Learning the Art of Flash and Keyboards

[Muirium]

Join me, on a Flash Odyssey.

Once upon a time, I did all my shooting by day. Had to be good daylight, too, because my camera was old and I live far up north, in the playground of Atlantic storms. Needless to say, this was a bit of a bind. It's mostly pish up here, and with a camera just as bad as the light, expect a hard limit on the quality of your photos.

So I got a new camera. I've leapt 10 years forward in time, from 2005's Canon EOS 350D to 2015's 760D. Hallelujah! The new body is better than the old in every respect. I'm right pleased with it. But as Chzel, the little devil on my shoulder, whispered in my ear: that's not the whole puzzle filled. What I needed next was to control my own lighting, I needed to shoot with flash.

So I also got a nice Canon 430EX III-RT flash module. Until now, I've been flash skeptic. I'm so used to its obvious trashy glare ruining a poorly lit pic. But I read up a little on how to use the things right, and I'm putting that into practice in my own shots now too.

Without further ado, behold my first, very experimental, session with flash lit keyboards.

IMG_7159.JPG (241.26 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

IMG_7163.JPG (192.54 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

Yes, so I'm just pissing about with super high contrast! This is not what you'd see in a diagram of good strobe technique…

IMG_7164.JPG (164.15 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

But I do like the extreme shadows it brings about.

IMG_7167.JPG (228.75 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

IMG_7172.JPG (223.82 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

IMG_7178.JPG (193.27 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

The rich dark dyesub XT alphas I have on my SSK here really pop quite nicely in this light.

IMG_7182.JPG (187.03 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

IMG_7185.JPG (209.49 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

As far as I'm concerned, the key to flash photography is to separate the light source from the camera. I had my 760D's wee flash opened up throughout this session, but merely as a remote control for the real flash gun. The two were linked optically, so the camera could send pulse codes about exposure levels and when to fire, without actually lighting up the pictures itself.

IMG_7186.JPG (180.36 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

I popped the flash on a GorillaPod so I could position it as I liked. Here it is in a slightly more practical pose, with the scatter card out for a softer light.

IMG_7188.JPG (203.15 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

IMG_7190.JPG (152.61 KiB) Viewed 30993 times

Yes, it's a cosy winter blanket. I didn't want to scuff things up working on a hard surface in the dark!

IMG_7153.JPG (209.16 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

IMG_7211.JPG (153.18 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

IMG_7224.JPG (299.37 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

I'd been shooting entirely in Manual for the whole session. This feels like unfamiliar territory for me, as the light meter isn't much good in the dark when I'm composing a shot. But the flash and camera communicate wirelessly, conspiring on the right level of light to match my choice of numbers. This worked surprisingly well, time after time, no matter what damn foolish thing I was up to next with the placement of camera and flash. Impressive!

IMG_7225.JPG (278.13 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

IMG_7227.JPG (252.58 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

IMG_7229.JPG (305.25 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

Eventually I decided to try Aperture Priority and, uh, this is what I got.

IMG_7231.JPG (264.89 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

The flash fired all right, producing the initial image. But the shutter stayed open for second after second until I gave up and switched the camera off. The result was this trippy 60s impression of the picture I had meant to take.

IMG_7233.JPG (265.53 KiB) Viewed 31005 times

That's better.

For a first session, I got more pretty pictures out of it than I expected. Sometime soon, perhaps, I'll be shooting sweet stuff like Madhias! Maybe. Whatever I manage, I'll document my progress in this thread. Might as well see some improvement. Fingers crossed.

[Madhias]

Interesting results! The Aperture Priority looks like a picture from a 1970 add. Now you have here a lot of header material!

[Muirium]

Thanks. It's just my first outing so far, I expect to begin to gather some clues with practice. Once I had the camera and the flash synced I just had to pull out some boards and give it a go. I suspect I'll head towards softer light as time goes on. But these nutty harsh ones instantly caught my fancy. It's great seeing something so vivid show up on the camera's display in such a poorly lit room at night!

[seebart]

Yeah good topic, personally I only use flash when I absolutely have no way around it. I never tried implementing flash in any of my shots on purpose. Have you tried dispersing your flash with something like white cardboard or thicker paper? Is the flash itself adjustable in position? First two shots are nice!

[Muirium]

The flash is a completely separate unit from my camera. (You can plug it into the hot shoe on top of the camera if you insist, but I was using it wirelessly.) I had it on a little tripod, and positioned it however I liked around my sleeping keyboards. The flash head has the usual adjustments — it swivels in both axes — and a built in scatter card and a box of accessories that came with it for various tricks in light.

