Freelance
Photographer
Seeing things differently
A taker of Photographs - A creator of images
Seeing things differently
A taker of Photographs - A creator of images
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Freelance
Photographer Seeing things differently A taker of Photographs - A creator of images |
| Kennymc.com |
Camera
Flash Experiments... (Part One) On camera flash as the main light source, but not the built in variety... The test was done using various methods of diffusing as well as straight flash... The set up... For this experiment I used a tripod mounted Canon 5D in portrait orientation with a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 lens... The camera was set in aperture priority at f/2.8, ISO400 was chosen to give a reasonable shutter speed... The flash was a 550EX flash set to ETTL, it was used with and without its built in wide angle panel... I used a cable release for all the shots... The Teddy Bear was propped up on a step ladder, against an oatmeal coloured wall... The teddy bear's nose was 24 inches (600mm) away from the wall... The camera's sensor was 79 inches (2000mm) away from the Teddy Bear's nose... The ceiling height was 8ft and painted matt white... The blinds were drawn in the room to create a natural semi-darkness... There was no artificial lighting used except for the on camera flash... This was done to produce an awkward lighting situation where shadows would fall against the wall... Well we wouldn't want to make it easy so the results would be almost meaningless now would we?... In the series of images below the only post processing applied has been cropping and resizing because any other manipulation would alter the results... Any colour difference is due to the flash method used to take the image as everything else was constant... I've given the results a personal rating, you may come to a different conclusion to me from the evidence provided, its all a matter of personal preference... My personal ratings are based on viewing the full size 36MB images, not these 8kb jpeg images... They are not only based on the absence of shadows but also the quality of the light... The Results... |
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| This is how the image looked without any flash... It was taken in the rooms natural semi-darkness... The shutter speed was 1/4 of a second... There were no heavy shadows due to the evenness of the semi-darkness... Notice how the semi-darkness has altered the overall colour tone of the image... |
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Direct flash...  Shutter speed
1/8 of a second...Notice the heavy shadows on the left of the image... This is because the flash is on the right of the camera due to it being in the portrait orientation... Also notice there are a few hot areas on the aluminium steps due to the flash being pointed directly at the bear... The image has an almost startled look like something from a horror movie due to the full frontal blast of the flash... My Rating... 2 |
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Bounced flash...  Shutter speed
1/8 of a second...Notice how the shadows are not as deep as in the direct flash image, they have also moved down slightly... Because the flash was bounced the upper part of the steps have gone a little hot due to the angle the light was hitting them... Try to use bounce flash over direct flash whenever possible... My Rating... 5 |
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Direct flash (with wide angle panel)..  Shutter speed
1/8 of a second...The shadows have lightened slightly over the direct flash without the wide angle panel because the panel has dispersed the light more evenly... The image has also lost a little of that startled look and the steps have retained more detail in the highlights... My Rating... 3 |
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Bounced flash (with wide angle panel)...  Shutter speed 1/8
of a second...The shadows are still as deep as they were with the direct flash using the wide angle panel... This is probably not what you were expecting... It's due to the fact that the panel disperses the light at a wider angle and because the flash head is at 45 degrees it is pushing more light straight forward... My Rating... 3½ |
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Direct flash (with tissue paper as a diffuser)...  Shutter speed 1/10
of a second..Very similar results to the direct flash with the wide angle panel, though the colour temperature is a little cooler due to the whiteness of the tissue... My Rating... 3 |
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Bounced flash (with tissue paper as a diffuser)...  Shutter speed 1/10
of a second..Again very similar results to bounced flash with the wide angle panel, though the colour temperature is a little cooler due to the whiteness of the tissue... The detail in the steps has been retained very well... My Rating... 4 |
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Omnibounce direct flash...  Shutter speed 1/10
of a second..Again this image has that startled look which you always seem to get with direct flash when it is the main power source... The Omnibounce has however diffused and evened out the light... My Rating... 4 |
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Omnibounce bounced flash...  Shutter
speed 1/10 of a second..Again just what I would expect from a bounced flash... The lighting is a little softer and more even than when using the flah pointed directly at the subject... My Rating... 5 |
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Lightsphere II
pointed upwards... (no dome)  Shutter
speed 1/12 of a second..There are no heavy shadows cast at all with this method... This is because the lightsphere has allowed the flash to be swiveled upwards altering the way the light strikes the subject... The colour is neutral and modeling is quite pleasing... My Rating... 10 |
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Lightsphere II
(with dome) bounced flash...  Shutter speed 1/12
of a second...Because the dome reduces the bounced light by 1 stop compared to the light passing through the sides of the lightsphere, there is enough light going forward to cast a shadow... My Rating... 5 |
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Lightsphere II
(with dome) direct flash...  Shutter speed 1/12
of a second...The shadows are back because the flash is again to the right of the camera... Some of the starkness of the full frontal flash is also present... My Rating... 5 |
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Lightsphere (with dome and wide angle panel) direct... Shutter speed 1/12
of a second...Because of the shape of the wide angle panel the light is more evenly distributed... This has taken some of the stark contrast out of the direct flash giving a bright but even light... My Rating... 6 |
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Lightsphere II (with wide angle panel) bounced...  Shutter speed 1/12
of a second...This is quite a good image with minimum shadows... The slight shadow is caused by the wide angle panel pushing the light out at a wider angle and striking the image more full on... My Rating... 9 |
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Lightsphere II (with dome + wide angle panel) Bounced... Shutter speed 1/15
of a second...The dome has reduced the amount of bounced flash and the wide angle panel has thrown the light out at a wider angle causing a light shadow... My Rating... 8½ |
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Lightsphere + dome + W/A direct Shutter speed 1/15
of a second..Again we are back to heavy shadows... This is because the flash is again at the side of the lens and not above it... The combination of the wide angle panel and the dome however have not produced that startled look of the other direct flash images... My Rating... 5 |
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Conclusion...
The Lightsphere II produces the best light of all the on camera methods I have, but only when used properly... |
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