Another question about flash brackets...help!

[c._s.2]

<p>My question is:<br>

I am photographing an event outside - starts about 45 minutes before sunset and lasts about 4 hours after sunset. It will be a benefit with a band on a stage - what I am mostly interested in is the people.....Since it will be outside, there will be little to no bouce light. I am not taking lights, as I will be moving around all over the place. It seems to me the only way to avoid either blurry pictures or the other end of the spectrum which is the red eye look is the flash bracket. I have a 430EXII. Is the best alternative a flash bracket to raise the flash light and perhaps diffuse it a little more and hide shadows via a flash bracket? I have never used a flash bracket, so I am not sure exactly if the benefit will be worth it or which to get???.....any help would be apprecaited!! I have to order ASAP (the bracket that is) so, advice is much appreciated!!! TIA!</p>

<p> </p>

[c._s.2]

<p>by the way.....i am most interested in photographing the people paying for the tickets, not the people on the stage...just thought i would clarify....THANKS!</p>

[scott_ferris]

<p>I hate brackets, though many love them, I'd just use an ETTL cord and hold it with my left hand, with a little practice it is very easy to do. It gets the flash much further away than a bracket, you have much more control over light direction and feathering too.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<blockquote>

<p>"...I'd just use an ETTL cord and hold it with my left hand, with a little practice it is very easy to do...."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That's a great tip - for younger folks with strong arms and rock steady hands. But for us ordinary humans with a pro-tier Nikon D1/2/3-series or equivalent Canon dSLR, plus an f/2.8 zoom and their top tier flash units? I'd need to use a shutter speed of 1/250th to minimize camera motion blur, which rules out dragging the shutter for low light flash shots to include some sense of ambient lighting.</p>

<p>A few tips that have worked for me, using flash on a bracket in dark indoor areas or outdoors at night:</p>

<ul>

<li>Aim the bracket-mounted flash straight ahead.</li>

<li>Don't try to bounce the flash. Don't try to use a bounce card either. You'll lose most of the light. If conditions are suitable for bounce flash you won't even need the bracket.</li>

<li>Remember to flip the flash to suit the camera orientation. Otherwise you'll get harsh side lighting with the camera vertically oriented ("portrait" orientation).</li>

<li>Opinions differ on the next bit: I'll often use a small, snap-on diffuser dome up close outdoors, even with the flash on a bracket. Some folks prefer not to use a diffuser at all unless there are nearby reflective surfaces (walls, ceiling). Test for yourself before using a diffuser dome outdoors.</li>

</ul>

<p>Again, these tips are only for indoors in large venues without reflective surfaces, or outdoors in dim lighting or at night. Indoors with suitable reflective surfaces or outdoors in daylight are completely different. For example, red-eye is less likely outdoors in daylight since pupils will already be constricted from ambient light. So a bracket may be unnecessary. But be aware that the eyes of some people and animals will show reflection artifacts in any light unless the flash is well away from the lens axis.</p>

<p>C.S., keep in mind that most brackets add significant weight and bulk. Be sure you'll get plenty of use from one before spending too much money. You might check into the Demb bracket, which is very lightweight and compact and offers many of the benefits of a full sized flip bracket. If the Demb had been available when I bought my CB Junior I'd have gotten the Demb instead. But the CB Junior is an excellent value in a flip bracket - but possibly the heaviest of that genre, heavier than every Stroboframe flip bracket I tried.</p>

[scott_ferris]

<p>Lex, I am no spring chicken, I use a 1Ds with 2.8 zooms and 550 EX flashes, averagely fit people don't need anything like 1/250 with a 24-70 for sharp pictures with a flash, or for flash/ambient mixed dragged shutter images. And as you rightly point out, brackets add a fair bit of weight on their own.</p>

<p>Sure my suggestion is not for everybody, but for many it works far better than a bracket, and as you invariably need the cord to use with the bracket anyway why not give it a go?</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<blockquote>

<p>"Sure my suggestion is not for everybody, but for many it works far better than a bracket, and as you invariably need the cord to use with the bracket anyway why not give it a go?"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I have, several times. Can't handhold steadily enough with the D2H, SB-800, SC-29 cord and zoom. It's an ergonomic nightmare, especially trying to juggle the flash in the left hand and adjusting the zoom ring or manually touching up focus. I'd be more likely to try it again with a lighter weight body and wireless TTL.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, the flip bracket and good two-hand ergonomics work better for me on the occasions I need a bracket.</p>

[frank_skomial]

