I have a Canon 500d and I recently purchased a Canon Speedlite 430ex ii.
I am VERY new to the speedlite world and have been trying to get the hang of it but have been having difficulty with figuring out where to point the flash (where to bounce the flash off of--walls/ceilings/etc.?) and also OFF camera.. where to place and point the flash.
Do any of you have any general rules of thumb that you use when using a speedlite on and off camera?
I usually bounce mine off of a ceiling and if I can, I will bounce it at the corner of the ceiling and the wall at the seam, kind of like the light bouncing and forming a V so I can get some directional light going. If I bounce straight up at the ceiling, it comes back down, flatlighting the subject, so if I can get directional bounce, I will do that first. Sometime I bounce off of the wall behind me, if it's close enough and one time I bounced off of a mirror! If you have a reflector, bounce it off of that. Just look for whatever is close enough to bounce it off of.
I Haven't done off camera flash yet, but will be working on that as soon as the weather warms up.
If you have a look at my project you will see a heap of example of off camera lighting and lighting using 580 EX II units.
Find an image that you want to know how I lit it and drop me a comment as I am more than happy to help you out in this area as I have some experience in lighting. ;-)
However in short everything this that Jennifer said is spot on. :)
I always turn mine on before using it. Also, batteries. You'll need batteries.
To anyone getting into flashy flashes and especially off camera flashes, this is my number one recommendation above anything else: a big ol' ETTL hot shoe extension cord.
http://ocfgear.com/
Having this little bugger allows you maintain the fancy settings of your super expensive speedlite while also allowing you to move the flash off the camera. In contrast, if you sync your fancy speedlite with a PC cord, you basically lose all of the frills, and it becomes a boring little flash box. Wah, wah. You don't want that.
But with this cord? You can have it way off camera, and you can configure the settings directly from the camera menu at the same time. This is extremely handy should you mount a flash in an awkward or hard-to-reach place, or are too lazy to walk to your flash. Also comes in handy if you get angry, and want to swing your flash like a mace.
In a multi-light setup, this is all pretty awesome, and I daresay necessary, because you usually won't want a flash directly blasting your subject from the top of your camera. Putting a master flash like a 580 on your hot shoe is like parking your Ferrari in the garage. (Okay, so you have a 430, which is like a BMW or something. Whatever! I don't know cars! I drove an '89 Mazda for a decade.) My point is: you gotta use it, you gotta show it off. With the cord, you have the freedom to place it elsewhere. More creative control. Plus, if you think about it, you're practically getting another flash, since your master won't be tethered to your face.
Also, you can use the cord to tie people up, or tie yourself up, I guess, if you're into that kind of thing. Hell, do some jump rope or even double dutch if you get the really long one and also have two friends. Lasso a horse, or a cow, a sibling, or a child. Your call. The options are endless.
Other than that, get a bunch of random crap and use it to modify your light. Make a snoot out of a a couple of toilet paper rolls, make a softbox out of a sheet, make a diffuser out of some tupperware, use an umbrella -- like, a rain umbrella -- to bounce light or diffuse.
Bounce light off of anything and everything. The more you mess around, the more you learn. Use the ol' Googly internet wizard to find do-it-yourself mods like cardboard and foam softboxes, gels for a rainbow of colors, and other weird contraptions. Endless, I tell you. Endless
Also, write stuff down, because sometimes you'll probably want to remember how you pulled something off. Flash settings can be very important. Draw some diagrams. Go nuts. Be thorough.
Feel free to look through my project as well and fire off some questions. I used to shoot my kitty cat a lot (with a camera and flashes, not a gun -- wait, this isn't a hunting forum?), and many of my pictures will have the lighting details included in the description, often hidden within my long, rambling remarks, similar to this reply.
Unfortunately, I have lately been overworked and am way too tired to be creatively ambitious, and have not been snapping pics as often. But, still, I try to make up by being helpful. I hope I succeeded!
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I Haven't done off camera flash yet, but will be working on that as soon as the weather warms up.
If you have a look at my project you will see a heap of example of off camera lighting and lighting using 580 EX II units.
Find an image that you want to know how I lit it and drop me a comment as I am more than happy to help you out in this area as I have some experience in lighting. ;-)
However in short everything this that Jennifer said is spot on. :)
To anyone getting into flashy flashes and especially off camera flashes, this is my number one recommendation above anything else: a big ol' ETTL hot shoe extension cord.
http://ocfgear.com/
Having this little bugger allows you maintain the fancy settings of your super expensive speedlite while also allowing you to move the flash off the camera. In contrast, if you sync your fancy speedlite with a PC cord, you basically lose all of the frills, and it becomes a boring little flash box. Wah, wah. You don't want that.
But with this cord? You can have it way off camera, and you can configure the settings directly from the camera menu at the same time. This is extremely handy should you mount a flash in an awkward or hard-to-reach place, or are too lazy to walk to your flash. Also comes in handy if you get angry, and want to swing your flash like a mace.
In a multi-light setup, this is all pretty awesome, and I daresay necessary, because you usually won't want a flash directly blasting your subject from the top of your camera. Putting a master flash like a 580 on your hot shoe is like parking your Ferrari in the garage. (Okay, so you have a 430, which is like a BMW or something. Whatever! I don't know cars! I drove an '89 Mazda for a decade.) My point is: you gotta use it, you gotta show it off. With the cord, you have the freedom to place it elsewhere. More creative control. Plus, if you think about it, you're practically getting another flash, since your master won't be tethered to your face.
Also, you can use the cord to tie people up, or tie yourself up, I guess, if you're into that kind of thing. Hell, do some jump rope or even double dutch if you get the really long one and also have two friends. Lasso a horse, or a cow, a sibling, or a child. Your call. The options are endless.
Other than that, get a bunch of random crap and use it to modify your light. Make a snoot out of a a couple of toilet paper rolls, make a softbox out of a sheet, make a diffuser out of some tupperware, use an umbrella -- like, a rain umbrella -- to bounce light or diffuse.
Bounce light off of anything and everything. The more you mess around, the more you learn. Use the ol' Googly internet wizard to find do-it-yourself mods like cardboard and foam softboxes, gels for a rainbow of colors, and other weird contraptions. Endless, I tell you. Endless
Also, write stuff down, because sometimes you'll probably want to remember how you pulled something off. Flash settings can be very important. Draw some diagrams. Go nuts. Be thorough.
Feel free to look through my project as well and fire off some questions. I used to shoot my kitty cat a lot (with a camera and flashes, not a gun -- wait, this isn't a hunting forum?), and many of my pictures will have the lighting details included in the description, often hidden within my long, rambling remarks, similar to this reply.
Unfortunately, I have lately been overworked and am way too tired to be creatively ambitious, and have not been snapping pics as often. But, still, I try to make up by being helpful. I hope I succeeded!
I'm tagging everyone just because. Just because.
@kaseycarroll @jenp @agima
Here is an example of where I used the cord to put my 580 in the air con.
And this one I used it to put under and the other side of the car.
They are very useful and cheaper than a wireless unit and much safer than a real mace.