In other words: so many variables! I've a lot of learning ahead of me. But so far, so pretty. I quite recommend getting a separate flash gun and having some fun! The ones Chzel actually told me about were way cheaper than the Canon I got, but I'm a snob and I wanted to go straight to Topre, as usual…

[seebart]

Yes that's the best solution(mine is part of my camera). Then you dont really need to bother with dispersing at all. Looking foreward to some creative lighting in your shots then, these are fun already.

[Muirium]

A separate flash is as big a step up as a removeable lens. There's suddenly so much more to play with.

Dispersion is definitely something I'll be experimenting with. I want to go lightweight on new gear — sound of wallet sobbing in the corner, muttering about a divorce attorney — and I want to master what I've just got. Besides, I have my walls painted white already because there's so damn little natural light in Scotland…

[zslane]

Professional studio lighting involves complete control over all light sources. Start with complete darkness and only add light where you want it. The next trick involves learning what sorts of lights to add, and what each one contributes to the look of the final result. A classic three-point setup would use a fairly strong key light, a soft fill light, and sometimes a back(rim) light to provide a nice highlight edge around the subject.

What I see here, so far, is a lot of experimentation with the key light, but little in the way of fill. Even when the goal is dramatic shadowing, the right amount of ambient fill adds depth without washing out the shadows. It is all about modeling/painting with light. It's not easy because it is as much an artform as it is a study in the physics of photons. Sometimes you can understand the physics of it, but just not have an eye for lighting or composition.

Oh, and lighting, composition, and focus all play together to draw the viewer's eye where you want it. So it helps to know what you want the viewer to be looking at, and why. And then decide the path of eye travel you want, as the viewer examines the scene as a whole. A photograph ought to have more to say than just, "Here's a thing in a place."

[Muirium]

Like… "Here is a blurry thing, in a shadowy place."

I hear you on the multiple lights. What I might do eventually is get a cheaper secondary flash, so long as it plays ball with my main unit. Had some fun with two of these Canons back at my brother's place. But for the time being I'll be learning the shit out of what I actually have. My usual technique.

[chzel]

Nice pics Mu!
Prepare to go through quite a few sets of batteries! For the sake of your wallet I hope you got some Eneloops to go with the speedlight!
You can use a white cardboard (or better yet foamboard) opposite the flash to bounce some light back to the dark side.
The easiest way to try diffuse light is to bounce off the ceiling, or a top corner behind you.
Also, does it use the on-board flash to control the speedlight? If so, make sure the light of the onboard doesn't contribute to the exposure. It's usually as weak as it gets (1/128th or so) but up close it can mess up your results.

[Muirium]

Yeah, thanks. I took your advice and made sure to pack it with Eneloops. I would have bought them bundled with a fancypants independent 4 bay charger, too, but for American vs. English plugs… my slow old charger will have to do.

I am indeed controlling the Speedlite from the 760D's puny built in flash. Far as I can tell from the controls, the 760D's isn't firing during exposure at all, but just *before* it to signal. I need to contrive an experiment to measure if this is really the case. So far, I've avoided the horrible built in flash look in my pictures easily enough. But now you've got me thinking!

My Speedlite has 2.4 GHz wireless function too. But my camera doesn't. (Far as I know, all Canon bodies require the super expensive hot shoe controller module.) When I briefly had a pair of identical Speedlites to play with, I enjoyed sitting one on the camera and using it as the controller, firing the slave flash straight through walls. Given the fact we're almost talking Ellipsesaver money for a second Speedlite, though, that's not my current plan!

Background bounce is something else I'll investigate. While I like the 2001: A Space Odyssey look of a harsh, overbearing sun against the pitch black of space, I recognise it is just one mood among many to explore.

[chzel]

If I recall correctly, if you are using eTTL (optical wireless TTL metering) the onboard should fire once more during exposure to quench the remote flash (control the duration of the flash). The easiest way to test is to take two pics, one with your hand in front of the onboard, one without. If they are identical, it doesn't contribute at all.
I use one of these with paper tape on it to block the direct light from the onboard.

[Muirium]

I'll test!

But I will point out my flash is all fancy and shit. The back of it is a display with a UI:



Among the things you can configure there is exposure compensation. So you can dial each Speedlite up or down compared to the metering signal the camera gives it. I've no idea if this is unusual for flashes in general. (Honest newb alert!)

[zslane]

Usually a flash is used to help add light where the environment itself is failing to provide what you want. If you are in an enclosed space (ala studio environment) and in control of all lighting, then you generally won't need a flash because your key/fill/rim lights will do all the work for you.

Sometimes a flash helps add light to an environment so that you can dial in a faster shutter speed to help capture a quickly moving subject without blur. Since your keyboards aren't moving, that won't be an issue. Sometimes a flash helps when you need to stop down to increase depth of field. However, you probably don't have a problem with getting the entire scene in focus with a modern camera. If anything, knowing your penchant for narrow depth of field shots, you'll want to open up the shutter as wide as possible, and in doing so you won't want to add more light than you already have or else you may just end up with an image that is all blown out.

