Good web guides for using a manual flash for portraits?

[mormegil]

Hi,

 

My girlfriend just got coerced into being her friend's wedding photographer (either

her or none) in 2 weeks. The wedding will be outdoors, at noon. She plans to use

flash mostly for flash fill, shooting people in the shade to avoid squinting and ugly

overhead shadows.

 

Aside from not completing a potrait photography class yet, she's a little confused by

the manual mode on her flash.

 

It's a Vivitar 730AF, with manual zoom (28-85), swivel, tilt, TTL GN 115. She can use

it in automatic mode, but wants to have the control of manual. The manual is next to

useless.

 

She has an EOS Rebel 2000 and a Rebel G body. She's got a bounce card already.

She can't put it on a bracket, as the flash doesn't have a cord attachment, so it's

going on the hot shoe.

 

Can anybody make any suggestions on a web guide, or basic manual flash operation

tips.

 

Thanks

[jim_strutz]

Sounds like your girlfriend stands a very good chance of loosing her friend before it's over.

 

I wouldn't use the flash in manual mode as it will fire every time at full power. That probably won't work for fill flash. I'd keep it on TTL. The Rebel (both of them) will reduce the flash output by 1.5 stops when shooting in daylight conditions.

 

For an outdoor wedding I'd recommend Fuji Superia Reala (not regular Superia). It's a 100 ISO film that does very well in sunny weather. If it's cloudy you might want a faster portrait film like Fuji NPH or Kodak Portra NC 400.

[matan_levinson1]

Jose, let me start by saying that I have been working as a wedding photographer for the past two years. there are many things to consider when shooting a wedding and experience is at the top of the list. I agree with Jim about the first sentence. photographing a friend's wedding is an important task and the person behind the camera should be EXPERIENCED at wedding photography. does your girlfriend really wants to take the chance of not being up to the job? does she really want her first wedding shoot to be that of her friend's? sounds like a recipe for trouble to me. if she can't get herself out of this mess, she should at least get the hang of photographing a wedding. she should try and get in to someone elses wedding and photograph there, she should also look at the photographer (if there is one) to see what she/ he is doing. I know it sounds rude, but a polite request and a warm smile cant get the family and photographer's premission.

 

about the flash:

 

I don't know the vivitar flash. my suggestion is to try it out at various modes at conditions similar to those that are expected to be at the wedding. if it turns out that the flash works well in auto mode- than she should use it. using the flash in manual mode takes to long for making spontanious snapshots, many beautiful moments can be missed! however, if she insists on using it in manual mode, here's the formula for flash exposre:

 

GN

 

------------- = F stop (aperture)

 

DISTANCE (in feet)

 

so if the flash GN AT FULL POWER is 115 and the distance to the subject is 9 feet the correct aperture is 12.7 (about F13).but since the idea is to use it as a fill flash she should cut it down a little and use it let's say at F19. now here's the problem: F19 is a very bad choice for portraits. so if there it is possible to manually control the flash's out put- she should cut it down to a 1/4 of it's full power. of course she'll have to adjust the shutter speed so the ambient exposure will be correct. also- the shutter speed mustn't be to fast or the flash won't sync. sounds complicated? it is. use it in auto mode if possble. better yet- get a canon flash, even a small one.

 

one last thing: Jim is right about the films.

 

best of luck,

 

matan

[mormegil]

Thanks for all the help and advice. I'll pass it along.

 

PS: It's not as bad as it seems. She has done backup photography at two or three other weddings for our friends. So that's at least a step in the right direction. She also took pictures at her bridal shower and made a real nice album that our friend liked. So hopefully, things will turn out OK.

 

again thanks

[StuartMoxham]

I would recomend that she tries to use the flash in some kind of auto mode that way she has less to worry about. If it only has one manual setting it won't be of much use anyhow. The other thing is that she should should try to enjoy the event and not worry about it I am quite sure that her friend has probably seen some of the photos she has taken before and will be quite pleased with the results. In reality your girlfriend and her friend are probably less worried about this whole event than you and most of the people reading this. It is so easy to say should use a profesional or don't do this what if the pics don't turn out. I would have given the same advise some time ago but now I think go for it. I hope all goes well for your girlfriends shoot maybe post some of the shots here.