Comments on: into hard sunlight http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/ photography by Neil van Niekerk Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:59:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: rodney http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-773 rodney Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:48:11 +0000 http://planetneil.com/tangents/?p=171#comment-773 on the canon 580exII when shooting in ettl doesn't the camera meter the scene and reconize it as fill flash and compensate automatically? That's actually one question I"ve been trying to figure out. on the canon 580exII when shooting in ettl doesn’t the camera meter the scene and reconize it as fill flash and compensate automatically? That’s actually one question I”ve been trying to figure out.

]]> By: Neil http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-772 Neil Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:19:24 +0000 http://planetneil.com/tangents/?p=171#comment-772 <blockquote>Hi there Dave ... <a href="http://planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-1389" rel="nofollow">This previous comment </a>should answer your questions. Neil vN</blockquote>

Hi there Dave …

This previous comment should answer your questions.

Neil vN

]]> By: Dave S http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-771 Dave S Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:10:45 +0000 http://planetneil.com/tangents/?p=171#comment-771 Hi Neil, I have a question for you/all. What metering mode do most use in harsh sunlit situations. Spot, center weighted, partial, evaluative? And when using fill flash are you metering on highlights (white dress) and adjusting flash for the darks. Thanks Hi Neil, I have a question for you/all. What metering mode do most use in harsh sunlit situations. Spot, center weighted, partial, evaluative? And when using fill flash are you metering on highlights (white dress) and adjusting flash for the darks.

Thanks

]]> By: Robert Woudenberg http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-763 Robert Woudenberg Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:43:22 +0000 http://planetneil.com/tangents/?p=171#comment-763 To comment on what Christian said I use the FP high speed sync all the time for this situation. The problem is that the smaller the aperture the less the range of the flash. Therefore to kill the shadows you need full power flash. You are after all competing with the sun. So I generally try a test exposure at f4 or so then set the appropriate shutter speed for 1/2 stop or so under exposure (spot on subject face)then blast the flash full manual in FP so my shutter speed could be 1/2000. The flash is going full pop so it does take full time to recycle. The "magic" is that the FP mode makes the flash fire several times to get exposures across the shutter as it moves. My experience is that it is a waste to try anything other than full power manual when doing this and then to adjust exposure accordingly. The downside is the "magic" decreases the flash range considerably. With iso100 SB800 at f4 1/250 is good to 7.6 meters at the 1/1600 that you will need to get the correct ambiant exposure the range is 1.4 meters. Stopping down decreases range as well so there is no correct answer (1/640@f6.3) is 1.4m range. A work around is to fire the flash full power with the PC and utilze only the part of the image that is not cut off by the shutter. To do this you may have to turn the camera upside down. This requires lots of experimenting and I have not yet done this at an event. However it does work. And will give you the 7.6M range. As usual however Neil has multiple ways of accomplishing this and I learned alot from this post. To comment on what Christian said I use the FP high speed sync all the time for this situation. The problem is that the smaller the aperture the less the range of the flash. Therefore to kill the shadows you need full power flash. You are after all competing with the sun.

So I generally try a test exposure at f4 or so then set the appropriate shutter speed for 1/2 stop or so under exposure (spot on subject face)then blast the flash full manual in FP so my shutter speed could be 1/2000. The flash is going full pop so it does take full time to recycle. The “magic” is that the FP mode makes the flash fire several times to get exposures across the shutter as it moves.

My experience is that it is a waste to try anything other than full power manual when doing this and then to adjust exposure accordingly. The downside is the “magic” decreases the flash range considerably. With iso100 SB800 at f4 1/250 is good to 7.6 meters at the 1/1600 that you will need to get the correct ambiant exposure the range is 1.4 meters. Stopping down decreases range as well so there is no correct answer (1/640@f6.3) is 1.4m range.

A work around is to fire the flash full power with the PC and utilze only the part of the image that is not cut off by the shutter. To do this you may have to turn the camera upside down. This requires lots of experimenting and I have not yet done this at an event. However it does work. And will give you the 7.6M range.

As usual however Neil has multiple ways of accomplishing this and I learned alot from this post.

]]> By: Neil http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-764 Neil Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:17:18 +0000 http://planetneil.com/tangents/?p=171#comment-764 <blockquote>Omar .. One of the examples actually do show the result of editing the RAW file, as opposed to using flash. Neil vN</blockquote>

Omar ..

One of the examples actually do show the result of editing the RAW file, as opposed to using flash.

