flash me.

um. this topic is hard for me. not bc i dont know how to use it, but because, really, its not as hard as anyone wants to make it.

and if its supposed to be harder - dont tell me. bc, well, im doing fine my way ;) haha

you should probably remember, for many indoor scenarios, i like flat lighting. i am not a fan of many shadows for my studio stuff. so. yeah. my CC on so many studio set ups is the shadows - i dont *always* like them. so if thats your style, then you may have to adjust this tut for you.

here's what i mean by flat lighting --

see how there arent harsh shadows on her face? just an even *brightness* to the photo overall? thats how i, personally, define flat. consistent.

i always bounce. or at least just toss it behind me. i dont care that often about color casts because i shoot RAW and i''ll fix it later.

i also would rather use a SL then up my ISO and get grain. so there's that, too.

i do not drag my shutter. its not my style.

this tutorial is also not about fill flash.

so.

i mainly use it for extra light. to make the room look as if there's some sort of lighting there that is not.

lets say im at a house shooting a newborn - and there arent windows or light for me to use to my advantage.

so here's how the SL works. turn it on.

mode - M
hold down the (sel/set) button til your numbers are blinking. then play.

itll start at 1/1. thatll be super bright. maybe start test shots at 1/8 or something.

in my opinion, the idea is to set your settings how you want them and then adjust the SL.

*oh and dont forget that the meter on your camera is basically useless when a SL is on ;) also, your SL will have a sync speed with your camera's shutter speed. so you may not be able to go "faster" than 1/200. and youll have to adjust the SL's power, instead.*

so, for the pic below, i was at 1/32 + 0.3 on the SL. so you just need to start moving the arrow down to see what you need. test shoot. whatever. but you want just enough light to make it editable - without leaving flash spots.

i had already set settings for this where i was comfortable. i metered and still needed to use the SL so i just had to play.

it still has some depth, isnt totally "flat" but still gave me the lighting i need without the other problems.

i'll say the hardest part of using a SL is when youre shoot in portrait. horizontal is easy bc it just bounces behind you. but in portrait, you have to turn the SL so its still bouncing where you want it to. this can be useful if you want to MAKE shadows, but on seamless, it can be super hard.

like on this one, you can see that my SL is still the same position it would have been in landscape and that i just turned my camera to the left - bc the left side of her face is brighter. but it works out nicely and gives a bit of a natural light look.

some places in your home may REQUIRE a SL for good photos during the evening/night. or maybe your house is really dark? not all cameras have the ISO capability to not bring grain, not all lenses have a low enough f/stop, and not all kids are slow enough to use a slow SS. so, a SL can help.

sometimes, even when you have the gear, you still need a SL indoors bc of your house... at night, my living room is *ugh* to shoot in. but that doesnt mean i want to miss a moment ;)

i have a bajillion examples if you'd like to see more SL v non-SL. :) just let me know