But to the point…

I was perusing the strobist flickr group, as is my wont - and I came across this post wondering how Chase managed to balance his strobe/ambient in creating some of the “frozen action” shots in his latest video.  After a couple of replies, who replies but the man himself, explaining exactly how the effects were achieved!

Honestly, how cool is that?  Sure, it may seem like a little thing, but the fact that you can basically have an open ended conversation, ask a question, and have it answered directly by the likes of CJ is just super cool.  Just went I start to get disillusioned by the endless flamewars and disinformation spread on internet forums, something like that comes along and reminds me of how the web can really bring people together to socialize and share knowledge in a way that would have been impossible less than 20 years ago…

Of course it also just points to how cool Chase is to hang out on forums and answer folks questions :-)  I decided to make sure that when I am that high-profile I will never become haughty or aloof and always be available to help folks out.  That’s what makes our industry great.

PART 1 - Intro/basics

PART 2 - Manual flash

PART 3 - TTL wireless

PART 4 - Syncing/sync speed

So there you have it!  all the nitty gritty of off camera flash in one convenient package for your bookmarking convenience

To opine on the topic in a more general fashion, I would like to propose the following answer to most any “what should I buy” question.

Buy Knowledge.

when I look back at the evolution of my own skills as a photographer I cannot think of *any* instance were a particular piece of gear made a quantifiable difference in the quality of my photos. I can, however, directly attribute each and every improvement in my photography to *learning* or *understanding* something new.

To that end, the money I have spent on photo classes/seminars or even just having out watching more experienced photographers work has been exponentially more beneficial to me than any piece of gear. Sure the whole “it’s not the camera it’s the photographer” is cliched, but just look through flickr at the amount of absolute crap coming out of cameras like the d3 or 1ds… Folks are dropping 10k on gear who would make exponentially better images with an xti and spending the other 9k on a semester of photography classes at uni.

The bottom line is if you have a camera, you can make a picture. if you have a light you can light it (whether it’s a 20 year old vivitar or a profoto 7b). But you have to *know what* you want to make and *know how* to light it first. Once you do that, you will *know* what gear you need. Believe me, spending a weekend at a seminar with a serious photographer will improve you images so far beyond buying a 1D or set of profotos, it’s amazing.  It may not be as sexy as the latest toy, but when it comes down to it you just have to ask yourself - is it the gadgets, or is it the images? (and don’t get me wrong, I’m as much of a gadget-head as the next guy!)

If you *think* you need more gear to make better images, you don’t - you need more knowledge.  If you *know* you need a specific piece of gear for a specific application, well then by all means go crazy

end rant.

A fascinating and surreal piece of art… Paintings on walls/public spaces photographed and stitched together into a stop motion piece that really plays with the whole concept of photography in and of itself.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Kinda streamlined things a bit, lots of new work in the “people” section.

Check it out here or click on the “portfolio” link on the right

I’ve also decided to separate a lot of my personal work/projects onto flickr, rather than cluttering up the portfolio per-se - check out MY FLICKR STREAM here, and look for more updates in the weeks to come…

Of course Maureen, being the champ she is, was up for it!  Luckily I had tried out a few lighting setups a while ago when I first had the idea, so I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to light it - I need one big light for behind the door to make the light pouring out, then a 2nd snooted light to illuminate the face , and a 3rd for just a touch of foreground light (the cast shadows were an extra benefit).

We got everything set up and started shooting. Of course about 20 frames into the shot I realized I had flipped my camera into MF mode, and they were all out of focus (it was too dark to tell through the VF but I was wondering why my focus confirmation points weren’t lighting up). Luckily I realized early enough and was able to get a couple of good frames. Of course, about 3 frames after getting the shot the Vagabond powering the AB800 behind the door gave up the ghost!

Some processing in lightroom and the final result was just as I pictured it. Like I said, I love it when it all just comes together in the end (link goes to larger image on flickr)

I’ve been playing around with a few different mods to affix the popper without drilling holes in the case or covering my flash with tape/velcro. So far this is the best I’ve come up with. It works extremely well, allows you to attach the popper super quickly and securely, and is dead easy to do (no actual “modding” of the unit required.) The one compormise is that it involves putting a little velcro on the flash body, but there is even a workaorund for that

So without further ado:
you will need the exact same materials described in my DIY snoot/bouncecard -

