About the flash settings

[tinman84]

read my manual for Nikon D3100

cant understand a single bit about the different type of flash setting (rear , front blah blah ... )

what exactly are these settings and how does this affect a potrait picture ...

also whats the purpose of an additional flash like say SB600 or SB800 ?? is it just for getting more brighter pics ? ?




Thanks for the time

 

[Rephargotohp]

Front Curtain Rear Curtain or 1st curtain 2nd Curtain. refers to when the flash actually goes off in relation to the shutter "Curtains"

There are two curtains when you shutter moves. The front (1st) curtain opens, there is a gap that the sensor is exposure and then the Rear curtain Follows that and covers the sensor to make your exposure. With the flash this refers to when the flash goes off. in front curtain, the flash goes off when the front curtain opens, With Rear curtain, the flash goes off just before the rear curtain closes.

in most situations you would never see the difference because it happens so fast.

But if you had a situation that was ambient light AND flash AND you had a slow shutter speed and people moving.

Say you had a person walking across the in front of you from left to rightr. and a say 1/2 second exposure. In a normal front curtain setting. The flash would fire Freezing that person there and then you would see at trail in front of that person showing the movement with the ambient light. That looks unnatural since we are used to seeing light trails behind a moving object

if you instead chose Rear Curtain, you would see the ambient movement of the person moving right to left and at the END of that movement, the flash would fire and freeze that person.

Very rarely used unless you shoot for effect.

Top On camera flashes make a lot of diffrences, they are more powerful, less prone to red eye and can also be used off camera for better effect. Everyonje should have one instead of the built in flash

 

[tinman84]

you meant we dont use front curtain unless you shoot for effect right ??

also i have seen rear slow and some other things i can give you exact names once i get home ...


also with the additional flash . so its just to get a brighter pic ? would camera know the difference and adjust shutter speed accordingly (i mean the light meter adjusts accordingly when we have an on the top flash ???


so for an ideal potrait work we use slow rear ??

Front Curtain Rear Curtain or 1st curtain 2nd Curtain. refers to when the flash actually goes off in relation to the shutter "Curtains"

There are two curtains when you shutter moves. The front (1st) curtain opens, there is a gap that the sensor is exposure and then the Rear curtain Follows that and covers the sensor to make your exposure. With the flash this refers to when the flash goes off. in front curtain, the flash goes off when the front curtain opens, With Rear curtain, the flash goes off just before the rear curtain closes.

in most situations you would never see the difference because it happens so fast.

But if you had a situation that was ambient light AND flash AND you had a slow shutter speed and people moving.

Say you had a person walking across the in front of you from left to rightr. and a say 1/2 second exposure. In a normal front curtain setting. The flash would fire Freezing that person there and then you would see at trail in front of that person showing the movement with the ambient light. That looks unnatural since we are used to seeing light trails behind a moving object

if you instead chose Rear Curtain, you would see the ambient movement of the person moving right to left and at the END of that movement, the flash would fire and freeze that person.

Very rarely used unless you shoot for effect.

Top On camera flashes make a lot of diffrences, they are more powerful, less prone to red eye and can also be used off camera for better effect. Everyonje should have one instead of the built in flash

 

[MLeeK]

Flash is a complicated thing... Before you start to mess with flash you REALLY need to learn how to control exposure using ISO, Shutter and Aperture. When you throw flash into the mix it changes all of the rules. If you start out by playing with flash, you'll never "get" it.

The purpose of an external flash such as you listed is to get the flash up off the camera; to be able to swivel and tilt it to bounce so that you aren't getting that harsh flash in the face look that the on board flash gives you. In fact, professional grade cameras don't even have a pop up flash on them. It just ruins pics. It's there when you need to get a snapshot and need more light as you are learning and growing but down the road you'll probably never use your on board flash. I forget that I have cameras with one on it I haven't used it in so long.
External flashes can also be used in combination with a trigger/receiver off camera so that you can place the light wherever you want it to go.

As for rear curtain and high speed sync and all of the complicated extras of flash-there are a lot of techniques used to get different effects. Like I said before, first learn exposure. Then when you are ready to learn about flash too there are a few really excellent websites and books we can point you to. You'll also need to learn the basics of flash before you progress on to those things you listed... You are getting into some pretty advanced techniques that are used, but not nearly as often as good basic flash techniques.

