Have just walked in from my first photography class and rather than leaving me wanting a new lens - which is what I was expecting it left me longing for something I never thought I would want - a flash. More specifically lighting equipment. Now I don't want to go pro - far too much stress but I would like my photos to be better and I would like to be less limited by natural light. Some of the things they spoke about
speedlights on extensions - like an arm off your camera
soft boxes
diffusers
reflectors
other off camera lighting
Which of these (or something else) - for those of you who use lighting equipment would you recommend for someone who just wants to enhance natural light - not walk around with portable studio
Mainly to combat
shooting in full sun and the dark shadows etc
shooting indoors or in low light mainly portraits/kids etc where the natural light just isn't going to cut it.
Reflector is a must, but you can use white card, mirrors etc.
I now have a Yongnuo flash - which is a Speedlite copy - that has different power levels, but I also still use the two £10 little eBay slave flashes - hours of fun, especially if you have a dark (unlit) room (using the camera on bulb & the flash test button to fire it from any angle you please). For macro, I recently got a light tent, but before that I was using flashes diffused by pieces of kitchen roll or white paper. I still use a cereal box for a snoot. :)
I think in terms of fun/£, the best things I bought were the little slave flashes & a wireless remote trigger from eBay.
Thank you! Just to clarify - a reflector is the silvery thing - kind of like alfoil covered windscreeen protector ? The one they showed today was just a big circle thing that reminded me of the things you fold out and put on your dash board to stop the sun getting through the windscreen and heating up the steering wheel
@agima - so for a novice... speedlights. He showed us one that could go on the camera or one on an extendible bar that stuck out of the camera. Are these the same thing? Also can you get them so they work with different cameras (we have a Nikon D70 and D7000) I did a quick search and most of them seem to list new cameras but don't mention the D70?
Hey, I used an old film flash on a hotshoe and it fried the circuit so make sure its compatible. I also cut up an old plastic milk carton and made my own omnibounce diffuser, very easy to do and it costs you nothing.
@chewyteeth thanks Dave! That sounds a little technical to me but have heard the milk bottle thing before - good to hear it works. The guy today mentioned using a piece of white card as a diffuser - probably not ideal in our weather at the moment :-)
Yeah, you could improvise real easy, if you look at the onmibounce online you'll see that all it is is a 5 sided structure of white semi-transparent plastic, with some clear cellotape and a pair of scissors it literally took me about 30 seconds. I made two from a 1 pint tub of milk. and the resulting light, when bounced is perfect.
@josephpadiernos I shoot canon so I dont keep up with the nikon range so if there is a newer one I would get that.
@saranna Yes they are the same thing.. The bar just has a long cable in it to connect the flash to the hotshoe. If you have a nikon and buy a nikon flash it will work in all the nikon range just as a canon will for the canon range.
When I bought my first speed light the quality of my photography improved more than I could of imagined.... and then the creativity started... :)
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I use all and more of what you are talking about but if you dont have a speed light there you haven't got anything.... :)
Those little flash units are great and you can use them for all sorts of stuff, along with allowing some creativity... :)
When using studio lighting I swear by softboxes and the odd snoot.
I now have a Yongnuo flash - which is a Speedlite copy - that has different power levels, but I also still use the two £10 little eBay slave flashes - hours of fun, especially if you have a dark (unlit) room (using the camera on bulb & the flash test button to fire it from any angle you please). For macro, I recently got a light tent, but before that I was using flashes diffused by pieces of kitchen roll or white paper. I still use a cereal box for a snoot. :)
I think in terms of fun/£, the best things I bought were the little slave flashes & a wireless remote trigger from eBay.
@agima - so for a novice... speedlights. He showed us one that could go on the camera or one on an extendible bar that stuck out of the camera. Are these the same thing? Also can you get them so they work with different cameras (we have a Nikon D70 and D7000) I did a quick search and most of them seem to list new cameras but don't mention the D70?
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@saranna Yes they are the same thing.. The bar just has a long cable in it to connect the flash to the hotshoe. If you have a nikon and buy a nikon flash it will work in all the nikon range just as a canon will for the canon range.
When I bought my first speed light the quality of my photography improved more than I could of imagined.... and then the creativity started... :)
They are not cheap but very useful.
http://martybugs.net/blog/blog.cgi/gear/Phottix-Odin-TTL-Flash-Trigger.html