• velcro wrap (the kind that is hooked on one side and looped on the other (so it can stick to itself, often used for wrapping computer cables)
• a small piece of self-adhesive velcro (loop side, this will form the mount points for the
• “Foamies” craft foam (thin sheets of flexible foam, available at craft/art stores (pearl etc..))  If possible get the sheets that are self adhesive on one side, which allows you to skip the next ingredient
• glue (optional, if you didn’t get the self-sticky foamies)

the procedure is simple.  Cut a strip of velcro wrap long enough to reach halfway around your flash body, with a little extra.   Take 2 small pieces of the self-adhesive velcro, and mount them on each side of the flash, these are the “mounting points” for the popper/strap.  Cut 3 pieces of foam with an x-acto, the width of the velcro strap, and long enough to go across/cover the IR sensor.   On one of the pieces of foam, cut a “channel” about the width of the radiopopper bead, splitting it in two.  Now stack the 3 pieces together and glue (with the “channel” piece on top obviously).  Hot glue works well for this, or if you got the self-adhesive foamies that will work too.   Once done the whole assembley should look like this.

And that’s basically all there is to it!  Now simply slap the body of the Popper on the still exposed loop side of the velcro, and loop the fiber optic over placing the bead in the channel.  Position the whole shebang on top of the sensor on the flash, and attach the loose ends of the strap to the velcro mount points on the side of the flash body.  The channel in the foam hold the bead securely in place, while the thickness provies a “cushion” that makes a flat/secure surface for the popper body to mount on.  I find that this is a very stable/secure method of mounting the poppers - once on I don’t have to worry about the bead coming loose or the body flopping around.  (I cut the fiber optic in half to make it “neater” but you dont have to)

a few caveats:

1. because of the position of the IR sensor this will really only work for Canon strobes (nikon has the sensor on the side of the body, not the front).   I use it on a canon 580exII and a 550ex - it may work on others or not depending on the location of the sensor, as always YMMV.
2. when mounting the poppers this way, make sure you rotate the flash head around 180deg.  (pointing “backwards” from it’s normal orientation)  The RadioPopper folks have pointed out that the electromagnetic pulse from the front of the flash head can damage the RP units if it is in direct proximity - as long as you turn it around it should be fine.

Hope that helps all you RadioPopper folks out there.  I’ve been very happy with this mounting system so far!

I, on the other hand prefer a slow zoom (high quality and still constant aperture, such as Canon’s F/4L lenses) and a fast prime.

Consider:
Point 1: f/2.8 is one stop faster than f/4.   In other words, the difference between bumpring your iso from 200->400 (or 400-800 etc…)  Us digital photographers sometimes forget how spoiled we are… back in the day we needed every bit of speed we could get out of our glass, as film speed was often the limiting factor.  Anyone remember shooting film past ASA400?  got grainy pretty fast didn’t it :-)   These days I will shoot my 5d at 3200 without even blinking.  And it’s only getting better from there!   Considering that an f/4 zoom is a)smaller/lighter b)greater range (24-105mm vs 24-70), I would much rather bump my iso one stop than carry the extra bulk/weight of a 2.8 zoom around all day.   Not to mention that when using strobes/lights, I’m generally working at f/4-5.6 maximum, it’s only available (low) light that demands fast glass which leads me to my second point.

point 2: in my experience, when I need low light capability *i need low light capability*, and in those cases even f/2.8 won’t cut it.   A f/1.4 lens gives you a *3 stop* advantage over an f/4 zoom (and 2 stops even over a 2.8!) - that’s the same as going from 200-1600ISO, not insignificant! or consider the low light potential of a 1.4 lens on one of the new bodies capable of doing ISO12,800 or even 25,600 - now we’re getting into the “EV -crazydark” territory.  Not to mention that at f/2.8 the prime is already stopped down two stops, while the zoom is still wide open, which will generally give you better edge to edge quality.

Ok, so maybe I’m a bit biased, as I am a “prime guy”, but I think a lot of folks underestimate the potential of the humble fixed focal length lens.  The classic 50/1.4 is a surprisingly flexible lens that can yield a huge variety of perspectives simply by taking a few steps forward or back.

Some will respond that it’s the combination of flexibility and speed that makes the 2.8 appealing, but to me it seems like you sort of get shorted on both ends - it’s not fast enough to be *really fast* and not flexible enough to preclude frequent lens switching.

(and before the hate mail starts, yes I’ve used the fast zooms plenty. Yes they are great lenses, and yes, maybe if I were a dedicated wedding shooter I’d change my mind.  All I’m saying is that there are other alternatives!)

