Still A Flash Newbie, C&C Appreciated

[musicaleCA]

And I mean it. Oi vey. So today I decided to practise the concepts I have learnt theoretically (shutter drag, balancing foreground and background exposure while using a strobe, tips like using TTL on a Canon flash outdoors for fill at EV -2 as a starting point, and so on). I started with some birdies. I feel happy with these shots (unlike some of my previous experiences with my flash; even, non-directional lighting from a cieling is okay, to a point...).

All shot with flash at various settings with LumiQuest QuikBounce (100% configuration).

1/200 at f/6.3, ISO 400 (179mm, EF-S 55-250)


1/200 at f/8.0, ISO 400 (250mm, EF-S 55-250)


1/125 at f/7.1, ISO 100 (effective 80mm, EF 50mm—gods I love this lens)


With the last one I wished I had a way to get the flash off-camera and try it at different angles, probably camera left angled down to mimic the sun's direction on the specular highlights of the bottle. (Shot this with a CTO; some of the text on the bottle is gold, and I found the CTO brought that out more, along with mimicking the setting sun more closely.)

 

[ANDS!]

Using the Lumiquest (or any other similar light modifier) in direct sunlight is slightly pointless. You can simply aim that sucker right at your subject and get more than pleasing shots.

 

[musicaleCA]

The ducks weren't in direct sunlight. Both of those guys were actually in shade; I wanted the flash mimic and augment what sunlight there was (as well as bringing out the water droplet on them; I haven't been able to get the form of those drops before). I had it on so I figured what the hell, why not keep it there. But would I be losing much light by having it on there? I found that I was still quite able to throw more than enough light at 250mm.

 

[Samanax]

Why were you shooting at ISO 400 in the first two shots?