Tuesday, May 13, 2014

How to create photos that are spectacular!!

Fuji X-E2, 55-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4.7, 1/75 [Neewer TT850 on light stand bouncing. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera.]

Those are spectacular!!!  Much nicer to have the lighting off the camera’s direct line of sight.
email from a parent

I photographed my daughter's orchestra awards banquet and while there a guy came up and started talking to me and asking questions. I could tell from all his camera gear he was either a pro as well or just a hobbyist. He wanted to know where my photos would be accessible. He had been taking photos for a few years since his child was a senior in the orchestra. My daughter is just a freshman.

I gave him my business card and he wrote sending me a link to his photos. Since I knew he was wanting to share I sent him the link that I had also given to the orchestra teacher to use for the newsletters and other things to help out the program.

That is when I got the email with the quote above "Those are spectacular!!!  Much nicer to have the lighting off the camera’s direct line of sight."

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ6.4, 1/30 [Neewer TT850 on light stand in back of room pointed straight toward the front of the room. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera.]
I think the father noticed my flash on a light stand because my Fuji X-E2 didn't look pro as compared to his large DSLR and 70-200mm ƒ/2.8.

His wife later in the evening said, since you do this professionally you can answer a question. She then pulled up a photo where you could see the reflection of her on camera flash in the glasses of people. She wanted to know how to get rid of the reflection.

Fuji X-E2, 55-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/6.4, 1/40 [Neewer TT850 on light stand in back of room pointed straight toward the front of the room. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera.]
I talked to her about how your flash works like you playing billiards/pool. By getting the flash further from the lens you avoid the problem with reflections in the glasses.

This is the Neewer TT850 on light stand and the Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger on the Fuji X-E2]
This flash system isn't TTL and therefore controlling the exposure is done a few ways.
  • Flash Power—How bright the flash is will influence if the picture is over, under or properly exposed. You can control the Neewer flash from 1/128 to full power in 1/3 stop increments.
  • ƒ-stop/Aperture—You control how much of the light is coming into your camera by the camera iris called the aperture. These are fractions. The focal length of the lens over how wide the opening of the lens is. 
  • Flash Distance to Subject—The closer you put the flash to the subject the brighter the subject and the further away you put is the darker it gets. This is assuming your Flash Power and ƒ-stop are constant.
When the radio is on the same channel as the flash you can then send the signal to change the power settings of the flash. 
I put the flash off to the side of the room or at the back of the room. How do I determine where to put the flash in relation to the camera? I want the FLASH—CAMERA—SUBJECT to form a triangle. Usually the flash is between 45º to 90º most of the time.

What impressed the parent wasn't my cameras or really my flash—he had as good of gear if not better than what I had, but the thing is his flash was on his camera and that is what made my pictures spectacular. How do I know this—he said so.