LESSON ONE - DEFINITIONS
LEARN THIS - THERE IS A LOT OF DATA HERE IN DEFINITIONS
Light from any source, even a Zippo Cigarette lighter unit has measurable light values. In the following six lessons we will try to explain things and we will work with to help you think and start to work with light better. We will be using simple techniques to make the learning process easier.
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT - OR MAN MADE LIGHT
If it plugs in the wall uses batteries or a portable pack, it is artificial light. It may be:
• Halogen,
• Tungsten,
• Fluorescent
• LED's
• Flash or Strobe
• Bright Sunlight
• Environmentally challenged days. (Fog, smog, volcanos)
LIGHT QUALITIES
This light has three qualities or dimensions that may be adjusted. We manipulate it to make it more flattering to the person or object we are shooting. Photography is the complete understanding of this light and how we may best use it. Here are the three ways that light effects the subject:
• The direction to the subject.
• The quality of the light, hard or soft.
• The amount of light at the source that is measured.
Buying portable lighting can be a little intimidating. Because people shop by name, brand, model and looks. Yes looks, I have seen it and heard it all across the counter. All of the above is wrong.
Because what you need to
Most point-and-shoot and many SLR basic cameras have built-in flash. The problem is that they are limited in range and tend to top out at about 12 feet.
The higher priced units that totally integrate with the camera are more powerful and can reach out to 60-70 feet with moderate ISO ratings. And some models may not work with some models of the camera you have. The photo industry is similar to the car industry. The car manufacturers used to come out with a new model every five, six years and they were profitable. Now it's new models every year and soon they will run out of names to call those things. As with most of them I see at a traffic light, they are all starting to look the same and the emblems are smaller making it harder to tell who made it.
FLASH MODES
Most add on flashes of decent quality have modes or Pre-sets usually coded by letters or secret symbols. In you built in flash you had few choices to make.
Here are the most common deeply simplified.
We are using Nikon's so we have a new situation, we have modes on the camera for scene settings and modes on the flash for performance settings. I wish they would throw them in the commode mode. Here is where most confusion takes place.
The higher end flashes have more modes they can fire in.
The higher end cameras have more modes they can record in.
Fortunately the right mating of the camera and flash will have them talking to each other, if you are lucky.
(A) Simple Non-TTl Mode The Nikons, Canon, and others all have an A mode. It's the oldest and most primal mode set easily on the menu on the flash.
This mode sets the flash to see the reflected light from the subject and "squelches" or cuts it off when the exposure is correct. In this mode you enter the the F/stop manually and the damn thing works, always has.
(AA) Mode, Auto -Aperture mode, same flash, extra features.
The improvement to the A mode came about with more information coming from the camera via those little contacts in the hotshoe. Now it reads the aperture and the ASA/ISO, and initiates a pre-flash to verify and also to set the white balance.
It then squelches the power giving you the correct exposure based on distance from the flash to the subject. Sometimes.
(M) Manual Mode - By setting the aperture and the flash output level, you can manually set the exposure and the distance to the subject manually.
(AUTO-FP) High Speed Synch-Auto FP High Speed Sync is a flash mode used for fill-flash photography under brightly lit conditions. It will fill in and open up shadowed areas in order to portray the greatest detail in subjects.
It's also ideal when using wide aperture lenses, because it allows fast shutter speeds and it is often used for action-stopping sports photography. And for portraits, you can open up your lenses to their full aperture in order to isolate your subject against a blurred background without overexposing the image.
(TTL) Dedicated units are proprietary for a brands and sometimes specific models of camera. Some measure the reflected light right off the film plane itself and squelches the unit when correct exposure is achieved.
(TTL-BL) NIKONS Mode for Balanced FILL Nikon's i-TTL Balanced Fill-Flash automatically balances the output of the Nikon Speedlight and the scene's ambient light. Immediately before the main flash goes off, the Speedlight fires a series of monitor pre-flashes, which convey Information about the scene's lighting to the camera. Combined with information from the camera's, the information is analyzed, the flash output adjusted to match the scene's ambient light
OK, fill light is confusing. Fill light is used to counteract a strong light source with another light source.
COMMANDER MODE:
Many of the newer units can talk to each other allowing multiple portable flashes to be used in unison. The more sophisticated the flash the more expensive.
Here is one page from the Nikon SB-900 manual explaining their modes. Close to the 800's procedures and this is why they come with a 100 page book.
The camera controls the SB SB-900’s flash output level by measuring the light
reflected from the subject when the SB-900 fires a series of monitor pre-flashes.
Auto-Aperture flash mode
The SB-900 controls the flash output level by measuring the flash illumination reflected
back from the subject using the sensor for Non-TTL auto flash and combining this with
information from the camera, such as the ISO sensitivity and the aperture setting.
Non-TTL Auto flash mode
The SB-900 controls the flash output level by measuring the flash illumination
reflected back from the subject using the sensor for Non-TTL auto flash.
Distance Priority manual flash mode
If you preset the aperture and the distance to the subject, the SB SB-900 will
automatically take control of correct light output.
Manual flash mode
By setting the aperture and the flash output level, you can manually set the
exposure and the distance to the subject.
Repeating flash mode
The SB-900 fires repeatedly to create stroboscopic multiple-exposure effects. This
operation is useful when shooting fast-moving subjects.
Switching illumination pattern
You can select one of three types of illumination pattern (standard, center-weighted
and even) in accordance with your objective.
Bounce flash
By tilting or rotating the flash head, you can bounce the light off a ceiling or wall to
make use of reflected light.
Close-up flash photography
Close up flash photography can be achieved with use of the built-in wide-flash
adapter and the flash head tilted down.
Using color filters
You can compensate for the color of a light source or create interesting effects by
changing the light from the filters to a different color.
Flash output level compensation/Exposure compensation
Flash output level compensation is performed by modifying the flash output level for
the flash illuminated subject only. Exposure compensation is performed by intentionally
modifying the correct exposure to modify both the subject and background exposure.
Only 99 pages to go.