Neil vN

]]> By: Omar http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-768 Omar Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:24:53 +0000 http://planetneil.com/tangents/?p=171#comment-768 Hi Neil, another great article, thanks for sharing your experience again! I was wondering... In such situation wouldn't be better or easier just to take the photo in RAW and then make the edition? Hi Neil, another great article, thanks for sharing your experience again!
I was wondering… In such situation wouldn’t be better or easier just to take the photo in RAW and then make the edition?

]]> By: Christian http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-767 Christian Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:08:44 +0000 http://planetneil.com/tangents/?p=171#comment-767 Sidney, in response to your question, max sync speed is the highest speed that a mechanical shutter will sync with a flash, on most cameras 250/s although some consumer cameras achieve 500/s with the use of an electronic shutter. A higher sync speed allows a higher shutter speed which in turn allows a larger aperture. This allows more flash to be captured by the camera so the flash unit does not have to work as hard, which in turn translates into greater flash range. The high speed sync flash I believe Neil is referring to is high speed FP mode (I don't know what it is called on Canon cameras) which allows the camera to sync at any speed above 250/s. This normally has the effect of significantly reducing flash range, although I am having amazing results using this mode with a D300 and an SB600 flash. It doesn't seem to be taxing the flash at all, almost an instant recycle. Sidney, in response to your question, max sync speed is the highest speed that a mechanical shutter will sync with a flash, on most cameras 250/s although some consumer cameras achieve 500/s with the use of an electronic shutter. A higher sync speed allows a higher shutter speed which in turn allows a larger aperture. This allows more flash to be captured by the camera so the flash unit does not have to work as hard, which in turn translates into greater flash range.

The high speed sync flash I believe Neil is referring to is high speed FP mode (I don’t know what it is called on Canon cameras) which allows the camera to sync at any speed above 250/s. This normally has the effect of significantly reducing flash range, although I am having amazing results using this mode with a D300 and an SB600 flash. It doesn’t seem to be taxing the flash at all, almost an instant recycle.

]]> By: Neil http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-770 Neil Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:10:44 +0000 http://planetneil.com/tangents/?p=171#comment-770 <blockquote>Sidney .. No, the flash's power doesn't automatically increase because of the change in shutter speed. What does happene though, is that with the increase in shutter speed, your aperture becomes wider .. and THIS is what allows your flash to have greater range, and in effect, more power. So raising the shutter speed has an indirect correlation to your output from your flash. (This is obviously only true when working with available light and flash, and wouldn't be true for studio photography.) Neil vN</blockquote>

Sidney ..

No, the flash’s power doesn’t automatically increase because of the change in shutter speed.

What does happene though, is that with the increase in shutter speed, your aperture becomes wider .. and THIS is what allows your flash to have greater range, and in effect, more power.

So raising the shutter speed has an indirect correlation to your output from your flash. (This is obviously only true when working with available light and flash, and wouldn’t be true for studio photography.)

Neil vN

]]> By: Sidney http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-762 Sidney Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:49:58 +0000 http://planetneil.com/tangents/?p=171#comment-762 In the following quote, what is the difference between max sync speed and high-speed sync flash? "I would suggest staying at max sync speed to get the most range / power from your flashgun. Only go to high-speed sync flash if you really need that shallow depth of field or high shutter speed." Does flash power automatically increase with the increase of the sync speed? In the following quote, what is the difference between max sync speed and high-speed sync flash?
“I would suggest staying at max sync speed to get the most range / power from your flashgun. Only go to high-speed sync flash if you really need that shallow depth of field or high shutter speed.”

Does flash power automatically increase with the increase of the sync speed?

]]> By: Neil http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/06/13/into-hard-sunlight/#comment-769 Neil Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:07:29 +0000 http://planetneil.com/tangents/?p=171#comment-769 <blockquote>Dave .. in that case I rely on the blinking highlights to tell me if I am way out of range, or within range of good exposure ... and then rely on the latitude of RAW to pull me through. It is difficult in bright sunlight to accurately read the camera's LCD preview, and then I rely on the blinking highlights to tell me I am not blowing out the important parts of my subject. And any slack in correct exposure is then taken up in editing the RAW file. It does seem a little 'loose' in how I choose my exposure settings, but doing it this way allows me to shoot faster and not lose to much time fretting about the exact exposure. Neil vN</blockquote>

Dave .. in that case I rely on the blinking highlights to tell me if I am way out of range, or within range of good exposure … and then rely on the latitude of RAW to pull me through.

It is difficult in bright sunlight to accurately read the camera’s LCD preview, and then I rely on the blinking highlights to tell me I am not blowing out the important parts of my subject. And any slack in correct exposure is then taken up in editing the RAW file.

It does seem a little ‘loose’ in how I choose my exposure settings, but doing it this way allows me to shoot faster and not lose to much time fretting about the exact exposure.

Neil vN

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