<p>I recommend Stroboframe PRESS-T Compact Flash Bracket. Perhaps it is the lightest, made of aluminum, and has extended/adjustable height arm, with rotating arm, and a plastic cable holder, that helps a bit. The lowest position of the extendible arm is used most in action shoots with vigorous camera movements, but it can be extended by another 4 inches or so.<br /><br />Get mounting plate for the bracket for your camera model. Get mounting plate for your flash cable and for the bracket.<br />Get TTL extension cord for your flash and camera.</p>

<p>I use Nikon D700/D300 with the PRESS_T bracket, and Nikon SC29 TTL extension cord, and the mounting plate for D300 and PRESS_T, and mouting plate for SC29 and PRESS_T.<br />Actually I use mounting bracket for D300, and I cut our one corner of the end part of the plate for the D300 mounting oplate for PRES_T, and it fits D700, as well as D300.</p>

<p>With camera and SB800 flash on the arm, I use it for full sun lighting in the iTTL/BL/FP mode exposure fill-in flash automation, with fllash negative compensation between -1EV to -2EV. The flash will tell you max FP range for your combination of ISO, aperture, and any compensation. (perhaps also auto-zoom on SB900 would be included ? in the range computation).<br /><br />Just for orientation, with ISO 800, aperture 2.8, I get FP range to 20 meters (66 ft) that is also max effective range of the iTTL automation. I use it with 85/1.4, 50/1.4, and 24-70/2.8 lenses, outdoors, with the dome diffuser removed from the flash head.</p>

<p>SB900 is already too large and heavy on the swinging bracket arm, and SB800 works better.<br />Make sure to swing the arm so the flash is always above the lens.</p>

<p>SB600/SB700 may not have required power for FP, but you could boost ISO.</p>

<p> </p>

[c._s.2]

<p>I have a Canon 550D, will be using a 24-70 f/2.8, a 50 f/1.8, perhaps before the sun goes down a 70-200 f/2.8 (tripod of course). I only ask about using a bracket because this event is a benefit and there will be food, open bar, stage with a band, etc....OUTSIDE (people running around everywhere). (almost entirely after dark)....I want to avoid the deer in the headlights look - harsh flash look , and blur in photos too. I have a 430 EXII and a diffuser. I would love to try to hand-hold the flash, but I honestly don't see how I can when trying to focus and make adjustments on the camera - someone will probably end up with a black eye or wearing spilled red wine, and it won't be me! That is why I considered a bracket. I don't want to waste my money, and if it is not going to significantly improve the quality of the picture, then I don't want to buy one. If it will help get better quality pictures, I do. I still am not sure exactly what I need though....I need a TTL cord, what else....assuming purchasing a bracket is the right choice for my shooting conditions..???? THANKS!!!</p>

[c._s.2]

<p>Lex,</p>

<blockquote>

<p><br /> Opinions differ on the next bit: I'll often use a small, snap-on diffuser dome up close outdoors, even with the flash on a bracket. Some folks prefer not to use a diffuser at all unless there are nearby reflective surfaces (walls, ceiling). Test for yourself before using a diffuser dome outdoors.</p>

</blockquote>

<p><br /> What type of dome diffuser? What does that do to the photos vs the traditional snap-on diffuser? BTW....the only other little bit of help I will have are my Westcott reflectors.....</p>

[john_deerfield]

<blockquote>

<p>and if it is not going to significantly improve the quality of the picture, then I don't want to buy one</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>A flash bracket may reduce red-eye.<br>

If you shoot in the portrait position, a bracket will keep the flash centered over the lens.<br>

If your subject is close to a background, then the bracket helps raise the flash and lower the shadow. </p>

<p>However, as far as the deer in headlights look... no, it won't help. If you are using direct flash (and sometimes you simply have no choice) then direct flash is simply going to be you quality of light. A better alternative might be to use a "flash-on-a-stick" so that you are using off camera flash for direction of lighting. This approach is a tad more cumbersome (unless you have an assistant). A Cheetah style stand helps when working solo. Direction of light will do more to improve the <em>quality</em> of light than a flash bracket.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Blurry pictures, red eye and quality of light outside are separate issues. The flash bracket does nothing to avoid blurry pictures. You need to know how to implement shutter drag as the light fades to avoid ghosting/motion blur/handholding shake. At one point during dusk, you will need to underexpose the ambient in relation to the flash EV to implement shutter drag with flash.</p>

<p>Red eye can be avoided--sometimes--with the use of a flash bracket. The bracket will not always work. Since red eye is the result of narrow angle between the flash and subjects eyes, some tele shots will still have red eye, even with a bracket.</p>

