Obsessed with Available Light

Obsessed with Available Light

  • Never! If I can see so can my camera.

    Votes: 241 43.6%

  • Rerely. Only in extreme situations, barely ever fill.

    Votes: 198 35.8%

  • As needed. I fill a few of my indoor shots.

    Votes: 97 17.5%

  • Often. I fill most of my indoor shots.

    Votes: 14 2.5%

  • All the time! Who wants to see wrinkles?

    Votes: 3 0.5%
  • Total voters
    553
Last night I went to a crowded rambunctious bar to watch the Colt's and Bear's game. I took along my IIIf loaded with some Kodak ASA 800. I don't have a fast lens as yet and used my I-22, 5CM, f3.5, the Elmar clone. Most of the shots that I took were wide open at shutter speeds from 1/4 second up to 1/30 second. I don't have the roll finished as yet but will be interested to see what I get, if anything. It was pretty dim in there in places. I need a faster lens and I could have used a wider angle one as well.

Regards,
Tom
 
Topdog1 said:
As far as using flash properly goes, it's only at a RANGEFINDER forum that people could say they don't know how to use flash properly. With ttl flash, there is almost nothing to know, especially for fill flash. Since no vintage camera has it, and few modern ranegfinders have it, you actually have to know something about it to use it. I used to, then years ago I started using ttl flash. Now I'm a flash know-nothing. If I need to use flash I bring my dslr. It knows how to use flash. I sure don't.

/Ira
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Yeah, they Contax 139Q I used to use, and the current Yashica FX103 sure took away a lot of my flash experience. I used to think I was passably good with flash. I still remember fondly the evidence photo I took of the burned out inside of a church about midnight, using painting with flash. And with flash bulbs rather than one of my electronic flashes at that. I always felt they and a large reflector gave a more natural result.

I didn't vote as I didn't think anything really fit me. I have it on a couple of digital P&S, and use it there. I still use it with my FX103 when I think I need to and let the camera worry most about it (I do bounce some with it). But I seldom use any of my Sunpak or Vivitar flashes with anything else any more. And I was always a bit of an available light freak. A couple of my favorite photos are Korean market shots with available light.

think I just always went for what I thought was going to give me what I vizualized from what I saw. Sometimes that was available light, sometimes flash.
 
Weegee (real name Felig) made his living running around New York City after dark with a police radio, shooting crime-scene photos with flashbulb, developing them in the trunk of his car (this was the 1940s) and selling the prints to overnight Metro editors.
 
Like Vince wrote, Weegee was famous for his crime scene photo's with flash.

Hence a Weegee moment is associated with a big blast of flash, and nothing subtle about it.

Many of us would rather people didn't think of a crime scene when they look at our photos 🙂
 
Kin Lau said:
Like Vince wrote, Weegee was famous for his crime scene photo's with flash.

Hence a Weegee moment is associated with a big blast of flash, and nothing subtle about it.

Many of us would rather people didn't think of a crime scene when they look at our photos 🙂
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But not just crime scenes. He did the same with celebraty shots. I love those shots. They're cool in their rawness.
 
He was all about catching the moment of human interaction. Not the light, but the moment. I think you could make an interesting philosophical argument that direct flash is at least as "honest" as available plight. It has immediacy. It lights all elements of the subject evenly. It throws a spotlight on elements of the world that otherwise lurk, on purpose, in the shadows.
 
I've used it only once, at my cousin's wedding, i wasn't sure about myself and i decided to go for something guarranteed.

Now i never use flash, only when using a P&S ofcourse, so i voted rarely.

I'm still not so good with low light situations, but i know i'll get some results in the end.
 
Using a flash properly is a whole different language, one I don't really have an ear for. It's to the point that I'm even shooting photos of stuff for eBay in available light.

And whoever has developed GAS for flash gear?

- John
 
I rarely use a flash and when I do I make sure to bounce it off of at least one wall or ceilling. I mainly use it to freeze fast moving action if I am shooting at below 1/125th and f1.4 or if there simply is no light.

I set the flash to expire 1 3/4 or 2 stops under the aperture I am shooting at. At f1.4 that is just enough light to flash the neg a breath or freeze action.

Here's an example. The lady in this shot was barely illuminated by the light falling through the door. I aimed the flash over my head at the wall behind me and a bit to one side. Gave me just enough light to see a hair into the shadows.

This jpeg is heavily compressed. The original is a lot more subtle. The cabinet isn't as harsh.
 

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Man you got me there - the pyromaniac in my would LOVE to use one of those! Especially if I could do the Weegee thing and blow some up at nighttime crime scenes.
- John
 
I have flash GAS. I only have two Vivitar 285's and that is frequently not enough. I could use four, and a spare would be nice.
For an explanation, see "Underground" in my gallery.
I don't just use flash for that though. I enjoy doing the studio thing at times and the 285's work reasonably well for that too.
I've mostly given up on the acailable light thing for nightlife shots; even a 1.4 lens and severely pushed film usually don't cut it. Maybe I visit especially dark bars?
 
My Nikon SB30 is for sale, by the way. I also have plenty of my excess flash accessories in the classifieds.

Clarence
 

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My first camera had flash: Instamatic and Magicubes. 🙂 There is definitely a GAS lighting subcult, although not in these parts. I have two flash heads for Contax RTS, two for Canon EOS, and will build my first studio kit this week (Profoto). If there's any ambient light at all, dragging the shutter can usually avoid that deer-in-the-headlight look. Otherwise, it's a cave, and fast lenses won't save you (unless you attach a tripod).
 
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