Fill-in flash... What is your technique?

Hi All,

fill-in flash is such a useful and lovely effect. I used to love cranking my Me Super and Metz up - setting the flash a stop or two down and producing even faced portraits in the baking sun! Simmple!

I haven't quite mastered it with the Pentax 540FGZ. How do you do yours?

Cheer all

Bluewhistle

Just put the flash on the camera, and the P-TTL should give you decent results. From what you see, you can add exposure comp. to retain more or less shadows.

The only technique I have is to use Pentax camera, lens, & flash. It sorts it all out for me.

I do tend to add 0.3 or 0.7 EV compensation to most shots.

When you set your flash on trailing curtain your camera will meter like normall but also use the flash to freeze the action at a point, it might do the trick as fill flash but I've never tried it.

go manual. get the flash off the camera.
decide whether your flash is to be key, or fill, (you're suggesting fill)
decide on exposure for ambient light, then dial in your flash.
I use a light meter, but with digital, you can just test, check, re-test till you get it right.

also set camera to manual, take a reading off a greycard, THEN turn on your flash (in hs mode if need be, and let the camera do it's ting, adding exposure comp if needed.

ps...buy Matmattics flash user guide.

Thanks for all the advice gang. (Yeah I made you into a gang!)
What I would like to be able to do is take an ambient exposure and then know for certain that my flash aperture is the same as the ambient. So I have tried on auto because pttl seems the most temperamental thing. I dial in my flash aperture and by right this should illuminate the face and take away all shadows. But it doesn't. To get a lower ratio I dial in a wider aperture. Again I can't see the control.

Mannesty THanks Mannesty, where do you input this? On Camera. And do you do it for all shots or just flash?

All good stuff I have a lovely minolta meter so readings are easy. When I use manual does full power simply blast the image and you need to be further away (or reduce to another power setting) for it to work. Or will full power bounce back and the flash built in meter "handle" the power.

What I really want is to take a reading on a sunny day and have a set aperture (letting the camera handle the shutter) and then get my flash to pop out say a third less ratio.

Oh for the joy of predictabilty like i had on my metz and Vivitar guns.

Thanks again

James

James,
Sounds like you need my ebook

Still, here are a few pointers:
1) When trying to use Auto Flash mode, FIX the ISO on the camera! If you don't the camera will rack up the ISO but the flash won't know it. (You'll get overexposure in this case)

2) The Pentax flashguns do not automatically track the Aperture selected on the camera. They "read" the aperture only when you put the flash into the "A" mode. The Metz 50MZ5 I had did track the aperture and ISO - this is excellent for 1:1 flash (ie where the flash is the main source). However, fill in is a little more tricky.

3) If you want fill in flash with P-TTL do this (on K10D/K20D):
a) Set the camera to your favourite mode (e.g. Av)
b) Press the Fn button
c) Select the flash icon
d) Choose one of the "Slow" settings on the flash choice (either Slow or Slow+Red Eye)
e) Use the rear wheel to dial in "-1.0"
Now the camera will meter for ambient (as if you didn't have a flash on), and the flash will be 1 stop underexposed.

4) Be wary of a little bug where the camera does not warn you if the exposure is too slow when you don't have the flash in "HS" mode - e.g. if the ambient requires 1/1000s, the camera will not warn and choose 1/180s - DOH!

There's more, but that's a start
Matt

Hi All,

just bought Matt's user guide. I cannot wait to go out and flash everything that moves.

Thanks Matt. Your portfolio is beautiful - you are a technician and artist of great power!!!

Right spagbol to eat, kids to tell stories to and I might have a glass of wine!!

Bluewhistle

Mind what you say as he go's red.

Hi Matt

I am about to order your flash guide that I have read so much about it around here . Everyone is full of praises. And if anyone needs it that definitely is me. I just can't handle flash. I am already struggling with normal settings and trying to capture reasonable good shots, but when it comes to flash I am totally lost. I think I am so close to start suffering from flash phobia (. I got to do something about this

So my question is, I have the Sigma flash as you can see from my sig, so will your guide cover that also or you wrote it purely for pentax flashes only?

Anyone else could step in and let me know also, as I cant wait to order the guide and go ahead with experimenting with my flash and get rid of my flash phobia

Thanks

Amin

Amin get the eBook it's well worth it, does not matter what make your flash is, it's all to do with using flash with your camera.
After 30 years of photography I still found this eBook very helpful and it is a good read while in the shed waiting for your birds.

I'm blushing

Hope the ebook proves useful to everyone else as well
Pentax flash can appear frustrating at first - but it can be mastered
Matt

Its already here Tel . Thanks Matt for an excellent and prompt service. Cant wait to dive in and give it a good read. And I am sure it will be useful when I shoot a bird from my cosy shed.

You making fun of my shed Tel huh? . Make as much fun as you want but let me tell you, its really a cosy shed. While waiting for birds today that ended up not coming at all I managed to assemble a PC desk that I had boxed since new for years and thought I would never have the need for it, and also I have heating for winter and AC installed in the shed for the summer months . And wait for this Internet too . I just go in there now with my laptop and lock myself in. Never made full use of it, until now I mean.

Will post a picture someday of my cosy shed, but got to tidy it up first. Until now everything was just being thrown in there

Amin,
If you have a laptop in your SHED you could shoot tethered as well, something else for you to learn.

Tel

I did try for a few mins but then the bleeming software hung on me. It was getting late so didn't want to try to mess with it. But tomorrow I am at it again , and will post a quick update

thanks

Amin