got my first flash.... now how do i use it properly?

[otispunkmeyer]

any good sites for learning how best to employ a flash?

i just got a slightly used speedlite 430ex off of ebay, it should be arriving on my door step in the morning.

i got a little bit of money left over from the purchase so what cheap but worth while additions should i get. i read somewhere i should get like green and yellow/orange gels to help with white balance in some places.

 

[jpeyton]

Get some kind of diffuser with the left-over money; I personally like the versatility of the Demb Flip-It.

You're going to start learning with the camera and flash in full auto modes (their defaults), so they automatically meter the scene and adjust the proper flash level. You want to experiment with flash angles. Ceiling bounce is the most popular (with the flash head pointing straight up), but also try aiming the flash at ceiling corners to the left, right, and even behind you. If you have other light sources (natural or artificial) lighting up the subject from one angle, try bouncing the flash to illuminate the other side. People think that a regular 90 degree ceiling bounce is always best, but it actually depends more on the room you're in, the position of the subject and existing lighting conditions.

The color of the reflector can also make a difference; bouncing your flash off a white ceiling will give you different results than bouncing off a yellow set of curtains. You can play around with homemade reflectors (piece of paper, poster board, index card) and see how you can send light from a single flash in multiple directions. The Demb Flip-It is just a more professional version of a homemade reflector.

 

[yllus]

The Gary Fong Lightsphere-II is rather well regarded, though it is overpriced. Probably worth biting the bullet on.

 

[punchkin]

I recommend against the LightSphere and the Omnibounce unless you have no bounce surface and need to spread light broadly over a group AND have no better diffuser available. The Flip-It is decent for when a neutral ceiling is unavailable and you're shooting a fair distance away. You can also check out softboxes for the flash, which work well for soft fill indoors and out when bounce is unavailable.

Some good beginner's rules for using flash indoors:
1. Use manual mode
2. Use higher ISOs-- 800 and up. If noise becomes an issue bump up Flash Exposure Compensation a third of a stop or so (look it up in the manual-- very easy to do).
3. Use as wide an aperture as possible, while still getting the shot
4. Use the higher of the minimum shutter speed to adequately freeze subject motion, and the minimum shutter speed to counteract camera shake for the focal length
5. Bounce if possible, otherwise use a diffuser (and as jpeyton said, bouncing BACK OVER YOUR SHOULDER onto the ceiling is very often the best option, especially when you are close to the subject)
6. Match the color of the ambient light (see strobist.com's discussion of gelling the flash; you can buy a swatchbook at BHPhotovideo.com for a penny, with swatches that will fit just fine over the head of your flash)

Full auto mode is about the worst way to use the Canon flash system, at least indoors. Manual mode, interestingly enough, is the most hassle-free way to do it. Outdoors, Av mode works well for fill flash.

 

[ghostman]

I'm not a huge fan of the "commercial" flash accessories, including those already mentioned, because they can be accomplished so easily with DIY alternatives.

Demb Flip-It = square posterboard on tension hinge
A Better Bounce Card = arts and crafts foam
Omnibounce, Lightsphere = tupperware (cheap knockoffs widely available on ebay)

For a while, I sold homemade ones for about $10 on a forum, just because I was annoyed at the ridiculous prices some places were charging.
Stofen Omnibounce knock-off: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/430diffuser.jpg
A Better Bounce Card: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/bouncecard.jpg
Forgot the name of this, but it has some limited resemblance to a Lumiquest: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/curvebounce.jpg

The gels you're referring to are made by Rosco, GAM, Apollo and Lee. You can get a Roscolux swatch book sample for a penny at B&H (when they have it in stock) that are properly sized for flash heads:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/...scolux_Swatchbook.html
More specifically, the color correction filters you are referring to the following (also available in Lee, GAM, Apollo equivalents):
http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/cinegel.asp

Of course, if you like paying more money for it instead, you can get the products by Honl:
http://www.honlphoto.com/servl...ht-strobe-flash/Detail
I am tempted to buy several sheets of gel and make my own, but I don't know if anyone would be willing to buy these even at $1/gel. I have no clue how he sells them at $2.50/gel.

EDIT: BTW, I still use an index card for most of my purposes.

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Get some kind of diffuser with the left-over money; I personally like the versatility of the Demb Flip-It.

