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Posts Tagged ‘flash sync’

Photography, Technology | 0 comment

Outrunning the Curtain – Tech Thursday

Fashion Show with off camera flash - ©TimeLine Media

Testing

Flash photography is different, not difficult! Natural, or available is easier in the way that Microsoft Word is an easy as a text editor. With available light, what you see if what you get. There is no guessing as to the effect that the light will have on your subject in the photo, because you can see it even without looking through your camera. I am trying to step away, and attempting to use flash in every situation that I can. It is a challenge, but I think the results can be much better, and the files much easier to work with in post. This post is about the first lesson is using a flash off the camera. This can be a speedlight that you attach to your camera with a cord, or wirelessly – it does not matter which for this article.

Every camera has a set flash sync speed. This is a fastest shutter speed at which the flash can illuminate the full frame of the camera with light. Any shutter speed slower than that will also light the frame fully, but any speed faster will start to darken the frame. As an example, here are some photos where I attempted to keep the same exposure, only changing the shutter speed. The settings are in their captions:

1/60 sec, f/6.3 - ©TimeLine Media
1/60 sec, f/6.3 – ©TimeLine Media
1/125th sec, f/5 - ©TimeLine Media
1/125th sec, f/5 – ©TimeLine Media
1/200th sec, f/5 - ©TimeLine Media
1/200th sec, f/5 – ©TimeLine Media

Shutter Speed and Flash

All of the above photos have shutter speeds slower than the sync speed of 1/250th of a second. This sync speed will vary with your camera, so consult your manual to find it for your particular model. Now the next photo is at 1/320th of a second, and the frame starts to darken from the bottom.

1/320th sec, f/5 - ©TimeLine Media
1/320th sec, f/5 – ©TimeLine Media

This darkening is from the curtain that covers sensor. Its movement determines the shutter speed settings on your camera. It moves faster across the sensor as you increase the shutter speed. When you make an exposure with a shutter speed that is too fast, you start to catch the curtain in the frame when the shutter speed is too fast.

1/500th sec, f/5 - ©TimeLine Media
1/500th sec, f/5 – ©TimeLine Media
1/800th sec, f/5 - ©TimeLine Media
1/800th sec, f/5 – ©TimeLine Media

So if you are just starting to experiment with off camera flash, make this your first options to set on your camera. Conversely, check this setting if you are on a shoot and seeing something strange on the image. I’ll bet it is the curtain. This will save you a lot of frustration especially in bright settings! Give it a try with your camera to find your flash shutter sync speed.

Fashion Show with off camera flash - ©TimeLine Media
Fashion Show with off camera flash – ©TimeLine Media 

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Photography, Portrait, Technology | 0 comment

Leaf Shutter Lenses Part 2 – Tech Thursday

Outdoor portrait with leaf shutter lens and flash - ©TimeLine Media

Last Tech Thursday, I had the first post on using leaf shutter lenses. In doing a little research, there are not too many of these that are available in convenient or “affordable” kits. The ones that are available cost most than most DSLRs bundles with lenses – for the lens alone! These are normally in the realm of the medium format cameras with much larger sensors, and much higher price tags. A new medium format camera is in the $15,000 – $40,000 range with the accompanying leaf shutter lenses starting at $4500+.

So you can see why I was excited to learn that the relatively inexpensive Fuji X100s has a leaf shutter. As a refresher, here is a photo taken without any added flash outside. It is the metered exposure from the camera, and has a nice shallow depth of field with the trees and the shed going out of focus. The settings were 1/1000th second at f/2.0 ISO 200. The shutter speed was very fast due to the open aperture. There was bright sun that is starting to set but is still high overhead.

Flash Photography Test

Flat outdoor portrait without fill flash - ©TimeLine Media
Flat outdoor portrait without fill flash – ©TimeLine Media

With a typical DSLR, you would not be able to use these settings to get proper exposure*. The 1/1000th of a second exposure time is too fast for the flash to fully expose the frame. You will have a black bar along one of the long sides of the frame where the shutter is still covering part of the frame. You are limited to 1/200th or 1/160th of a second on most cameras. To find your, look in your manual, and look for the maximum flash sync speed. On the Fuji X100s, however, the leaf shutter lens is able to sync with the flash up to this fast shutter speed. This is the biggest benefit to using these types of lenses – having more control over balancing the available light in the scene with added light from a flash or strobe.

Outdoor portrait with leaf shutter lens and flash - ©TimeLine Media
Outdoor portrait with leaf shutter lens and flash – ©TimeLine Media

You can keep the nice darker blue sky, and saturate the other colors by underexposing the background with a high shutter speed. The flash power you can control from the strobe or by adjusting the aperture. Even though in some of these, the aperture was not wide open, it was only closed about 1 stop which keeps the background nicely out of focus compared to your subject. I cannot wait to do more shooting with this setup! It gives a lot more flexibility in what time of day to make outdoor portraits.

Outdoor portrait with leaf shutter lens and flash - ©TimeLine Media
Outdoor portrait with leaf shutter lens and flash – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208