I definitely found myself rusty at first… I find that shooting b/w definitely requires “seeing” the scene differently… very quickly though I fell back into my old habits from my film days, looking more at light/contrast/texture rather than color…

It’s amazing how some self imposed “restrictions” can really get you out of a rut creatively & doing things differently. Definitely going to be concentrating more on b/w in the near future (and I haven’t even gotten my 120 film processed yet!)

a quick gallery of some pics from the month too…

I dunno, maybe it’s the economy or maybe I’m just becoming one of those crotchety old photographers who is more concerned with light and composition than with gear :-)  I think as is common with many photographers as our skills and experience improve, our interest in gear for the sake of gear decreases.  I’ve been doing this long enough that I know what I want out of a camera (high quality, light weight, fast wide glass- particularly primes) and I’m happy with what I’ve got.

I’ll probably take a hard look at the olympus “pseudo rangefinder” micro four thirds camera when it comes out (probably not for another year is my guess) but for now I just want to go out and take pictures

…and with the announcement this morning, I could practically hear the “digital rangefinder” crowd give off a collective “Oooooooo…”

Sure it’s only a prototype, but the body looks exactly like what we’ve all been clamoring for… super compact (looks about the size of a DP-1 in hand) “EVIL” body… and good lord is that a pancake prime on it?!?!?  Retro-rangefinder styling is just a bonus

DPreview has the announcement here along with photos of the prototype… check it out!

I have to say, my initial reaction was “somewhat dissapointed”.   The thing looks just like a regular SLR.  I thought the whole point of getting rid of the mirror box was to, well, get rid of the mirror box!  What’s with the big hump on top and pseudo-optical finder.  The whole point of this was to make a more compact interchangeable camera, so why do it half-assed?  Get rid of the finder completely, and either use EVF exclusively, or make a rangefinder style add on finder that mounts to the hotshoe.  (coupling it to the zoom would be easy).  Speaking of which - no primes?  Yeah, I know it’s just the first announcement, but “compact” camera system just *screams* for primes.  The 14-42 zoom it comes with is just “meh”.   To be fair, there is a 20mm f/1.7 on the roadmap for 2009 (40mm equiv - awesome), but hey - lets see a 12mm and a 40mm too.

After reading more of DPreview’s preview however, I was slightly mollified.  From the comparison images the thing *does* look pretty small (and light - 630 grams *with* battery and lens? holy cow!)  Check HERE for some size comparison and “in hand” images

from the reports, the biggest technical hurdle (making a usable contrast-detection AF) has been handled nicely as well, seems like AF is fine (and it has a built in AF assist light).

So what’s the verdict?

Well, it’s definitely cool, and I think a step in the right direction for opening up a new niche in the industry *but* I think they could have done more.  If you’re selling the concept of “small and light” go all the way - commit to the true rangefinder form factor, lose the big grip on the right side, lose the bulky pop up flash (stick it on the side if you must a-la the lumix LX3).  Oh yeah, and let’s see those primes.

Give us something like THIS

or THIS

Honestly if it was something like one of those renderings, I probably would have sold my G9 and bought one on the spot.  As it is, I’ll wait and see what comes down the pipe

(and Olympus hasn’t announced anything yet, so fingers-crossed)

DPreview and Luminous Landscape already have previews posted  HERE and HERE respectively!

Samsung is introducing what they seem to be calling a “hybrid” camera system - in other words the “EVIL” (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) system we’ve all been drooling over (hopefully!).  Not much said about specs/lenses - hopefully they will at least have a model aiming at a higher level “advanced amateur” feature set rather than the “bridge” market (the folks going from a compact to SLR).

However what makes this really interesting is the fact that Samsung SLRs use the venerable “K” mount.  If they somehow preserved the mount compatibility with this new system that would be *huge*.  Imagine a compact, mirrorbox-less body that was compatible with K mount lenses… drool… of course now then I would absolutely *kick* myself for selling off my DA LTD primes

It’s just an interesting thought, unfortunately I suspect they will likely *not* be using the K mount (registration distances on SLR lenses and all that).  But it’s certainly within the realm of possibility.

Now I’m wondering if I should try shooting with my right eye.  I tried it and it felt awkward at first, but Most likely that’s just because it is unfamiliar.  I might give it a  go for a few weeks, to see if I get comfortable with it.  Might releave eye-fatigue from long sessions in the VF

However, for some reason I’ve done almost *no* black and white work recently… Why? I have no idea… but almost everything out of my camera for the past 6 months or so has been color (not that there’s anything wrong with that!)   So… to “break out of my rut” as it were, I’ve decided to do a month of exclusively black and white shooting.  Starting sept 1, I’m setting my default import preferences in Lightroom to apply a b/w conversion on import.  I’m not going to change my normal shooting habits, keep on working as I always do only it will all be b/w.    It’s always good to shake things up a bit to get the creative juices flowing :-)  Pictures from the project will be posted here in the coming weeks…

