I'm going STROBIST!

[Hellbelly]

Well, I think I'm hooked on my next big thing. Off camera flash! Or Storbist as it seems to be called. I've had a 580EXII for a while now and love it but its been stuck on the camera up till now. I've ordered another two flash's. Two 430ex flash's. They'll sit off camera and will be fired remotely by the 580. One shooting thru an umbrella to light up my subject, the other possibly with a gel on it pointing at some background. With a little trial and error I'm hoping to get results like this.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronbennett27/3485709716/

 

OK, this doesnt have the lit background I referred to but its still awesome.

 

Mick.

Edited May 11, 2009 by Hellbelly

[Steve Randles]

Whilst I agree that good lighting is essential especially with a shot like this (wedding day record), too much light can also kill a shot which is what the flickr example does for me. Where have the shadows gone, surely there where shadows for those viewing the scene?

 

Its okay as art and acceptable too, but its far removed from what I would consider a photograph, to me it has the badly overdone HDR look about it and all that light is fighting to be dominant at the loss of the shadows.

 

Slave flashes though are v good for example with product Photography and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

Steve...

[Clifftop]

am i missing something here????

 

is the light to the right of the couple causing the shadow on the young guys face, (his right side.)

 

sort of defeating the purpose is it not.

 

what is the purpose of shooting thro a white brolly, is it to take away the sunlight.

 

I really can't see anything special about the photo.

 

not being picky i just don't understand it.

 

looks like Steve and i were typing at the same time.

 

 

Cheers Fred

Edited May 11, 2009 by Clifftop

[Steve Randles]

Shooting through a brolly difuses or softens the light (shooting the flash..not the camera through the brolly), flashes can be quite stark/aggressive on a photo so diffusing or bouncing flash can have a softer more natural feel to it.

 

Steve...

[Hellbelly]

I sort of see where you're coming from but I still see a reasonable amount of shadow around the place. OK, his face is a little bright but I see shadow and tone in most everything else. I know you're not a fan for HDR Steve and thats cool with me. Its horses for courses I guess.

 

@Clifftop. Shooting thru a brolly provides a nice soft even light. Often done with the sun lighting up something from another angle or done to seperate the subject from the background. Somtimes this can be harsh, sometime subtle. Again, thats up to individual taste. OK, that might not have been the best example but its my kind of shot. Here's another showing lighting from a few different angles.

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raz1n/2498898247/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stateofthenation/2328946160/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/muler/2190874564/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joakimsundstrom/1020952164/

 

I know it can make a shot look "Un-natural" but hey, if you're a purist and think everything MUST look natural then you might not like it at all. Have you had a look at my work lately, I'm not all that in to getting stuff to look natural lol. There's a whole new wave of shooters coming thru these days. The old guard can keep their "natural", it cool too but I'm going in another direction. .

 

Mick.

Edited May 11, 2009 by Hellbelly

[Clifftop]

ok i think i understand it a bit better now.

 

really liked the 1st and 3rd photo stands out.

 

Thanks both

 

 

Cheers Fred

[Steve Randles]

Actually, I'm a huge fan of HDR when its used as the method was intended to be, to capture the full dynamic range of a high contrast scene, something that film could cope with better than digital can. Around 50% of the shots you see from me are HDR...some examples...all HDR.

 

 

 

 

There are now two camps for HDR use, those who make art with it and those who use it to capture the dynamic range of a photo to give an end photo that reflects what they saw that day. However HDR is an incredibly dificult thing to get right and its very easy to overcook some settings which is something we all see an awful lot of around the web.

 

Steve...

[Sutton Warrior]

Have not been a fan of HDR, but the 'Cave' and particularly 'Boathouse' I like very much. Its has to be said, the examples that are shown by Hellbelly, for me, have the hint of a 'pastals artist drawing' the way highlights are applied in such a medium? Leaving me with a slightly flat, 2 dimensional, drawn 3D, all most comic strip image in my mind? . . . Mmm I have said it before, 'computer artistry', love it or hate it. I tell you what, it don't matter a fig if its commercially salable, go fill the boots

 

SW

[Janet]

At the expense of sounding totally thick, would one of you please explain what exactly is HDR and is it something I should know about? I've had a quick Google, but that has only served to confuse me!

 

As for the pictures, I love the cave, but the shot of the beck just does it for me. The wedding shot I didn't much like. It was very nice, but a bit bland. I don't understand what is supposed to be special about it? I thought the golf and the surfboard photo's were excellent though!

 

Would somebody care to enlighten me? It's probably way more than I need to know as a beginner, but still interesting!

 

Janet

[Hellbelly]

Apologies to Steve about the not liking HDR. Those shots are terrific. Its this comment that makes me smile though.

 

Actually, I'm a huge fan of HDR when its used as the method was intended to be,

 

There's a whole heap of stuff thats been devoloped from things that were intended to do other things. Dont mean they're wrong though . But, its all down to taste as has been said.

 

 

Its has to be said, the examples that are shown by Hellbelly, for me, have the hint of a 'pastals artist drawing' the way highlights are applied in such a medium? Leaving me with a slightly flat, 2 dimensional, drawn 3D, all most comic strip image in my mind?

 

I think there's only one example that could be classes in that group SW. The others would be un touched in that department. They're all about getting light on the subject.