Eyes half shut

pen · Oct 30, 2011

So I was just taking pics of the kids with flash. My strobe was off camera, at around 90• to the camera and in half the shots I was firing the built in flash for some front fill. That is all that I have for lighting other the. Natural or house hold lights.

The issue is that in most of the shots the camera was making the kids blink as the flash fired so their eyes are half closed in most of them. Is there any way to prevent this? I thought that turning off the camera flash would help so they were not looking I to it but that didn't work.

Any suggestions?

480sparky · Oct 30, 2011

Is there anything the camera is doing that might cause them to react? Beeping when autofocus is locked in? Hearing the lens autofocus?

Kerbouchard · Oct 30, 2011

If you are using the built in flash for fill, try putting it in manual instead of TTL. It's likely the pre-flash is causing them to blink. You could also hit the flash exposure lock which will do the pre-flash before the actual shot. The commander mode of the built in flash also fires a pre-flash that could cause your subjects to blink.

My wife is a blinker, too. She'll usually blink as soon as the preflash goes off giving me the half closed eyes. Manual flash or flash exposure lock is the only way I've found to work around it.

pen · Oct 30, 2011

I don't think it was the camera. I will try with Manual flash on the fill and I guess I would have to go with manual on the remote as well as that was still doing it. If it the communication between the camera and the remote there is nothing I can do about that I guess other they buy a cable?

Kerbouchard · Oct 30, 2011

pen said:
I don't think it was the camera. I will try with Manual flash on the fill and I guess I would have to go with manual on the remote as well as that was still doing it. If it the communication between the camera and the remote there is nothing I can do about that I guess other they buy a cable?

Basically, there are a few things going on here when using commander mode and TTL. TTL will fire a short flash, so that the camera can calculate (through the lens) the appropriate flash power needed. Then it will fire the flash at the appropriate power when the shutter is open. Now, when you are using commander mode, there is another flash that occurs, and that is when the camera is sending the information to the remote flash. It is an infrared signal, but the flash doesn't just put out IR, it also contains visible light.

Now, all that said, in your application, you are getting two flashes prior to the main flash that occurs when the shutter is actually open. Either of those two can be causing your problem. For easy solutions, you can try putting a bit of foil in front of the flash to redirect the bounce towards the ceiling. This will still carry the info, but might not make your subjects blink. It would also make the TTL off and not really contribute to fill. Nikon also makes a guard you can put over the flash so that it will still transmit the commander info, but won't expose the subject. Nikon Store - SG-31R IR Panel for Built-In Flash

Basically, IMO, the first thing you should try is setting your AE/AF Lock button to Flash Exposure lock. Then use that button to fire the preflash, and when you push the shutter for the actual shot, you will only have two flashes instead of three. If that isn't going to work for your application, you'll have to figure out a different way of triggering your remote flash. You don't necessarily have to use a cable. There are plenty of 'cheapish' wireless triggers. Cactus V4/V5 is one that comes to mind that won't break the bank.

Good luck to you.

pen · Oct 30, 2011

Thanks, that is really great info.

TenaciousTins · Oct 30, 2011

Aside from the camera issues and all that, one way I get people to have their eyes open at the right time is to have them stay closed until I say "open", then I fire as they open their eyes. Usually gets a fairly decent open-eye shot.

pen · Oct 30, 2011

I was trying that after the first couple of shots thinking that I just hit them on a blink.

I'm going to try some shots later today when we are carving pumpkins and see what I can get on manual. Not much time with the flash yet so we will see.