PART 2 - manual flash

PART 3 - TTL wireless

Let’s talk about sync speed.
Sync speed is probably the most misunderstood topic for folks starting out with off-camera lighting, and for good reason.  There is a ton of seemingly contradictory information out there, misinformation, disinformation and downright wrong information… but really it’s not all that complicated, so let’s break it down.   First off to understand “sync speed” we must first understand how an SLR shutter works.  SLRs (whether digital or film) all (generally) use a type of shutter known as a “focal plane” shutter -

Obviously the job of a shutter is to expose your film or sensor for a prescribed period of time (usually less than a second).  The way a focal plane shutter work is by using 2 “curtains” that travel across the film plane.  The first (or “leading”) curtain starts by moving outward, exposing the film plane, and when it is done the “trailing” curtain follows it closing off the exposure.  Now what happens when the shutter speed gets faster than a certain point is that the 2nd curtain starts its travel before the first curtain has cleared the film plane.  In other words, the film/sensor is *never completely exposed* as a whole.   As the exposure get faster and faster, there is an increasingly narrow “slit” created by the two curtains that kind of “paints” itself across the film.  While this poses no problem for a shot using a continuous light source, for flash this is quite problematic.  Since normally the actual duration of the flash burst is much faster than the actual exposure, if one of the curtains is in front of the film plane when the flash “pops” it will partially block the light, yeilding the dreaded “black bars” across part of the image.

(Ben Mathis of the Lighting-Practice blog has a great animation of this here)

So in essence when you talk about “sync speed” this is what you are referring to - the maximum shutter speed at which the film is completely exposed at a point of the exposure.

Now if you think abou thtis process, it is a actually a hard physical limit.  There is physically *no way* to change how the shutter curtains operate, or the maximum speed at which they are fully open.  In other words, when folks throw around the term “cheating” or “hacking” the sync speed, it actually has *nothing to do* with the physical x-sync per-se, which is a common point of confusion.  What they are talking about is actually different ways of manipulating the flash burst to “work around” they shutter limitation.

*of course having said that*, let me first point out the exception to the rule

Invariably, during any sync speed discussion, someone will inevitably chime in with “you must be wrong since I normally at up to 1/2000 or so all the time with flash”.    They are, in fact, correct but it is a special case - they are generally using a Nikon D70/D40 when they report this.   There is a unique feature on some Nikon DSLRs (and a few other cameras), which is that they actually don’t use a purely mechanical focal plane shutter - they use what is called a “hybrid” Electronic/mechanical shutter.   This works similarly to a regular focal plane shutter, in that there are the normal first and second curtain, however after a certain point (usually 1/60th) any exposure faster than that does *not* precipitate an increase in the physical shutter speed - the curtains still open/close at 1/60th, however the camera merely “grabs” a smaller and smaller “slice” of the exposure recorded by the CCD.  In other words, even at 1/2000, the shutter is still opening for 1/60th, and then a tiny slice of that exposure is recorded.  The practical ramifications of this is that in essence the shutter is *always*  fully open for the eposure (for all practical purposes) - you never have to worry about the curtains blocking the flash.
Now for those of us who don’t have one of these cameras, we need a different method if we want to use flash with shutter speeds higher than the sync.

The first, and most common is known as HSS (High Speed Sync), sometimes also referred to as “focal plane sync” (FP sync).  Remember that at speeds higher than the max sync speed, the shutter curtains are essentially creating a “slit” that travels across the film plane.  In HSS, the flash will “strobe”, firing a series of superfast bursts (instead of one single burst) that are timed to match up with the shutter movement, ensuring that the whole frame is exposed uniformly as the “shutter slit” passes across each part.  HSS works great, although there are 2 major downsides.

1) it is proprietary - because the flash needs to “talk” to the camera in order to ensure that it’s pulses are timed properly with the shutter movement, HSS is limited to the manufacturers TTL capable flash units, so manual flashes and studio strobes are out :-).  This also means that triggering solutions like cables/pocketwizards/any manual triggering will *not* work (remember they only provide a “dumb” fire signal, no communication which is needed for HSS).  This means you are limited to using the manufacturers wireless ttl triggering if you want HSS off camera (and Radiopoppers potentially) with the associated drawbacks)

2) because the flash has to fire a bunch of little “pulses” across the entire exposure from a single charge of the capacitor (as opposed to one big burst), the flash output is *drastically* decreased.  HSS really eats the output of your flash (hence Dave Hobby & Joe McNally’s desert shoot using *7* SB800s

That being said, if you are using system flashes with something like radiopoppers (or in an indoor/studio situation) HSS is probably the easiest way to sync past the max sync speed of your camera.

