Flash or no Flash? Which do you do most often?

[elaine marie]

After looking at several amazing web sights from those like Anne Ruthmann, Anne

Almasy, Marc Williams, Jammey Church and many others on this sight I am puzzeled

as to which captures were achieved with flash and how many are achieved with no

flash but fast L lenses.<P>I have been researching threads about fast lenses

which I know many of you use. Do you use these fast lenses so you dont have to

use flash at all or do you use them in combination with flash ? Please share

your no flash, fast lens captures with settings. <P> Thank you Elaine Marie

[brandonhamilton]

I use a flash when the Fstop range of light in the scene is too broad for the camera. Fill is used to balance the light. There are some situations I encounter where if i didn't use a flash, I would have some areas of the shot below the black end of the spectrum, as well as part of the shot beyond the white end of the spectrum with blown highlights. So what do to? You expose for the whites, and fill in the darker areas with fill.

 

Sometimes i encounter a scene where the range of light is much closer, and then fill may not be necessary. In general, I would say I use a flash 70% of the time.

[wedding-photography-denver]

As a rule my use of fast primes is to work sans flash. I do add it to the 24/1.4 for some work though. Mostly I like to up the iso (800-1600) and get what I can. If I do use flash with these lenses, its for a specific effect and not just to capture the subject. Mostly the use of non flash and fast glass is to remain somewhat discrete and for the DOF effect. Here's a couple examples from on I am batching as I type..<div></div>

[elaine marie]

David, Thank you for your response. Can you direct me in your wedding stuff folder which ones are sans flash? Thank you

 

Elaine Marie

[annealmasy]

Hi Elaine. Thanks for the terrific complement! What fun! :)

<p>

We acutally shoot with a flash quite a bit out of necessity. Even the fastest lens and

highest ISO is no good in a candlelight-only reception hall at night!

<p>

Whenever possible, we shoot with natural light only. Prime lenses are more constricting to

our style, so we use f2.8 zoom lenses. We shoot primarily at 400ISO, sometimes bumping

up to 800 or 1600 depending on the situation and the effect we're after.

<p>

We tend to shoot most images at f2.8 throughout the entire day, just increasing the

shutter speed for outdoor images. For wide "atmoshpere" shots we'll occassionally shoot

at f11 or so to get better depth of field.

<p>

When we use flash, we bounce it (sometimes on-camera, sometimes hand-held) whenever

possible. We try to use off-camera direct flash (held by an assistant). Sometimes though

it's good to know when to just turn on the on-camera flash and get the shot -- better

some standard flash than missing the moment!

<p>

Ultimately, it's all a big experiment. When every weekend you're at a new location with

new people an new rules, you have to go with the flow and think fast on your feet. Rarely

does any method work twice in a row!

<p>

Last trick? Photoshop! It's amazing what you can do with Photoshop to play up the best

aspects of an image and play down the less appealing sides. Small things like vignetting

work wonders.

<p>

The "dancing" image below was shot at f2.8, 1/125", 16mm, 400ISO, on-camera flash

bounced to the side off of an arched wooden ceiling.

<p>

<img src="http://almasyphoto.net/images/blogimages/blog-amandabill/d8349.jpg">

<p>

The "bouquet toss" image below was shot at f5.6, 1/60", 17mm, 400ISO, off-camera flash

held by an assistant.

<p>

<img src="http://almasyphoto.net/images/blogimages/blog-amandabill/a3088.jpg">

<p>

Good luck!!!!!

[dan_owen]

I am increasingly ditching the flash and shooting at higher ISOs than I used to indoors. I don't find Canon flash very consistent.

 

It seems that a lot of people are ditching the flash- going for more available light work.

[elaine marie]

Wow Anne, Love that dance shot. It does not look flashed at all. That is what I want to accomplish through this . In the area I am in we have alot of Ugly churches with no window light at all. I have grown tired of having to light up the entire church to get the shot and prevent blur. I have some fast zooms the 16-35 2.8- 24-70 2.8 and the 70-200 2.8 but would like to consider some faster primes to get away from always having to use flash. Thanks for sharing

 

Elaine Marie

[wedding-photography-denver]

Great drama shots Anne.

[toddlaffler]

Elaine, you invited me to chime in, so here I am. I am relatively new to the game of

wedding photography, I am not a well seasoned pro, but I will add my thoughts on the

topic. I mainly came from landscape type work, where low ISO and maximum depth of field

ruled the day. Wedding photography is pretty much the opposite. It took me some time to

actually start using ISO 800 and above because I always went for the best quality with my

non wedding photography. I realize you need to go 800 and sometimes 1600 to get your

shots. Is there noise, yes, but you get the shot, which is more important. Also, keeping in

mind that most brides and grooms probably don't order anything larger than 8X10 or

11X14, so it isn't too bad. Plus you can use noise reduction programs. But aside from all

that, I don't think most "non-photographers" care or even notice some of the things we as

photographers might see. I think I just got side tracked! :)

 

I think the trick to using flash is to have the photos you make NOT look like you used

flash. At least that's my take, I'm sure, as always, there are exceptions. For most the

weddings I have shot (mostly as a second shooter) I have used flash in some way or

another. Outside I usually use fill flash, with my flash dialed down about 2 1/2 stops or so.

Inside, it's almost always bounced in some way or another. Although, I just did a wedding

last Sunday where I was not allowed to use flash in the church, and I had to stay a certain

distance away from the ceremony. This was the first time I encountered this. I cranked up

the ISO to 1600 and shot at around 1/60th of a second (using my 70-200mm image

stabalizing lens) usually giving me fstops between 3-5 or so.

