Good basic desciption of exposure using aperture and Shutter speed with flash

[elyshiamadison]

Found this description here (http://www.sublime-light.com/index.php/2007/07/18/portrait-lighting-for-beginners-metering-for-flash/) for using your aperture and shutter speed to control exposure with flash (something until 5mins ago I hadn't gotten my head around)
It's written in a way that anyone should be able to "get".

Hope it's helpful for other newbies to flash!

[Ray Heath]

Yeh, the linked information is kinda right ely.

They somewhat skimmed over several issues;

1) you can use a shutter speed slower than the flash sync. speed to allow more ambient light to record.

2) the actual sync. speed has more to do with how the shutter curtains in the camera actually operate rather than any effect they have on controlling flash exposure.

3) the use of a flash meter is worthwhile especially when using film but also if the digital photographer is unsure of, or in-experienced in, evaluating exposure and histograms.

[Stingray]

Nice article *bookmarked*:)
i rarely use flash photography :) ..
being as most of my shots are of wildlife/nature .. or storms ..
where flash would either make no difference or scre the birds/animals away :)
but knowing to adjust the aperture to get a better picture could come in handy.. as i progress into school photos when my kids are in auditoriums etc :)
- Daz

[geoffsta]

Just got myself a speed light, so this is a great article.
Now to start practicing.

[elyshiamadison]

Another big help I have found is youtube and flickr.... if you search "setups" or "strobist" on flickr, there are a heap of people who share their lighting setups. Some of those you will find have very detailed information on their particular setup.

[elyshiamadison]

Yeh, the linked information is kinda right ely.

They somewhat skimmed over several issues;

1) you can use a shutter speed slower than the flash sync. speed to allow more ambient light to record.

2) the actual sync. speed has more to do with how the shutter curtains in the camera actually operate rather than any effect they have on controlling flash exposure.

3) the use of a flash meter is worthwhile especially when using film but also if the digital photographer is unsure of, or in-experienced in, evaluating exposure and histograms.

I know it skims over some information - but from a beginners view point, it's basic enough to understand without getting too technical (I personally found sites overflowing with information like strobist, to be quite daunting - I have spent a fair amount of time in there and not come away understanding much more than I went in there for)

Probably for me, I need to know WHY something works the way it does - not just be given numbers. Once i know WHY, I can then experiment and see for myself how it works. (if that makes sense)

Gives us somewhere to start and then work onto more technical stuff ;)

[maccaroneski]

Another big help I have found is youtube and flickr.... if you search "setups" or "strobist" on flickr, there are a heap of people who share their lighting setups. Some of those you will find have very detailed information on their particular setup.

One group that I find helpful along those lines is "S.U.M. (Setups Mandatory) Show us your lights!"

[elyshiamadison]

That group is awesome - found that when I searched "lighting setup"

I just wish there were more hours in the day, without the kids running around so I could pull my lights out! I just know one of them will knock them over if I do it when they're here.....