Another (and much less optimal) method actually involves turning the flash into a conitnuous light source!!

Consider:  even though the flash may seem to be an instantaneous burst, it still takes time for the burst to occur.  (this depends on the flash and the power, but often in the range of 1/4000-1/7000 second) that is the time that the flash is physically “on” putting out light.  Now consider if your shutter speed is faster than that, the sensor “sees” the flash output for its entire exposure!  in essence the flash has become a continuous light source as far as the camera is conernced.  Now this isn’t a particularly flexible solution (requires very specific parameters from both camera and flash in order to work), however in the right circumstances in a pinch it will do…  (one thing to remember if you are doing this as that as a “continuous light” the flash contribution to the exposure is now affected by shutter speed just as ambient is!)

I personally shoot with a Canon 5d which has a max sync of 1/200. for faster, I generally use HSS with radiopoppers, or in a pinch the Canon G9 has a hybrid electro-mechanical shutter as described above (similar to the D70/D40) which allows syncing up to 1/2000 or 1/2500 pretty reliably.   Between those 2 methods, I cover all my bases pretty well.

Anyway, that about wraps it up for “the nuts and bolts of off-camera flash”.  I hope this series has been informative, and I may add/refine/clarify it as time goes on

-Ed Z

http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1217960634.html

I pretty much agree with his analysis, unfortunately even with the contrast-af part (boo).  Hopefully though, Oly/Panasonic will realize the market for a higher end “EVIL” camera will demand a phase-detection AF system and build one in somehow. (crosses fingers)

Regardless, I’m still looking forward to seeing what they actually come up with on this standard.  The sensor technology is already there, we know oly does great optics - the only potential dealbreaker for me would be usability (mainly the af issue).  I dont even mind an exclusively electronic VF as long as the AF is responsive and there is no shutter lag.  If they can surmount those two obstacles I think they will have a winning technology

There have been a few forays into this territory, Epson and Leica released true rangefinder bodies with digital sensors, using their existing mount, but they were recieved with… shall we say… mixed reviews (plus the astronomical pricetag on the leica put it out of range for most casual shooters.

For the rest of us searching for the ever elusive “compact, quiet, unobtrusive ’street’” camera, we’ve so far had to make do with high-end compact digicams, such as the Canon G9 (my weapon of choice) and the new Sigma DP-1

However it just may be that Olympus plans to change that…

Olympus just announced a new lens/mount standard dubbed “micro four-thirds” based on their current “four-thirds” standard.   The significance of this is it keeps the standard 4/3 sensor while making a smaller mount, and significantly shortinging the flange (lens->sensor) distance.  Additionally the specification of live vew, *completely eliminates the mirror box* which makes up the majority of the “bulk” in an slr body

What this means in english is that the mount will combine the benifit of interchangeable lenses with the compactness of a digicam (or rangefinder) body (in other words, it’s The fabled “E.V.I.L, or Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens” camera we have heard discussed ad-nauseum)!

Personally I think this is a great (and bold) move for olympus.   They seem to have recognized the appeal of a compact system while maintaining the flexibility & quality of an interchangeable lens setup.   In other words, they are looking at the traditional “rangefinder” market, but instead of trying to work with current mounts/standards they are totally re-inventing the concept, embracing the unique advantages of digital.   Particularly when combined with the absolutely stellar optics of the new zuiko lenses, this could be a real killer combo, and is *definitely* somthing I (and I’m sure many others) will be keepting my eye on!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 1- Basics

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 - Manual Flash

Ok, now that we’ve talked about getting your strobe off camera, and triggering it manually, lets talk about the other “main” option for firing it - wireless TTL

In simplest terms it means that your camera and flash “talk” to each other to automatically determine the proper exposure.  Just like the automatic metering modes for your camera (where it calculates the exposure based on reading the light of the scene) TTL flash does the same thing - lets your camera automatically calculate the amount of flash needed for a scene.  Generally the way this is done is that the camera fires a “pre flash”, a small burst from the flash to “test” the scene, which is read and exposure/amount of flash is calculated.  The shutter is then opened, and the actual exposure is taken with the flash firing to the degree calculated by the pre-flash.

