"Dragging the shutter"

[DiskoJoe]

I have been doing some club photography and trying to get tips on flash techniques and someone mentioned that i should research the technique of "dragging the shutter." I found this article which seemed pretty informative and wanted to see if anyone here had any additional input on this subject and maybe some techniques that have worked well for you. Picture examples would be great.

here is the article I read....

ilovephotography.com -- Light Readings Article #9

 

[Big Mike]

That article started off with this...

Basic definition: "Dragging the shutter" refers to when you use a very *low sync speed* with your flash.

I didn't read any further. :roll:

Dragging the shutter refers to when you use a lower SHUTTER SPEED.
In a nutshell, every flash photo is actually (at least) two separate exposures. One is from the flash and one is from the ambient light. Usually, they line up and/or one overpowers the other, so that the resulting photo look like one single exposure.
The flash exposure is a result of the lens aperture, the ISO and the power of the flash (essentially, how much light is bouncing back to the lens). But not the shutter speed.
The ambient exposure is a result of the aperture, the ISO and the shutter speed (but not the flash).
So knowing that, you can use the shutter speed to change the ambient exposure, without affecting the flash exposure (just don't exceed the max sync speed).
You can also change the flash exposure by adjusting the power (or FEC) of the flash, which wont affect ambient exposure.

So when shooting in a dark room that does have some ambient lighting, you can use the flash to light up your subject and you can then use the shutter speed to determine how much ambient (background) exposure you want in the photo. If you choose to use a slower shutter speed, to get more ambient exposure...that is 'Dragging the Shutter'.

There are some other things to think about though. If you use a slower shutter speed, that will give you blur if either the camera or subject is moving. The amount of blur will depend on the shutter speed you use, but also how much ambient light is reflecting off of your subject. If it's fairly dark, you will see less blur because the ambient exposure probably won't be very bright in your photo. But if there is more ambient light, then there is more of a chance that the ambient light will case a blurry subject.

The flash exposure is almost always sharp, and it will often overpower the ambient exposure, but not always. So remember that we actually have two exposures, if you drag the shutter with a decent amount of ambient light, those two exposures won't like up and you'll get 'ghosting'. This is where the flashed exposure looks sharp, but the blurred ambient exposure looks ghostly.

This can be used for a neat affect. It can really give you subject a sense of motion...but there's a catch. Normally, the flash fires at the start of the exposure. So if you are shooting with a slower shutter speed, you get the flash exposure first, then the ambient exposure captures movement after the flash exposure. This looks weird because the 'motion' is in front of the subject. To fix this, you can (if your camera/flash allows) set it for second (or rear) curtain sync. In this mode, the flash fires at the end of the exposure....so the ambient 'motion' is captured first, with a sharp flashed subject at the end. So the subject has 'motion lines' behind them, looking more normal.

Lastly, keep in mind that if you use 2nd curtain sync and you are also using TTL (auto) flash metering, you flash will still use a preflash, that that will still be before the exposure. Normally, the preflash and the actual flash are so close together, most people can't tell that it's more than one flash. But with 2nd curtain sync, there is a delay (the shutter speed) between the preflash and the actual flash. This may cause your subject to blink, or more likely, it will cause them to look away, thinking that the photo was already taken.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Good stuff! The article was actually not that bad. They touched on many of the points you brought up but your explanation is much better and useful. Some motion occuring is okay with me as long as the subject is focused sharply. Right now I am getting a soft focus for most of my shots or having to use a ISO so high that the noise ruins the shot somewhat.

Any tips of settings? Shutter speed, aperture, ISO combos?

 

[Dao]

Take a look at this site. It has a lot of good information regarding flash photography. (Of course it covers shutter dragging as well)

http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/flash-photography-tips/

 

[Big Mike]

Any tips of settings? Shutter speed, aperture, ISO combos?

You have to take into account the light that you have, and the effect that you want to achieve...so any suggestions might not work for you.

But here's what I do for wedding reception dance shots. I have the camera in manual mode, I have a flash on-camera in E-TTL mode. I set the aperture for the DOF I want, it's usually dark and hard to focus, so I'll often use something in the F4 to F8 range. Keep in mind that the smaller the aperture, the harder the flash has to work, the slower it recycles and it uses batteries faster.
I set my ISO with ambient light and flash usage in mind. I'll rarely go lower than 400 in this situation. I'd guess that I usually shot at ISO 400 or 800, but that was with a 5 year old camera. Now I've got a camera with which, I wouldn't be afraid to go as high as 6400. Keep in mind that a higher ISO makes it easier for the flash...faster recycle, longer battery life etc.
I set the shutter speed for the amount of ambient light, and/or the amount of blur that I want. Sometimes I dial it up to 1/200 in order cut as much ambient light as possible. This can make the background dark, allowing me to isolate the subject (also good if the background doesn't look good). If I want to show more of the background, I'll set the shutter down as low as 1/15...sometimes lower if needed. But I'm careful to watch for blur.

I set my FEC to what is working for me to get good exposure of the subject, but as it's an auto mode, I have have to change it, depending on how bright the subject is.

That's how I would do it, with only a camera mounted flash.

What I usually do now, is to have a remote flash/strobe in the room, pointed at the dance floor, or maybe at the ceiling for bounce. Depending on the direction I'm shooting, I use the remote light to either light up my subject, or to back light them. If I'm blacklisting them with the remote flash, I'm using my on-camera flash for fill. Depending on the feel I want, I may dial the FEC down to -2 for very little fill, or higher for more fill. Sometimes I bounce the on-camera flash (aim it up) or sometimes I use something to soften the light a little bit.

Lastly, when I want to portray a crazy party atmosphere...I use a shutter speed in the 2 second range. This gives plenty of blur, and if there are colored dance floor lights, they really show up in the photo. I may also hit the shutter button, then move the camera around before the shutter closes. And light sources in the photo will turn into line/swirls etc.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Lastly, when I want to portray a crazy party atmosphere...I use a shutter speed in the 2 second range. This gives plenty of blur, and if there are colored dance floor lights, they really show up in the photo. I may also hit the shutter button, then move the camera around before the shutter closes. And light sources in the photo will turn into line/swirls etc.

This is the ticket here! Thanks Big Mike.

 

[gsgary]

This was shot at 1/15 with flash

 

[DiskoJoe]

^^^^

Nice shot!

What F-stop and ISO were you using?

 

[gsgary]

Shot a few years ago with my old 1Dmk1 iso1600 @ F1.8 50mm

 

[DiskoJoe]

Thanks Gary. You and big Mike have been great help. Yall might actually make me into a pro.

Hey, what band was that?