You're going to start learning with the camera and flash in full auto modes (their defaults), so they automatically meter the scene and adjust the proper flash level. You want to experiment with flash angles. Ceiling bounce is the most popular (with the flash head pointing straight up), but also try aiming the flash at ceiling corners to the left, right, and even behind you. If you have other light sources (natural or artificial) lighting up the subject from one angle, try bouncing the flash to illuminate the other side. People think that a regular 90 degree ceiling bounce is always best, but it actually depends more on the room you're in, the position of the subject and existing lighting conditions.

The color of the reflector can also make a difference; bouncing your flash off a white ceiling will give you different results than bouncing off a yellow set of curtains. You can play around with homemade reflectors (piece of paper, poster board, index card) and see how you can send light from a single flash in multiple directions. The Demb Flip-It is just a more professional version of a homemade reflector.

Seconding the flip it. I've got a big flip-it for my Sigma 500 Super. It's an absolutely fantastic product.

 

[punchkin]

Originally posted by: ghostman
I'm not a huge fan of the "commercial" flash accessories, including those already mentioned, because they can be accomplished so easily with DIY alternatives.

Demb Flip-It = square posterboard on tension hinge
A Better Bounce Card = arts and crafts foam
Omnibounce, Lightsphere = tupperware (cheap knockoffs widely available on ebay)

For a while, I sold homemade ones for about $10 on a forum, just because I was annoyed at the ridiculous prices some places were charging.
Stofen Omnibounce knock-off: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/430diffuser.jpg
A Better Bounce Card: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/bouncecard.jpg
Forgot the name of this, but it has some limited resemblance to a Lumiquest: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/curvebounce.jpg

The gels you're referring to are made by Rosco, GAM, Apollo and Lee. You can get a Roscolux swatch book sample for a penny at B&H (when they have it in stock) that are properly sized for flash heads:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/...scolux_Swatchbook.html
More specifically, the color correction filters you are referring to the following (also available in Lee, GAM, Apollo equivalents):
http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/cinegel.asp

Of course, if you like paying more money for it instead, you can get the products by Honl:
http://www.honlphoto.com/servl...ht-strobe-flash/Detail
I am tempted to buy several sheets of gel and make my own, but I don't know if anyone would be willing to buy these even at $1/gel. I have no clue how he sells them at $2.50/gel.

EDIT: BTW, I still use an index card for most of my purposes.

I like your knockoffs, but you can't make a DIY Chimera softbox. In addition why would someone pay even even a dollar for a small piece of gel, when you can get a swatchbook almost for free if you tack it on to an order?

An index card with an onboard flash can work pretty well for bouncing off of low ceilings. I've even used the shiny inside of a Canon standard lens cap-- worked pretty well.

 

[ghostman]

Originally posted by: punchkin

Originally posted by: ghostman
I'm not a huge fan of the "commercial" flash accessories, including those already mentioned, because they can be accomplished so easily with DIY alternatives.

Demb Flip-It = square posterboard on tension hinge
A Better Bounce Card = arts and crafts foam
Omnibounce, Lightsphere = tupperware (cheap knockoffs widely available on ebay)

For a while, I sold homemade ones for about $10 on a forum, just because I was annoyed at the ridiculous prices some places were charging.
Stofen Omnibounce knock-off: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/430diffuser.jpg
A Better Bounce Card: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/bouncecard.jpg
Forgot the name of this, but it has some limited resemblance to a Lumiquest: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/curvebounce.jpg

The gels you're referring to are made by Rosco, GAM, Apollo and Lee. You can get a Roscolux swatch book sample for a penny at B&H (when they have it in stock) that are properly sized for flash heads:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/...scolux_Swatchbook.html
More specifically, the color correction filters you are referring to the following (also available in Lee, GAM, Apollo equivalents):
http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/cinegel.asp

Of course, if you like paying more money for it instead, you can get the products by Honl:
http://www.honlphoto.com/servl...ht-strobe-flash/Detail
I am tempted to buy several sheets of gel and make my own, but I don't know if anyone would be willing to buy these even at $1/gel. I have no clue how he sells them at $2.50/gel.

EDIT: BTW, I still use an index card for most of my purposes.