Now bear in mind that although wireless TTL and manual flash both achieve the same end result (firing your flash off camera, they are very different beasts.  Remember all that hardware we talked about for firing your flash manually?  (pocketwizards, cables, ebay triggers etc…?)  None of that will work for TTL.  Remember that all those devices are doing is carying a “FIRE” pulse to the flash.  they are essentially “dumb”.   TTL requires actual communication between the flash and the camera.

The good news is that if you have a modern dslr and “system” strobe (meaning the manufacturere’s dedicated strobe, designed to work with TTL)  you may already be able to do wireless TTL with no additional hardware.

Now as mentioned, modern TTL implementations rely on a preflash to meter the scene, and the the flash fires based on this meting calculation.  When the flash is on-camera this is no problem, since the strobe can “talk” to the camera directly (notice the several other pins on the foot of the “system” flash vs. the manual flash?  those are used for ttl communication)

<- TTL flash foot vs. manual flash foot.

But what happens when we want to take that TTL flash off camera?  Somehow it needs to be able to recieve the metering information to “know” how to set it’s output for the exposure.  Most current camera makers solve this problem by using an optical TTL signal.  In other words, the camera/master uses a series of quick flashes that are “read” by an optical sensor on the strobe, and these tell it the metering/TTL information.  There is a “master” device, usually an onboard flash either built-in or mounted on camera which sends out the preflash communication, and the wireless flashes are the “slaves” that read the flashed signal given by the master and pop accordingly.

This method of communication is actually quite sophisticated.  Most of the current optical TTL systems can control multiple groups of flashes at independent power levels, and power output/ EV compensation can be set directly from the master (it transmits this information to the slaves).  In practice what this means is that you can set flash power level & ratios directly from your camera/master device without having to adjust each strobe manually.  Cool huh?

In terms of a master: Nikon, Olympus, and Pentax all have DSLRS that allow you to use the built-in (pop-up) flash as a master to control slaved TTL strobes, while canon requires you to actually have a strobe mounted on camera (or use the ST-E2, which is a dedicated wireless TTL controller) to control your slaves.   I’m not going to go into the actual setup and configuration of each TTL system, as that is *way* beyond the scope of this article.  Suffice to say, RTFM :-)  In short, you switch your strobes into slave mode, your camera/master into “master” mode, and then are able to control your slaves from the master, setting ratios and such.  The master tells the slaves how to fire based on the preflash metering information, and Bob’s your uncle…

Now given the advantages of wireless TTL flash, you might be wondering why not always use it and forget about manual?  There are a couple of big downsides to TTL flash:

1 - it is proprietary. The pre-flash ttl protocols that each manufacturer uses to communicate between master and slaves are specific to that manufacture.  What this means is that you are locked in to using that manufacturer’s strobes that support it’s TTL protocols.  Want to use 3rd party? out of luck.  want to mix in studio lights? No dice…  (actually it is possible to do this, but we’re not going to talk about it here

2 - (and this is the biggee) line of sight (LOS) is required. Since the TTL information is sent optically (by superqick pre-flashes), the camera and strobe have to be able to “see” each other in order to “talk”.   In practice what this means is that you are limited as to where you can place your strobes off camera (since they have to be able to see the signal flashes) and also that these systems become, shall we say, less than reliable in bright ambient conditions or outdoors (since all the ambient light makes it difficult for the sensor to see the signal flashes).   This is a generally “game breaking” limitation for working pros in the field who need to be able to depend on their strobes to fire every time without fail?  (remember I said that rock-solid reliablility is the reason to pay $200 for a pocketwizard over a $20 ebay trigger?  same deal here.)

Enter the RadioPopper…

Much in the same way that a pocket wizard or ebay trigger acts as a “bridge” for the “fire” signal in manual flash setups, the radiopoppers act as a “Bridge” for the visual signal flashes required for TTL communication.

Basically they way radiopoppers work is you have a transmitter and receiver - the transmitter sits on top of your “commander” unit (either an on camera strobe or dedicated commander unit - st-e2 or su800) and “reads” the magnetic pulses created by the master’s signal flashes (apparently the signal flashes generate a magnetic field around the flash head as well).  The transmitter then sends this information via an RF signal, much like a PW (but in this case it is more than just a “fire” signal) to the receiver which has a tiny little LED light inside.  The reciever decodes the RF signal and uses it’s little IR LED to replicate the same signal flashes right in front of the sensor, giving the strobe the exact same optical TTL signal it would have gotten from the commander unit regardless of how far away it is (or around a corner etc…)!  It’s a rather clever setup.  The fact that it is simply tranlating the signals from the master means that it is not system specific - the RadioPoppers will work with both Canon and Nikon’s TTL systems (other systems are not “officially”  supported, but reports have confirmed at least basic functionality with Sony/Minolta and Pentax).