 

[tinman84]

Ummm Thanks Mleek

the reason why i am after flash is ....

i have been taking pics over the past year with my D3100 and the exposures during day time and indoor comeout pretty good ..

Few cases where i mess up pretty bad are

1. on an extremely sunny day (subjects turn out dark )
2. when i mess my white balance settings ( i almost always leave it in cloudy setting)
3. and most importantly during night times, even then if i dont use flash at all then with the little ambient lighting and my 50mm 1.8f pics come out pretty good only problem being i wish the subject is properly illuminated ..

so i thought learning about flash might help as when i use flash ppl look like they are drenched in oil ..if you know what i mean ...

 

[Rephargotohp]

I wouldn't suggest using the rear settings unless you really were going after a special effect and knew all the ins ad outs of it, Otherwise it's just a Cluster *

Your built in flash is not powerful enough to fill in on very sunn days, especially if the sun is behind them another reason to get a separate flash. That will be when you need the extra power they have

 

[MLeeK]

Ummm Thanks Mleek

the reason why i am after flash is ....

i have been taking pics over the past year with my D3100 and the exposures during day time and indoor comeout pretty good ..

Few cases where i mess up pretty bad are

1. on an extremely sunny day (subjects turn out dark )
2. when i mess my white balance settings ( i almost always leave it in cloudy setting)
3. and most importantly during night times, even then if i dont use flash at all then with the little ambient lighting and my 50mm 1.8f pics come out pretty good only problem being i wish the subject is properly illuminated ..

so i thought learning about flash might help as when i use flash ppl look like they are drenched in oil ..if you know what i mean ...

Those are more about the exposure and metering than they are about flash. And about setting your white balance.
If your subjects are turning out dark, you aren't metering for and exposing THE SUBJECT, you are metering for and exposing the bright day.
If you are shooting in jpeg you are far better off to leave your wb in auto if you aren't setting up a custom white balance or changing it to the appropriate setting. If your images are very blue they will appear darker in exposure than if they are very yellow...
Your #3 refers back to #1. It's how you are metering and exposing the situation.

Your on board flash will give you that drenched in oil look (LOVE that description!!!) and that's the whole reason for a speedlight.

 

[tinman84]

ok answers few of my questions


so when you meant exposing for the bright day ... how do i meter and expose for the subject other than selecting hte focus point on her ....



Sorry for being dumb

 

[MLeeK]

You have no idea how complicated a question that is! LOL! Yes... but you'll need to learn a little bit
Strobist has a great "school." If you look to the right side of his blog there is a Lighting 101 Archive. Start there...
http://neilvn.com/tangents/ also has a TON of information on his blog. He has 2 books out currently on flash both on camera and off that are outstanding.

 

[Rephargotohp]

Turn rear off

It will if you know how to use it

No, Unless you plan on Lighting up the sky, facing it upwards won't work outdoors at night

 

[MLeeK]

ok answers few of my questions


so when you meant exposing for the bright day ... how do i meter and expose for the subject other than selecting hte focus point on her ....



Sorry for being dumb

What mode are you shooting in? Auto? Manual? Priority?
What metering mode are you using?
It's not dumb, it's basics and everyone has to learn them somewhere-we don't come with them pre-installed!

 

[tinman84]

Manual but i always leave iso at 100 and adjust apperture and shuterspeed ( except for at night time i increase the iso to 400)

metering is centerpointed if thats what you are reffering to ....

Thanks for the support

ok answers few of my questions


so when you meant exposing for the bright day ... how do i meter and expose for the subject other than selecting hte focus point on her ....



Sorry for being dumb

What mode are you shooting in? Auto? Manual? Priority?
What metering mode are you using?
It's not dumb, it's basics and everyone has to learn them somewhere-we don't come with them pre-installed!

 

[MLeeK]

Center weighted, maybe?
I have a tutorial on metering here somewhere. Let me see if I can dig it up again and I'll send it to you. It might just help a whole lot.

 

[MTVision]

Www.cambridgeincolour.com

Has tons of digital photography tutorials and talks about metering modes in depth.

 

[Tiberius47]

Have a read of my "Using Manual flash" tutorial in my signature. That will teach you how to manually blend ambient and flash in one photo.