At 12:19 12/14/01, Ian A. Nichols wrote:
What kinds of background to these pictures have, and how far away is it?
Your T20/T32/F280 will be influenced by the background illumination
(which falls off with the square of flash-subject distance). If your
backgrounds are usually much darker than your subjects you could tell
the camera to underexpose a stop or two (use the compensation dial/film
speed ring).
You could also experiment with a TTL cord, a diffusing reflector (piece
of white fabric over plastic attached to T32 by rubber bands in my case)
and split the BG2 so you can move the flash way off to one side.
This will:
give you a softer light
give you side-lighting (better for face contours etc)
remove the last chance for red-eye even with a telephoto
A couple additional tips:
(1) Don't get too close with a flash; use a longer lens instead. Even
though it may quench properly for a good exposure, direct flash too close
penetrates skin sufficiently to pick up reflection from blood in the
capillaries under the surface of the skin. In very fair skinned people,
this can result in pinkish "hot spots" in the highlight areas (nose, cheek
bones, chin, etc.). The diffusion and bounce that Ian mentions helps
eliminate this.
(2) Watch closest and farthest subject distances. Light falls off at the
inverse square of the distance. This means: at twice the distance it's
one fourth the light; at three times the distance it's a ninth the light;
etc. A longer lens and moving back reduces the relative difference in
distances (if you can do this and still get enough light). Alternative is
creating fewer rows in a grouping.
-- John
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