Flash or no flash for Indoors

[cgipson1]

If you fire the flash against a wall behind you.. it bounces light all over the place... and will light up the room / subject pretty well with more frontal light. If you bounce off the ceiling, that works well too.. unless your bounce starts to close to the subject, then it can cause shadows under the eyebrows, chin, etc. Even bouncing off of a wall to your side can be good as long as it gets light on the subject correctly.

does that help?

Whatever you explained is pretty clear but only point that I don't understand is " How does Flashing the light in an OPEN SPACE behind photographer help"

If there is nothing behind the flash to bounce off.. it WON'T help! lol! We see that sometimes.. somebody trying to use bounce flash outdoors.. bouncing off the clouds! It is funny.

There has to be something to bounce off of... otherwise there is no bounce....

Vivitars are great manual flashes.. they would do well if yor camera can handle it. Yongnuo flashes are also very popular, and inexpensive...

 

[KmH]

When bouncing flash, a 'bounce card is often used to direct some of the light straight at the subject to fill shadows caused by light approaching the subject at an angle.

Bouncing flash makes the light source apparently much larger, but it also reduces the amount of light that reaches the subject in 2 ways:
1. Light power is reduced by the increased distance the light has to travel to get to the subject (Inverse Square Law).
2. some of the light gets absorbed by the surface it is being bounced off of.

Light from a bigger apparent source is 'softer' and produces shadow edges that have softer (diffuse) edges than the shadows produced by a small light source.

Four Flash Photography Basics we must know - Bounce flash, Bounce cards
Lighting tip - 4 ways to bounce a flash | DIYPhotography.net
How to Make a Better Bounce Flash Card | eHow

 

[Designer]

Whatever you explained is pretty clear but only point that I don't understand is " How does Flashing the light in an OPEN SPACE behind photographer help"

Not an open space, you need something like a wall behind you. I think if the wall was say; 10 to 20 feet behind you, it should work. Farther than that may need more power, and maybe the light will start to look unidirectional again, negating the desired effect of diffusing the light.

 

[kundalini]

Whatever you explained is pretty clear but only point that I don't understand is " How does Flashing the light in an OPEN SPACE behind photographer help"

It doesn't. Use a reflector held behind you to bounce the light forward. If need be, find a tall fellow in a white shirt and crouch a little to bounce off his chest. (just tell him, to turn his head)

 

[psran]

Thanks everyone, your suggestions have been very useful

Now my next goal is getting a good flash that doesn't burn hole in my pocket but at the same time I don't feel that I should have better waited for a better one.

Please suggest good Speedlights with model no.s if possible that are adequate for beginner to intermediate level

 

[Designer]

I recommend the Nikon SB-910.

It is not cheap, but it will do amazing things. You will like it.

 

[kundalini]

I would recommend a used SB-800. They are little work horses. I have 3x plus a SB-600.

Adorama has two listed in their used department now for under $300USD.
nikon sb800 : Buy or Learn at Adorama

 

[psran]

I have read reviews about SB 910 & SB 800 , both seem to be very good but unfortunately beyond my budget

I had initially thought that buying a good DSLR is all that was required to make PRO kind of photographs but all the small accessories have burnt a big hole in my pocket.

So I am considering a Yougnou 568 that seems to fit my budget and also seems to be getting good reviews on forum, the only thing missing is TTL. Would that really hurt in long term?

Second choice is Nikon SB400 which seems to only have an advantage of being a Nikon.

Which one of these 2 are better?

 

[Gavjenks]

Another problem is that the place where I live has ceilings with height of around 13 ft, would I still get good results with bouncing the flash lights?

You just do some algebra or roughly approximate it to figure the equivalent distance. So if you're 5 feet from your subject, and your walls are 13 feet high, and you and the subject are 6 feet tall, then 13-6 = 7 feet above your head. 2.5^2 (half way bounce point) + 7^2 = about 55ish. Square root is maybe like 7.5. Multiply by 2 since it has to bounce up and then back down = you will get equivalent exposure from the flash as if you had been standing 15 feet from the subject instead of 5, due to bouncing.

Since flash falls off with the square of the distance, and the distance is about 3x further, your flash will need 3^2 = 9 times as much light, or about 3 1/3 stops more power (estimate) bouncing off a 13 foot ceiling instead of shooting straight on 5 feet away.

 

[bratkinson]

Math...Math...Math... Bah Humbug!

I'm the lazy photographer that doesn't have any cranial space left to do all these calculations, much less remember the formulas. Nor do I want to carry around a smartphone or tablet to find the calcs online and then apply them. I just use a combination of 'plans'. Plan A: spray and pray. Plan B: Get the biggest, baddest flash and bounce it at different angles for 3-4 pictures. Smaller rooms, dial it back a bit (how much is up to you) Check the histogram on each one and adjust flash power as appropriate. Either way...pick the winner in post processing. With the 'big bad flash' (Canon 580 EX ii in my case), I can shoot from 50-70 feet away, bounce it off the cathedral ceiling, and still "light 'em up".

 

[psran]

You just do some algebra or roughly approximate it to figure the equivalent distance. So if you're 5 feet from your subject, and your walls are 13 feet high, and you and the subject are 6 feet tall, then 13-6 = 7 feet above your head. 2.5^2 (half way bounce point) + 7^2 = about 55ish. Square root is maybe like 7.5. Multiply by 2 since it has to bounce up and then back down = you will get equivalent exposure from the flash as if you had been standing 15 feet from the subject instead of 5, due to bouncing.

Since flash falls off with the square of the distance, and the distance is about 3x further, your flash will need 3^2 = 9 times as much light, or about 3 1/3 stops more power (estimate) bouncing off a 13 foot ceiling instead of shooting straight on 5 feet away.

Wow, that's good info . Would use it in future with rough calculation without actually using a Calculator

 

[psran]

Any views on Nikon SB400 or Yougnou 560 (I think) or Nissin 622

Nissin has a TTL and Auto Zoom head (?) but Yongnou seems better in other aspects and Nikon SB400 may be has a better build of all

 

[kundalini]

The Yongnnou speed lights seem to have gotten favorable reviews from members here.

TTL can have its benefits, but eventually you will likely be shooting the flash in manual mode if you continue using flash a lot. You get much more consistant results.

Although I'm fairly good in math, I'm not about to try and remember the formulas above and carry a calculator around. There are enough other things to worry about. With enough purposed practice, you shouild be able to come upon a scene and get fairly close with settings for a baseline. Then just tweak to taste. I do have a hand held light meter, so that takes care of most of the baseline settings anyway.

 

[cgipson1]

Any views on Nikon SB400 or Yougnou 560 (I think) or Nissin 622

Nissin has a TTL and Auto Zoom head (?) but Yongnou seems better in other aspects and Nikon SB400 may be has a better build of all

I also recommend the SB-700, SB-800, SB900-910 series... they are great flashes! SB-400 is underpowered / underfeatured for the price... don't bother! The Yongnuo's are decent for the price... and some of them do have some TTL capability, and they also make some decent inexpensive flash triggers.

 

[psran]

I also recommend the SB-700, SB-800, SB900-910 series... they are great flashes! SB-400 is underpowered / underfeatured for the price... don't bother! The Yongnuo's are decent for the price... and some of them do have some TTL capability, and they also make some decent inexpensive flash triggers.

So Yougnou seems to be almost final, you didn't even bother to consider Nissin, lol! Seems like it's really bad