 Kyle J. Bowman |
Shooting flash at night with Models thank you for reading my comment/question. I have an older SLR, Minolta x370, pretty common camera, and I want to shoot at night with pouring rain and models from about 20-50 feet away. When I had taken some classes before..I was led to believe that I always had to set the shutter speed to 1/60 which was marked in red to shoot anything with flash from the shoe. Is there a formula that could take me away from that set shutter speed? My flash is a Vivitar 2000, very basic flash, I want to be able to keep the subject lit without compromising the background scene. Any ideas? Sincerely,
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Mark Feldstein |
Greetings Kyle: When you say you "...want to keep the subject lit without compromising the background scene" I assume you just want to have the background illuminated by ambient light, yes? First, unless your lens has a built in shutter rather than your camera, then you need to sync your flash at 1/60th of a second or less in order to give the shutter (probably a focal plane type) in the camera, time to operate (travel across the frame) while the flash is coming up to full brightness. The only other variables you've got to work with are f-stops which in turn, will largely depend on the ISO of film you're using (I assume it's film and not digital) and the amount of ambient light you have to work with. I should also point out that while working at 20 foot camera-subject distance is probably alright for most on camera (hot shoe) type flashes, 50 feet is a pretty long way to carry unless it's a unit with the amount of horsepower to do it. You can figure that out knowing what the guide number is for your Vivitar 2000. That'll tell you what f-stop you can work with at 10 feet. Also, rain will make it even tougher since it acts as a light diffuser. How much depends on the intensity. AND, btw, rain is pretty difficult to photograph as opposed to its effects. In the film industry, rain water in tanks usually has some kind of additive to make it more visible. In the old days, they used milk to make it white and more photogenic.
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Kyle J. Bowman |
..thank you Mark for your prompt reply...it is very helpful. I believe it will be large in part to experiment with slide film and since the flash will synch with the first curtain then hopefully when I meter the background prior..it will all fall in place(in theory of course).. Thank you again..and any further comments will be appreciated Kyle
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Jon Close |
The X-370 will sync with a flash at shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/60. You might also be able to use "B" (bulb) with a flash, I'm not sure. The flash duration is much shorter than that (between 1/1000 to 1/30,000), so you'll get the same amount of flash illumination on your subject regardless of the shutter speed. As Kyle said, to give more exposure to the ambient light background, set longer shutter speeds. Your models must remain still, however to avoid "ghost" images.
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Jon Close |
Oops. Not "As Kyle said..." but "As Mark said..." Time for coffee. ;-)
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Mark Feldstein |
You're welcome, Kyle. I'll think about any additional solutions, short of renting additional lighting, and let you know if I come up with anything else. Hey Jon !! Speaking of coffee, I though I was the only one up at that hour, at least in California. LOL !!! And now, "I owe, I owe, so off to shoot I go." Have a great day guys.
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