pretty much all cameras have now)
3. an improved AF system (read about some problems with the 7d here, which is no good)

Also, to go back to my first point about the photo of Mer ... I obviously need to invest some time and money into learning about flash. Most will say that the on-board flash is useless in almost all situations, which I tend to agree with, unless of course you're shooting on Auto and just want a quick snapshot to record something specific. So, that means I'll need an external. Speedlite? Much more research to do in that dept., and some equip. there should definitely be on my Wish List.

I should have named this The Blog About How I Spend All My Money.

Over&out.