The beauty of Radiopoppers is that since they are essentially just an RF “bridge” for the system’s optical TTL signal, they support all the TTL functionality that the system does, inclusing HSS (High Speed Sync), without the limitations of line-of-sight or range that the optical system imposes.    I personally have a set of radiopoppers, and after using them for a few weeks, I have no idea how I ever managed without them.   Even when I am setting my flash power manually, the ability to do wireless HSS without the limitations of optical TTL is a beautiful thing.  Plus for a lazy slob like me, the ability to control levels/set ratios without walking to each flash is just worth it’s weight in gold.   I really can’t say enough great things about the radiopoppers.

The only downside to the radiopoppers is that they only do TTL.  In other words if you just want to trigger manual flashes or studio lights, the radiopoppers are useless (since they are just an RF bridge for the optical signal) you still need pocketwizards or the like.

Anyway, in conclusion, while off camera TTL is somewhat complex, the hardware needed for it is quite simple - in general it is just a matter of having a compatible master and slave unit - either the onboard flash or hotshoe mounted, along with line of sight to trigger the slave flashes.  If youare limited by the shortcomigns of the optical signaling system, Radiopoppers will give you RF reliablility/capablility while preserving the TTL functionality of the system, so in essence you have a choice between using the built in capabilities of the system or radiopoppers, and that’s about it!  Wireless TTL is a very useful feature (albeit with drawbacks) and in my opinion belongs in the repitoire of every strobist! (If it’s good enough for Joe McNally, it’s good enough for me

Stay tuned for the 4th and final part, when we talk about the little oddities of flash triggering, notably sync speed and ways to “cheat” it!

Continue to part 4 - syncing and misc. topics!

“The Nuts and Bolts of Off Camera Flash - part 3″ is still in the works, I’ve got it started, should have it up by the weekend at the latest!

A quick shot from the balcony of the hotel we went to for the evening of the 4th…

(this was shot at iso3200… I am absolutely floored by how clean and detailed the 5d is at 3200.  it is light years ahead of any crop-sensor camera I have used)

Finally one evening we had a spectacular lightning storm… the view over the ocean and the bay was fantastic as we watched the lighting move across into downtown Miami

(yes the second one is a bit blurry as I didn’t have a tripod, but the bolt was so cool it was hard to pass up)

Finally a few random snaps from here and there (along with the above, couldn’t figure out how to separate them out!)

Just a few snapshots - no cable to upload them, but we saw the biggest iguanas I’ve ever seen in my life.  Seriously these things were huge - had to be about 5′ head to tail.  Just strolling around the pool at my relatives condo… Got a few shots with the G9.  what a trip.   

back this coming Wednesday, a real post when I get back!

Independence Day is coming up, and that means fireworks shows! Now admit it - we’ve all been guilty (at one point or another) of whipping out a little pocket camera and snapping away at the fireworks, handheld, in P mode, probably with the dinky little on-camera flash going too. Yeah, I’ve done it too…

BUT…

with a little effort and a bit of technical know-how you can go from blurry, underexposed, globs-of-color-on-film shots to beautiful, crisp, rainbow bursts that will be the envy of your friends and neighbors! (grin)

(note: a lot of the techniques here are similar to the ones in my article on photographing lightning, so you may want to read that as well (LINK -opens in new window))

First things first:

GEAR:
most of this will be assuming you are using an slr/dslr. You can shoot fireworks with a pocket digicam, but it is harder. If you have one with manual controls, most of this info will apply, but pocket cams have never been known for good long/low light exposures so YMMV.

you will need:
1. a camera (duh). at least something that lets you control the aperture and has a “bulb” mode (meaning the shutter stays open as long as the button is held).
2. a tripod. we’re talking exposures of several seconds, it is impossible to hold the camera steady. Tripod is a must (the sturdier the better to cut down on “mirror slap”)
3. a cable release. used for bulb mode. Note that most wireless remotes will *not* do “bulb”, only set exposures. There may be some out there that do, but most likely you will need a *corded* remote release.

