Obsessed with Available Light

[polaski]

It's not an obsession; it's a way of life.

But, if I really, really have to bring home the bacon, I'll use anything.

 

[Al Kaplan]

These days a lot of people are revolting against super sharp super contrasty multicoated apochromatic glass and playing around with old uncoated, poorly corrected Summars and the like to get that "retro look". I've been thinking of mounting a flash on a side bracket so I get a big shadow low and to the side just like those 1940's news photos shot with a Speed Graphic. Defiinately a Retro Look!

 

[Haigh]

Using a flash

Using a flash

I never use flash because I so dislike my flash shots. I do not own a flash. I do have fast lenses however and I am in love with natural light.

Regards,

Gary Haigh

Australia

 

[Thardy]

What flash would I buy for a Bessa?

 

[Dogman]

I do not own a separate flash.

I do own a few cameras with built-in flashes but I have never used any of my rangefinders with a flash.

 

[BigSteveG]

I've considered taping a mag-lite to my M2.....then I sobered up!

 

[Al Kaplan]

I'd suggest a Vivitar 283 or 285. The 285 has a built in variable angle thing. If you don't need tons of output Vivitar also made a 2500 that looks like a smaller 285, complete with bounce and variable angle head, but only two auto settings instead of four, about half the power, and takes 2 AA batteries instead of 4. All the models give you a choice of hot shoe or PC cord. You can find them on Ebay.

 

[Tuolumne]

Sometimes flash just makes a photo look better, like if a subject is strongly back lit. But it depends on what you are trying to achieve. You don't limit yourself to what God gave you, so why be stuck with the sun?

/T

 

[dadsm3]

I've tried bouncing off the ceiling, but I end up with nose and eye-brow shadows, and got grief from my wife.
For colour shots of the family indoors I always use a Vivitar 285, but stop-down 1/2-1 stops.
For B&W, almost never, but sometimes I use my CHICO bulb flash for the fun of it, F16 or F22 @ 1/50th.....the guide numbers say I should be at F32 or thereabouts (bulbs were made when 100ISO film was superfast).
The shots really look like they were taken 50 years ago, but the smell of a freshly burnt bulb transports me back to my childhood. I guess it's my version of aroma-therapy.

 

[Holmz]

Here's a picture in near blackness. 1/8 second and fill in the middle of the night. This young man from East Berlin was in a Bavarian refugee camp in September 1989, one of several thousand East German defectors ("uebersiedlers") whose relentless departure led, two months later, to the opening of the Berlin Wall.

Great shot and story.

I think get it...
I am not in love with using a flash - and don't have one currently, but have used fill flashes in the past.
For an artistic shot - many don't use them.

But I get it...
For an historically important shot, as Vince shows, a shot with a flash can better than no shot, and in this example is effective visually as well.

 

[cosmonot]

I generally don't use flash, unless I'm shooting color film (which is rare) since underexposed color negatives just suck so bad.

That being said I'm starting to like the "strobist" philosophy and there is no shortage of flash gear in my life. Multiple 283s, a couple 285s, a couple Sunpak & Metz 'potato mashers' and all the monolight/strobe/umbrella/softbox stuff left over from my dad's wedding photo business in the 70's. I'll figure it all out someday, and I can see it being a lot of fun...

But shooting 3200ASA b&w @ f1.4 is mostly what I do, and I often screw that up too.

 

[Al Kaplan]

I keep a rubberband around the head of my Vivitar 283. It holds a stack of half a dozen business cards. When I'm bouncing off the ceiling I pull one card half way out, bend it forward a bit, and it kicks just enough light directly at the subjects to get rid of the black eye sockets and shadows beneath the nose and chin. When somebody asks for a card I don't have to fish around in my pockets. I give them one off the flash.

 

[varjag]

Dadsm3, after looking at your 3rd example (snow play) the difference between electronic and bulb flash dawned on me. One of those things you never read in the books.

Once I met a guy covering a protest with Alpa MF and flashgun. It snowed there too, turns out the bulbs weren't just retro touch.