I like your knockoffs, but you can't make a DIY Chimera softbox. In addition why would someone pay even even a dollar for a small piece of gel, when you can get a swatchbook almost for free if you tack it on to an order?

An index card with an onboard flash can work pretty well for bouncing off of low ceilings. I've even used the shiny inside of a Canon standard lens cap-- worked pretty well.

Lots of people make their own softboxes for their flash (check out the POTN forums for examples). I'm not saying all commercial solutions are bad, but many of them floating around are too simple to be charging people as much as they do. When it starts getting fancy or it's being used professionally, then a commercial solution might make more sense.

As for the gels, you'd be surprised. Honl products are popular, even though they are so simple to make. I'd imagine people are paying for convenience, since it's hard to find the necessary color in those swatch books. And since they just fit the head of a flash, they tend to be difficult to keep attached cleanly. Still, I wouldn't buy a $1 gel, but apparently, people are willing to buy $2.50 gels.

Back to the OP's question, I think you should get a hotshoe-to-PC adapter, some PC cable and a PC-to-hotshoe adapter. This will allow you to take your flash off the camera, but you'll have to operate the flash in manual mode. Once you get comfortable in manual mode, buy some cheaper manual flashes (vivitar 285hv, sunpak 383, etc.) to accompany your 430EX.

 

[Alyx]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
any good sites for learning how best to employ a flash?

http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/

Oh and a book:
http://www.amazon.com/Light-Sc...&qid=1208548061&sr=8-1

 

[otispunkmeyer]

cheers guys

the seller is beign a bit slow and only posted the thing today so it wont be here till monday! which is annoying

i think ill go the diy route for many of these things....they look simple enough to make and i do have access to workshops and even rapid prototyping machines so would be good to design some things up in cad and get em made

 

[pennylane]

Originally posted by: ghostman
I'm not a huge fan of the "commercial" flash accessories, including those already mentioned, because they can be accomplished so easily with DIY alternatives.

Demb Flip-It = square posterboard on tension hinge
A Better Bounce Card = arts and crafts foam
Omnibounce, Lightsphere = tupperware (cheap knockoffs widely available on ebay)

For a while, I sold homemade ones for about $10 on a forum, just because I was annoyed at the ridiculous prices some places were charging.
Stofen Omnibounce knock-off: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/430diffuser.jpg
A Better Bounce Card: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/bouncecard.jpg
Forgot the name of this, but it has some limited resemblance to a Lumiquest: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tn282/fs/curvebounce.jpg

The gels you're referring to are made by Rosco, GAM, Apollo and Lee. You can get a Roscolux swatch book sample for a penny at B&H (when they have it in stock) that are properly sized for flash heads:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/...scolux_Swatchbook.html
More specifically, the color correction filters you are referring to the following (also available in Lee, GAM, Apollo equivalents):
http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/cinegel.asp

Of course, if you like paying more money for it instead, you can get the products by Honl:
http://www.honlphoto.com/servl...ht-strobe-flash/Detail
I am tempted to buy several sheets of gel and make my own, but I don't know if anyone would be willing to buy these even at $1/gel. I have no clue how he sells them at $2.50/gel.

EDIT: BTW, I still use an index card for most of my purposes.

Hello ghostman,
So I bought the swatchbook for 1 cent. Is there an easy way to remove the screw thing that they're all tied to? Do you know of an easy/cheap way to keep them attached to the flash head?

 

[ElFenix]

put it back in the box and let it gather dust

 

[OdiN]

I have 3 diffusers.

I have a Flip-It a Stofen and one of these:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/...hoe_Mount_Flashes.html

I far prefer the quality of light I get with the LumiQuest Softbox. However, it can be a bit ungainly at times.

The flip-it sucks.

The Stofen is pretty good overall and versatile.

 

[virtuamike]

I recommend Light: Science & Magic and Matters of Light & Depth. Treat your hotshoe flash as a small forward projecting light source (the fresnel). As for gels, Rosco makes sample packs that are available for free at various camera shops and theaters. Look around if you don't want to spend too much.

 

[virtuamike]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
put it back in the box and let it gather dust

No

 

[DanPonjican]

Great website for flash tech:
Strobist

As for flash diffusers... GET ONE! I wouldn't waste $50 on a name brand like Gary Fong though... these cheap eBay immatations work great! I've tried them and they are every bit as good as the GFs.