Terry L. Mair
Mair's Photography
158 South 580 East
Midway, Utah 84049
435-654-3607
www.mairsphotography.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Martin" <marphoto@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" <photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: Fill flash
--- Marilyn <marilyn@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:Thank you for your help. The confusion comes when I try to tell the class that you set your lens for - say, f11 at 125 of a seconds, but you set your flash unit for f5.6 for instance. It sounds easy enough to those familiar with cameras and flash units, but to beginners, this seems like a hopeless puzzle. Is there any way I can visually explain this to students? (I've shown them the settings, adjustments on a flash unit, but confusion still reigns.)
For instance, when explaining aperture settings different sized funnels with sand pouring through them can be used (the sand being the light that passes through the lens).
I have suggested that for now, when shooting outside cutting the light coming from the flash can be accomplished by physically placing a white handkerchief over the flash unit, the photojournalist's trick of rotating the flash head straight up then attaching a white card behind the flash (not all flash units can be rotated up) or stepping back from your subject, etc.
Maybe the concept of fill flash is just something that takes time to comprehend.
Thank you, again.
Marilyn
Hi Marilyn:
The basic principle of fill flash is to set your exposure in the camera for the ambient light, taking care to use a shutter speed that will sync with the flash. Then you adjust the OUTPUT of the flash to give you the amount of fill you want. The operative word here is "output". This is the way I explain it to my students.
If it's a modern camera and a dedicated flash, you can accomplish that via the Flash Compensation feature on the camera. If it's an older non-dedicated model, like the Vivitar 283, you can put the flash in Auto and select a mode that is one or two stops wider than what the camera lens is actually set at, as you mentioned. I did this for years when I was a PJ. However, I don't think this latter procedure will work with a dedicated flash.
The white handkerchief trick works well as long as the flash is not in some auto mode. On some flashes, you can set the ISO one or two stops higher that what the camera is functioning at.
I'm sure you know all this, Marilyn, but I know from experience that strobe usage is one of the most difficult things for students to comprehend. My approach is to concentrate on a simple "how-to" procedure; less on theory. Good luck!
Richard
Richard Martin specializes in Cityscape and Waterscape stock photography. E-mail: marphoto@xxxxxxxxx Web: http://www.marphoto.com Web: http://www.poetographycreations.com