 

I think for me, having a fast lens isn't so much about not having to use flash, but being

ablle to have the choice between flash or no flash. If you don't have a fast lens, you may

not have that choice. I use flash in some way or another about 95% of the time. Although, I

have to say, most shots I see that I like probably used available light. To me, it usaully has

more "atmosphere" to it. On the other hand, it scares the hell out of me too, because of

the usual high ISO and minimum DOF (indoor shots). I think I'm scared of missing shots,

although maybe at the next wedding where I am a guest I will play around with only using

available light. (Although this ins't truly an accurate statement because if you have flash,

then it too is available), but you know what i mean. :) Actually, if anyone is interested, here

is a link to a guy's web site who I've done a few weddings with regarding "available" light.

He is very technical and I really respect his work. Comb through the rest of his site as well,

you will find some really good inforamtion there. Here is the article he did: http://

www.planetneil.com/faq/finding-the-light.html (You may have to copy and paste it into a

new web browser window)

 

I have rambled on as I usually do long enough I suppose. Thank you for starting this

thread Elaine. I will try to post a NO flash shot I took this last Sunday. I haven't had much

luck attaching photos in the past here, so if it doesn't upload I will repost a link to it.

 

This photo was taken with no flash. The main reason being that I didn't have a lot of time

(as usual) so couldn't set up off camera flash. As this shot is looking through a doorway

with the door partly closed, on camer flash would have been horrible. Luckily there was

just enough day light coming in through 2 windows.

 

The settings were: 1/30 of a second, ISO 400 at f/4. Also, I did a bit of PS work on this

image as well. I darkened the door and door frame, lightened the brides face, and did

some "selective focusing" as well. In the end I am very pleased with the result.<div></div>

[kari douma]

Todd, I want to see the article, but I couldn't cut and paste it... it didn't work. Could you try posting it again?

[toddlaffler]

Kari, I'll try this again, see if <a href="http://www.planetneil.com/faq/finding-the-

light.html"> this </href> works: <a href="http://www.planetneil.com/faq/finding-the-

light.html">

[jmichaelc]

Elaine,

 

It really depends on preference and style. For me, natural light is the most beautiful thing, in paticular what it can add to dramatize the atmosphere. There are those who shoot strickly ambient, those who attempt to balance out scenes with flash, and those who strickly use flash as dominating light. When at all possible, i go 100% ambient and concentrate on my intended subject and let the secondary highlights/shadows fall where they may. Some belive that blown highlights is something bad but i've learned that, more than most, it adds to the contrast of the scene and makes the presense of the picture more real to life. Balancing unnecessarily, for me, falsifies the actual scene. For me, fast glass and Hi-ISO's work in conjuction togeather to capture the full potential of light while isolating the subject. 90% of the photos on my out-dated website were 100% ambient being careful to position myself where the subject placement can be found in "Good Light". "Good Light" (IMO most important of all things to master for a natural light shooter) is beging aware of your light sources and positioning yourself accordingly to them. There are times, such as most receptions where you are forced to use flash. In this case, i still use max apertures, and in most cases, max ISO's, to obtain my max ambient potential.........bouncing your flash in opposite directions suppliments your ambient potential just enough to capture the intended subjects without completely dominating the light....even in almost completely dark enviroments.

 

There are masters of all mentioned methods but the path i'v chosen for my own personal reasons is to preserve ambient - and to answer your questions, yes, large aperturs and fast ISO's is my best friend. I consider a lens of 2.8 slow :)

 

On a "Understanding Light" scale of 1 to 10......i think i'm at maybe 1.5 .

 

Thanks for your kind words Elaine :)

[kari douma]

Thanks Todd

[toddlaffler]

Hmmm, did I just break something with my link?????

 

Everything seems to be linked to that article now. *scratching head*

[toddlaffler]

</href> does this stop it? Sorry folks

[patrick_lockwood]

I do what I feel the situation calls for. One fellow can use flash and the shots look like hell, and another can use it and you would be hard pressed to tell. Outdoors, even if fill is not needed, a kiss of flash warms up skin tones, so I use it (flash at 1/32, with camera in manual). If it is sunny, I use it for fill. Indoors, I'm either shooting with two flashes, the other on a pole held by an assistant, with a 2:1 ratio ( slave as key ) and the shots look great, or, I bounce off the cieling for that standing-under-a-skylight effect, and they look great as well. I shoot without flash if there is enough ambient light in a room, and i want that effect, which can be quiet nice, if the light is right. Outdoors I will shoot without flash if subject is standing in low contrast light, and those are usually black and white artsy close ups and similar candids with blurred backgrounds. Also don't use flash for longer focal lengths, wide angle of ceremony or landscapes of ceremonial area outdoors, or shooting in a church that disallows it.

 

 

Patrick

[Gary Naka]

Elaine

 

One thing to consider is, what is between you and the subject?

 

I have had more than one shot where someones head, hand, etc got totally blown out by the direct flash. No amount of PS can salvage something like that. Well no amount of PS by me, maybe someone more skilled than me can salvage it.

 

In those cases you need to shoot available light or bounce the ceiling, to keep the things between you and the subject from blowing out.

 

A few times I found that I go into and out of these situation fairly quickly, so you have to be able to switch the flash on/off quickly w/o disrupting your flow.

 

Gary