[tentator]

I see there are even strobists at DT!! )) great work!

[terrycherry]

Good to know you upgraded the camera body and the flash.
I don't suggest you using the more expensive flash to open the LED mode. It will decrease its lifetime.
Give the long lighting work to the LED lamp desk is an advice.

[Malenky]

This reminds me of "food porn", see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3EAczTQWvU

Now all you need is super slow motion.

[Muirium]

Mmm … food porn. They stick blocky pixels all over it in Japan, you know.

[seaworthy]

Just a random note to say the photography in the banners here are fantastic! Really makes a difference in wanting to return.

[Muirium]

This afternoon's lesson: using flash to fill the shadows at my standing desk.



I doubt the man himself would approve of his new surroundings!



Despite these looking like night time shots, they were in fact taken on a clear summer's day. It's shadowy enough there to push my camera straight up to ISO 6400, which isn't smart. So I went for my flash and played around a lot with angles to get something right.

Once again, I've gone for dramatic shadows. I'm a sucker for them. Keep the flash low, use the built in scatter card, and illuminate from nearby, at around the level of the keys. Choose your aperture for how much blur you're after, and away you go. Bear in mind that the higher the f/number, the more power you'll need from your strobe. That's why the second picture looks more nocturnal than the first. The room's natural lighting shows up better at a wider aperture and dimmer flash.

Yeah, I've been needing a good external flash forever! Getting used to this new power.

[GEIST]

Something which could be worth experimenting with is daylight from one direction (for example backlight) and the flash from an opposite direction. I accidentally run into this ( since I'm just a hobbyist ) but really liked the look of it. A friend of mine (who is a professional and was on the photo) told me that's kind of common practice amongst photographers.

[Muirium]

A recent pair of acquisitions—and the long December nights—prompted me to whip the flash out again. What we see here is a Focus FK-555 with blue Alps, natch, wearing the dyesubs from an Alps AT102.

_MG_5103@0.5x.jpg (514.75 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

_MG_5107@0.5x.jpg (453.12 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

The attentive will spot the telltale that I’m a Mac user, so don't know the true order of certain keys I actually use for volume controls! Fixed since, along with that bit of fluff on the numpad 7 key.

_MG_5109@0.5x.jpg (557.58 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

Obvs, I was having fun with needlessly dramatic lighting while I had it to hand.

_MG_5102@0.5x.jpg (357.98 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

_MG_5104@0.5x.jpg (674.62 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

_MG_5123@0.5x.jpg (382.15 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

Shooting towards the light, for maximum shadows, and a great big splash of electric fire is quite something. The photos come out real ghostly, with just the jarring white edges lit, especially the keys. To see the keyboard again you need to dial up the curve in levels a bit, which yields all this.

_MG_5121.jpg (1.02 MiB) Viewed 26228 times

_MG_5120.jpg (1.13 MiB) Viewed 26228 times

_MG_5122@0.5x.jpg (244.51 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

As for the actual keyboard: it's quite selectively yellowed. There were likely overlays which have left tanlines all over the place. I've only made this more apparent with these sparkly white dyesubs. But I don't mind, as this board's a real juicy one to type on, and the spacebar is blessedly pale to go with those transplanted keys.

_MG_5118@0.5x.jpg (291.13 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

_MG_5129@0.5x.jpg (479.59 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

_MG_5134@0.5x.jpg (450.26 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

_MG_5127@0.5x.jpg (399.67 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

_MG_5136@0.5x.jpg (307.42 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

Yes, you can still get bokeh in the dark. Shooting at f/2.8, the flash dials down to match. The shots I did at f/16 however really let it rip! That's (counts on fingers) 5 stops slower, meaning 2^5 = 32× more flash!

_MG_5087@0.5x.jpg (477.34 KiB) Viewed 26228 times

Not all caps could come across from ISO to Focus layout. Can you see which are still Focus originals? The spacebar is the same length on both keyboards but the stabs are completely different: this Focus uses Cherry stabs, which I really dig for convenience's sake and are somehow 'done right' so it doesn't feel like a slouch. Some other keys are different sizes, though there's one more which quite surprised me…

[twitchytheinsideman]

A recent pair of acquisitions—and the long December nights—prompted me to whip the flash out again.

What a beauty! Really like the keycaps. Those arrow legends and the nipples look so clean. Good picture taking too

[Muirium]

Thanks.

I only realised after I posted that my memory was mistaken and I hadn’t kept this thread up to date with my flash photography these last few years. Those pics are scattered all around the forum instead. So I’ll see about fixing that, for a nice wee flashy portfolio to make amends for my necromancy.

First up: my black HHKB…







All shot in the dead of night, last winter, would you believe. Think I figured flash out at last!