Bounce Flash

DSC_0360, originally uploaded by bostonaday.

Another experiment, but this time with a bounce flash. I wanted to see if I could take a single flash photo of our bathroom without getting the spectral (sparkly) elements overexposed and distracting. Our bathroom is nothing but shiny surfaces (glass tile, stainless steel, lacquered cabinets, granite, etc.), so it was going to be a challenge.

And the flash had to be on camera because there wasn't room in the corner for me, the camera, and a flash stand. So I turned the flash 180 degrees and bounced it off the wall(s) and ceiling.

I love how smooth the light is on the granite and on the cabinet (the one reflected in the mirror). And while some of the tiles reflected the light, it's fairly smooth and even.

Lights were off with no ambient light, one SB600 on full power. Added about 2/3rds EV converting from RAW.

Finally playing with light

Light Mod Diffused, originally uploaded by bostonaday.

Today was a day for super-gluing fingers and experimenting with flash techniques. I've been reading a fantastic blog by David Hobby, aka Strobist and it's really inspired me. Lighting has always seemed like calculus to me...I'm sure it's useful, but it's too painful to learn. Well I'm almost past that (with lighting, not calculus).

So today I ran around town with Elizabeth picking up some supplies to give me more control over light. After spending some time working on my craft skills and getting super glue on most of my fingers I went outside to try out some new tricks.

First, I wanted to see if I could overpower the ambient light. All of the pics you see here were taken about 90 minutes before sunset, but they look like they were taken at night with a flash. Not necessarily the best technique for this photo, but I wanted to see if I could master it.

Second, I wanted to see how the new flash modifiers worked, so I set up this experiment. All of the pictures are using the same camera and flash settings. I'm using the on camera flash for a little fill, and the main flash is camera right pointed directly at the blue reflecting ball.

This first picture is with the flash diffuser in front of the flash.


This second picture is with the diffuser removed and the flash zoomed to 80mm.


The third picture is with a snoot attached to the flash (Elizabeth had to listen to me say snoot all day long. Snooty snoot snoot.)


And the last picture is with a grid attached to the flash (imagine looking down a box of straws).


You can really see how the light spills onto the back wall (right side of the picture) using the bare flash. As the beam tightens up from diffused to zoom to snoot to grid you can see less light making its way back there and more light hitting the focal point. I really like the visual impact from the snoot and the grid, and I can see how they will help make a picture pop. Next to experiment some more with balance.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Brick, originally uploaded by bostonaday.

I finally got a chance to take out the new camera, lens, and flash for some fun. But most importantly I got a couple of pictures of my wonderful wife.

Normally I don't enjoy photographing people. They move too fast. They blink. And worst of all, they have an opinion about how they look.

Now my wife has all three of these traits, but she's also beautiful and photogenic and a lot of fun to be with, which counts for a lot more.

We had a lot of fun and got a lot of stares while we taking pictures along the parkway near our house. The new lens is sharp as a tack, and the flash was providing the perfect amount of fill light.

And I was pretty pleased with my efforts. Even though I took over 100 photos and only found two worth printing, all but two of those were technically correct. The rest were workable, just not as charming as this picture.