<p>Quality of light in relation to bracket use is limited only to shadow placement. It helps, particularly in situations where the subject is close to a background surface, and it helps most with vertical shots, so the shadows aren't exactly to the side. However, with horizontal shots, where the shadows are thrown somewhat downward, it isn't all that attractive either.</p>

<p>Quality of light re softness is not dependent upon a bracket. Outside with nothing to bounce off, you can't really get soft light because you'd have to be carrying around a huge reflector or light modifier with you all the time. Most of the time, event photographers just settle for taking the hard edge (specular quality) off the flash. You can do this with a baseball glove type modifier (look up A Better Bounce Card or Chuck Gardner's homemade version), or using the OmniBounce as Lex describes it or even simpler, using the wide angle diffuser over the flash reflector, even if you don't use a wide angle focal length. The idea is that the flash is sprayed over a wide area, including the ground, the front of your shirt, and other people/objects around you, so incremental reflectivity helps cut down the specular quality of light.</p>

<p>If you get a bracket, I'd recommend Flash Frame's Hand on Top (H.O.T.) bracket. It is simple and not so expensive.</p>

<p>Go outside at night and experiment so you can see for yourself. Deer in the headlight look is for lack of good shutter drag. Scott's 'flash in hand' actually works well since you have directionality of light. Might want to practice it. In the old days, this technique was used quite a bit. Photographers used to rig a wrist strap on the flash (with off camera or sync cord) so they could let the flash dangle from their wrist when using their hands to work settings.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>Before I had a bracket, I held the flash in my left hand. That actually gives better lighting quality that a bracket because it's that much more off the camera. My problem isn't with blurred pictures -- just set the shutter speed high enough -- but that I need both hands to make adjustments on the camera (I shoot mostly manual, and back when I did this with flash there was no autofocus). I have the Stroboframe Press T. Good bracket. Works well in horizontal position but seems a bit top heavy in the vertical position and I get tired of flipping it back and forth. Lately I've been using a Stroboframe that lets me flip the camera from horizontal to vertical while the flash stays in place above it. I think it's the CameraFlip but not sure of the model. They make two or three variations on the same idea. Either way, having the flash on a bracket helps compared with on the camera. I also like the StoFen OmniBounce. No, it's not as good as an umbrella or big softbox, but definitely better than straight flash.</p>

[jcuknz]

<p>From my experience when my boss told me to hand hold my flash unit I suggest a neck strap and the use of it for the camera.<br>

Instead of needing the left hand to focus I suggest you work at an aperture which gives you reasonable depth of field and pre-set focus or use AF. In this situation in the past I would have set the camera to say 6ft and taken all my photos at that distance, my aperture would have been f/11. I would have been working with a 50mm lens on full frame. I suspect in these days of e-ttl people rely on their camera too much, and play with their zooms instead of ZWYF, when there are simple manual ways to work.<br>

Story ... it was my birthday and I went to the pub for a drink with my boss and darkroom guy, I didn't normally drink so the double whisky the boss shouted me made me distinctly woossy. Then the boss pulled an envolope from his pocket and said " John I wonder if you would do this job for me?" <br>

The above was how I handled the situation ... set distance, set aperture ... no problems though I wanted to lie down :-)<br>

Use the ZWYF technique [ Zoom with your feet]</p>

[c._s.2]

<blockquote>

<p>(look up A Better Bounce Card or Chuck Gardner's homemade version),</p>

</blockquote>

<p>So, I just ordered a better bounce card - that seemed like the best option for my shouting situation for the upcoming event....We shall see if it gets here asap! lol...thanks so much for all of your advice!!!</p>

[ian_gordon_bilson]

<p>So, although you have nothing to bounce the light off,like a large,white surface (think :white wall or ceiling) : you have ordered a Bounce Card ?<br>

And, having reduced the effective lighting power by about 200% (about 2 F/stops), you expect what,exactly?<br>

I'm just curious, no disrespect intended.<br>

Direct flash can work really well, if you use the 'dragging the shutter' technique.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Ian--the A Better Bounce Card can be used as a self contained bouncer. Loss of power is totally workable later at night, but not when it is still bright, where direct flash would work better, since it can still be used as fill (reduced power) rather than main light.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>There's nothing wrong with using a bounce card. Yes they lose light -- any type of diffuser loses light -- but they improve the quality of the light even when they are small. Before I had anything fancier, I would take the cardboard cover from one of my reporter's notebooks (long a skinny, like a skinny steno pad), staple white paper to it and rubber band it to a Vivitar. Not as good as an umbrella or soft box but better than nothing and no problems with getting adequate light at reasonable distances.</p>