Now, on to the specifics:

TECHNIQUE:
first, set up your gear. make sure the tripod will not be disturbed/bumped during the exposures. Set up the camera on the tripod, attach the cable release. Frame the anticipated “action” area.
Before the show starts, put your camera in Aperture priority mode and take a few “test” shots to determine a good exposure, (I prefer slightly on the dark side). I like to adjust it to an aperture that will give me a decently exposed image at a shutter speed of about 2-4 seconds (since this is usually about how long I open the shutter with the release.) this isn’t an exact science, it’s just to get a rough estimate the the aperture needed for your approximate exposure time. Since the actual bursts of light will expose regardless, we are basically just calibrating the exposure for the ambient light here. Once you are comfortable with the exposure, leave the aperture set as it, and switch into M (fully manual) mode. Turn the shutter speed all the way down until it goes into “bulb” mode. Now you can manually control your shutter - when you press the button down on the cable release, the shutter will open, and stay open until you let go of the button. This way you can exactly control when the exposure stops and starts.
note: make sure you camera is set to manual focus, else you will lose shots while it “hunts” for a focus lock. Most likely focus will be set to infinity, but if you are really close/have a long lens you might need to adjust. Regardless, get it set and leave it.

There is a “rhythm” to photographing fireworks, once you get the feel for it, it’s pretty easy to “anticipate” the exposures. You can usually hear the rocket going up, a second or two before it bursts. This is when I like to start the exposure. Hear the rocket - CLICK - burst - wait a second or two for the “trails” of the burst to expose - release shutter. That’s basically it! I find most of my exposures are in the 3-5 second range. As the show goes on you will probably adjust your aperture, or even set a “preset” exposure as you find the “pattern” of the show. Either way, you still generally want to be starting your exposure right as the rocket goes up before it bursts. The exception to this is when the show gets really “intense” and many rockets are going at once, it can be difficult to tell by sound alone. In these cases, hopefully you have a general idea of the exposure needed, and I will sometimes just set an “average” exposure and just keep clicking the shutter. Kind of “spray and pray”, if you will

TIPS AND TRICKS:

What lens to use?
- this really depends on 2 things: how far away from the action you are, and how tightly you want to frame the shot. Farther away = longer lens, closer = wider. The examples on this page were shot with an 85mm lens (equal to 127.5mm when using a 1.5x crop camera, like most dslrs) I was about 4 blocks away, shooting from a balcony of a high rise apartment building. I like a pretty tight framing, as it allows the actual fireworks to dominate the picture, rather than extraneous elements, so I tend toward longer rather than wider.

Framing the shot / vantage point
- This is a matter of personal taste, but I like to include the surrounding scenery in my shots to give “context” to the fireworks. (As opposed to pointing the camera up an having just the bursts against an empty sky). Usually the best way to do this is to get to a high point, so you have an unobstructed view of the surrounding area. I happen to be lucky in that my apartment’s balcony looks out over the Philadelphia Art Museum (where the fireworks show occurs), So I’ve got a great vantage point without leaving the home. But even if you don’t you can probably find something. If you live in an urban area, many high-rises have roof decks that make great spots. Tops of parking garages are also good. If you’re in a rural area, this might not be as much of an issue, since there is probably more space, and less “stuff” to get in the way of the shot, but a high vantage point is still good.

- The clearest shots often come at the beginning of the show, and after pauses in the shooting (of fireworks that is, not photos!) this is because the accumulated smoke will either not be too bad yet, or have had some time to dissipate (respectively).

-Speaking of smoke; if possible, is is advantageous to set up in an orientation where the wind is blowing at a 90 degree angle to your position. This way, the accumulated smoke from the rockets will blow out of the picture frame as quickly as possible, leaving less to “muddy” your shots.

Capturing multiple bursts.
- A cool trick if you are using bulb mode is to capture multiple bursts in one exposure. Basically they way you do this is to use bulb mode to keep the camera’s shutter open, expose one burst, then cover the lens with something to block out extraneous light, but *keep the shutter open* until the next burst, uncover the lens to expose the burst, re-cover it and so forth…

The trick here is to have something that will block light out of the lens, but NOT TOUCH IT, as the vibrations of bumping/touching the lens will ruin the shot. One common method is to use a black/dark colored baseball cap - the “bowl” of the cap will block light from entering the lens without touching it (this is what I do). You could also use a black piece of cloth, a black cardboard cylinder with one end capped etc…

Basically the sequence goes like this:
- As the first burst starts, expose normally using bulb, however, when the burst ends, instead of releasing the shutter, leave it open and with your other hand, cover the lens with your cap/coth/whatever, being careful not to bump/touch it.

-Wait

-As the next burst starts, remove the covering for the lens, expose the burst.

Repeat as desired (note,you may have to close down the aperture for these kinds of shots to compensate for the increase in ambient light over the length of the exposure)

Finally when you have enough bursts, release the shutter to finish the exposure.

CONCLUSION:
I hope these tips help you all get the most out of your holiday fireworks pictures. Photographing fireworks is not all that difficult once you get the hang of it, and can yield s