 

[Anupam]

Most of the replies in this thread assume flash is for when you don't have enough light. That is only partially true. Flash is also for when you want more creative control over the lighting.

Here is a flash shot - one Holga and three flashes! SB-28 on camera. SB-18 and SB-24 wirelessly slaved.

 

[Olsen]

Sure, you shall shoot with flash! With all the sharp and contrast rich lenses available for, say, the M-system, it is a shame not to use flashes. - For that is the point; use several flashes. Not just one mounted on the camera which gives this very ugly, flat and amateurish look.

I use a minimum of 2 flashes, but usually three. With my Canon 1Ds II I use three 550EX and a transmitter on the camera. Or one flash on the camera and 2 mounted on these foot that comes with it. This flash foot is a smart thing.

It is fun to experiment with how the flash is placed around the subject. But I have learned that the best result I get with two or more flashes reflected towards a white ceiling with the light thrown at an angle towards the camera.

See the two examples below of this classical Norwegian family lunch: The first picture is with existing light.

The 2. picture is with three flashes. Yes, I have left two of them in the picture so you can see where I have placed them:

1) a Vivitar 283 mounted on the M8 reflector pointing towards the ceiling. This is the flash that triggers the others.

2) another Vivitar 283 (you get them cheap these days) placed on a flash foot on top of the fridge. Note that it is pointed so that the light rays are pointing towards the camera.

3) a Canon 550EX (yes, it is possible to use them with Leica cameras, but only in manual mode and you have to set the output manually). Set at 100% power, pointint at the ceiling and also this pointed somewhat towards the camera.

Note that the light angles from the flashes on top of the fridge creates a more 3.dimensional effect on, say, the items on the table - like the Norewegian goat cheese.

I have also included a 3. picture. Also taken with these 3 flashes. I have left one of them in the picture (otherwise I would crop them away). This time one of them is standing on top of the piano to the right, so there is two pointing to the ceiling so that the light rays falls 'towards the camera'. Note also that the flash that you can see in the picture also lights up some of the background. - Which is another way of using several flashes, you can direct light towards an otherwise dark backgound.

 

[Olsen]

I forgot to mention that the pictures above were taken with WATE (16-18-21 mm 4,0) at ISO640 - aparture 11 - exposure 1/125. The flash on the camera were set for aparture 11 while the two others were set at max manual power.

 

[merlin]

Fiddled with flash/multiple flash many years ago. Never, ever, liked the 'look' of artificial light and prefer working with a tripod, slow shutter and natural light. When needed, the Stylus flashes just fine for casual family snaps.

Certainly, effective use of multiple flash is the mark of a good, well-rounded photographer and a must for the professional ... but I'm neither. :•/

 

[Nh3]

Flash should only be used when documenting a crime scene.

Sincerely,

 

[feenej]

Flash is Fab! (for non-candids) I used to use it as a rule for outdoor photos in direct sunlight to fill in below eyes. Though I noticed lately that my HP5 Acu-1 combo has enough tonal range that the shadows don't need fill even in direct sunlight! However, it is only late May, so the jury is still out.

 

[lorriman]

I was wondering if this is common among beginners (just a passing phase) or a more permanent “problem”.

It destroys atmosphere, doesn't it. But in many night situations the ambient lighting is fit only for b&w: although it is better than blasting the scene with light at an unusual/unnatural direction and colour, nevertheless indoor ambient light often isn't very ambient, so to speak, especially mixed incandescent with fluorescent.

For some situations I would argue for a subdued bounce-flash at ISO800 with warming filters, which I suspect your wife has discovered. I did this for my brother's 3rd child's (home) birth and it was a great success (I coloured in some scotch and stuck it over the card-board/silver-foil homemade bounce reflector I made: I was sooo pleased with myself, and so was my brother).

I also used to be obsessed with low-light, but I've now passed on to the dark-side (bokeh obsession) which one would think would be a natural progression due to the oof need of a wider aperture, but many lenses require stopping down to avoid evil bokeh. Aahhh, the frustrations of power. So perhaps this phase will give way to something beyond the realms of reason, like it did for me.