 Mindy Shores |
Shadows with Flash on a Bracket I have a Nikon D80 with a SB800 flash. I took a wedding this past weekend with my flash on the stroboframe flip bracket, but still have harsh shadows on vertical shots, even when flipping the flash. I don't understand it, I have the flash on ttl... The only thing I can think of was that I was on a one step ladder so I was only up about a foot or so...could that be it? Thanks,
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Pete H |
Mindy, A little more specificity might help. What shadow? Where? Indoors? Outdoors?
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
robert G. Fately |
Mindy, a flash bracket "works" by locating the flash head further above the lens axis, thus dropping the shadows thrown downwards. This is fine when you are basically at eye level with the subject, as the shadow will then be hidden behind the subject itself. However, bu getting up on the stepstool you may have changed your perspective enough that, from your point of view, the wall behind the subject is more visible. If this is the case, then the minor adjustment the bracket creates was probably not enough to throw the shadow downwards enough. You might wnt to consider a flash diffuser (Lumiquest, Gary Wong, Sto-Fen, etc. - check other threads on thi site) to aid in eliminating harsh shadows.
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Alan N. Marcus |
Hi Mindy, As previously referenced, the main purpose of a flash bracket (besides mounting the flash to camera) is to increase flash-to-lens distance. The idea is mainly to reduce the probability of red eye which often results when the flash is mounted close to the lens. Additionally, off to the side lighting adds a third-dimension-effect. Some tips: Position the flash higher and off to the side. If the flash is below or equal to lens height, the resulting image looks weird. The idea is to generate highlights on one side of the subject and shadows on the other side. The direction the shadows provides clues as to the direction (position) where the light is coming from. You want to create an illusion that the light is coming from above. Keep this in mind as you ordinate your camera from the horizontal to the vertical. Most flash units throw a rectangular pattern wider side-to-side. If the flash head is rotated 90° the flash coverage is now greatest up-down. The greater the separation flash-to-lens the greater is the illusion of deeper shadows. Shadows can be softened by using nearby walls and the ceiling as reflectors. The idea is to cause these surfaces to throw light into the shadows. This is accomplished by feathering i.e. instead of aiming the flash directly at the subject the flash aim is offset partly playing on the ceiling or nearby wall. In short, a single flash generally means harsh shadows unless mitigated by reflectors or another flash unit acting as a fill light source. Alan Marcus (marginal technical stuff)
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Mindy Shores |
Thanks for the input. I was shooting indoors, and the shadows were off to the left side of the subject (if looking toward the subject). The subjects were about 4ft away from the wall. With regards to the diffuser, I had purchased a Gary Fong diffuser but was suprised that I wasn't getting enough light to generate from it.. I was on program mode and flash was set to TTL and even though the ceilings were slanted they weren't extremely high, I tried it with the cap off and on, and there wasn't enough light produced...any ideas on that would be great as well.
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
robert G. Fately |
Well, Mindy, the Fong diffuser (or indeed, ANY diffuser) will effectively reduce the effective distance the flash produces, because it is spreading (diffusing) the light around more. YOu indicate the subjects were 4 feet from the wall behind them, but how far from the subject were you? This also has to be figured in a calculation of light requirement.
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Pete H |
Mindy, There ya' go..all these answers on HOW a flash bracket works are great, but not your problem. 4 feet from the wall? You WILL have shadows with only one light source. I think you know what you need to do.
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Mindy Shores |
I have attached a pic...
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
This old forum is now archived. Use improved Forum here
Report this Thread |
|||||||||||
