Shooting With Overhead Flash Technique

[markandhisfish]

thanks hamfist , a polybox is what i need . also i plan on ditching the wirelesss trigger for a sync cord , so i can crank that shutter speed up . this will block out a lot of the ambient light and some of the indirect flash . i cant paste the link to the thread directly in here as its another forum , but il pm you the link . i think youl agree that altho my shots are greatly improving , ive got a hell of a way to go until im up to his standard his shots are just incredible. but i will persivere and i will get there .

 

[raptorrex]

my flash doesnt have a manual setting rex its a 2nd hand speedlite 420ex . i may try knocking up a contraption to have the flash higher above the tank .

finding a manual is a real bind for this flash. if you aint got one. linky there is some helpful stuff there. especially the section on "exposure compensation". though it does state the minimum flash to subject distance is .7m. which is why your pictures seen washed out. i apologise for the "manual" misunderstanding. you can set the camera manually, but exposure is still ttl. lol, its been 13 years since i sold/taught these, so memory is fuzzy

if you wish to get colser than .7m with your flash. you will need to invest in a different flash. or, as some mentioned, use a system of diffusion.

 

[Steve Randell]

I have bought some cheap full manual flash guns for this purpose, so no need to spend a load,
photoshop may be worth looking at to remove the floating particles from the background, i would highly recomend the greasproof paper
method of diffusing the flash gun


Steve

 

[markandhisfish]

not got any kicking about the house , may well try some white tissue tho . how thick does it need to be ?

 

[ChilliPepper]

Definitely a vast improvement Mark, well done

I'd love to be able to afford a flash gun (and a better lens), but got to make do with the bog standard stuff for now I agree, aquatic photography is a fascinating, but very difficult, subject and is very worthwhile when you get a good shot

 

[markandhisfish]

thanks chillipepper , the lens i used was just the standard 18-55 kit lens , i got the flash 2nd hand from a website called mbp photographic. at the moment im experementing with making home made flash difusers to get a more even light , only trouble is this flashgun absolutely destroy batteries

 

[JenCliBee]

Great shots mate.... out of curiosity, what are the camera settings while taking these shots?... are they took using fully automatic mode?

 

[markandhisfish]

cheers jake , nope all shot on full manual this 1 here was shot at 1/50th shutter speed f/14 iso 100 auto white balance

theyre all there or there abouts on the same settings slight changes here and there but not a lot

 

[Geoff-]

To be honest both styles are good - the very first shot you have shows really strong saturated reds (they're even blown out a bit, either too much colour saturation in the camera or from photoshop?). After changing flash position there's nowhere near as much red, specifically.. but the other colours seem a little washed out too except for the blue and yellow guy who has come out awesome. The red guy with red/blue fins is now coming out orangey, and you can't see the red in the fins anywhere near as much. if that's more natural colour great but i think the colours in the first shot were better. of course the overall lighting is much improved there are some nice dark blacks which help the fish 'pop' too.

Overall though your pics are waaay better than mine, my last DSLR pics came out fuzzy and I resorted to using the phone camera to get a passable shot it's not easy to do!

 

[markandhisfish]

getting the correct eposure is the key to colour representation which im finding tricky for a couple of reasons

1) with the model speedlite ive got and the wirleless trigger i cant get a flash sync over 1/60thsec if i was to use a sync cord instead of a wirless trigger i could get faster shutter speeds of 1/200th sec and upwards. this will block out more of the ambient light and indirect flash .

2) flash is too close to the subject which is a major cause of the blown or washed out colours i keep getting . the min distance with my speedlite is 0.7 metres and i rekon on average with the fish swimming mid-water im probably half of that .

to try and overcome this problem im looking into 2 things , qstly rigging some kind of contraption to raise the flash higher above the tank therefore inceasing distance between flash and subject and 2ndly variuos types of diy improvised diffusers to soften the light .

its a long road of trial and error but gradually tweak by tweak im getting there .

i agree its picked out the reds muh better in the 1st shot but i like the overall lighting effect on the shot using overhead flash better. my goal is to acheive the lighting of the overhead method with the colour representation of the 1st shot. its proving a tricky balance to acheive so far , but im a stubborn so and so , i will not be beaten!

 

[JenCliBee]

cheers jake , nope all shot on full manual this 1 here was shot at 1/50th shutter speed f/14 iso 100 auto white balance

theyre all there or there abouts on the same settings slight changes here and there but not a lot

So i see.. not only excellent pics but getting very technical in your old age aswell .. as i said mate some lovely pics and im sure they can only get better and better .


Will be keeping an eye on your progress, looking for a new camera and like the look and feel of the 500d...

If you dont mind me asking, how much you pay for the speedlite and the receiver/transmitter kit?... been looking at the 430ex on ebay and they seem to be going for a reasonable price and fully syncable to all shutter speeds i think? or is this to do with the reciver and transmitter aswell?

 

[markandhisfish]

the speedlite is a 2nd hand 420ex which i paid £119 for the trigger was £30 as for what is causing me to lose sync speed with the trigger im not sure . it may be a combination of both. the 420ex is light on features , no manual mode for starters . and i cheaped out and got the cheapest trigger i could find .i if i mount the speedlite on the cameras hotshoe i get full range of shutter speeds ive even shot as high as 1/1000th sec this way . if you can find 1 at a good price id go for something like a 430exII its a much better unit with manual settings mode etc . thats what i was going to buy but decided at the last minute to save some money , and i now regret it .

heres where i got the idea , theres a thread entitled how i use my speedlite in the photography 101 section. altho his images blow mine away severely!!
http/www.aquatic-photography.com/forum/forum.php

and this 1 is goodd for all your general equipment/technique questions , they should be able to give you good advice on speedlites and triggers

http/www.photography-forum.org/index.php

 

[ian]

theres some great pic on that aquatic photography forum.

 

[markandhisfish]

fantastic arent they . i day il be up there with them hopefully

 

[Geoff-]

i agree its picked out the reds muh better in the 1st shot but i like the overall lighting effect on the shot using overhead flash better. my goal is to acheive the lighting of the overhead method with the colour representation of the 1st shot. its proving a tricky balance to acheive so far , but im a stubborn so and so , i will not be beaten!

agree 100%.. good luck with it!!