I'm really frustrated! I was trying to do some shots of smoke this evening. I set up everything, including a black background and some incense, I turned the lights off and fired away but my flash stopped doing what it's meant to do - flash! It took a few initially, but gradually it took longer and longer for the flash to recycle. I got a few shots but none that I'm happy with, but I haven't got the time or the energy to do a different shoot as I have to get up earlier than usual tomorrow for work.
For this shot the camera was on a tripod and the flash was tilted towards the ceiling. In post-processing I removed any excess smoke and in Photoshop I created an inverse version. I then put them together to create a diptych.
I'm concerned about my flash. I think I'm simply not using it correctly or the cheap (but new) batteries I'm using aren't powerful enough. I have an event that I'm shooting tomorrow, so I'm going to get the rechargeable batteries from work and try them out. I'm also going to read up on how to use the flash and see where I'm possibly going wrong. I hope it's not faulty!
Semi-professional photographer based in Nottingham, England, I shoot mainly events and weddings. I'll be posting my work using my Fujis - X100S and X-Pro1.
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great shot , i like the two difference .
I use 2700 MaH rechargeables , the bigger the MaH the better the power i was told , so i went with the biggest i could get my hands on. Hope thats all thats wrong with ur flash .. But yeh cheap but new batteries just dont cut it really !!
sorry about the frustrations! it always seems to happen when you have something all thought out in your head to shoot...but, i must say, this turned out great!
That looks sweet with the negative/positive diptych!
Just looking at your settings - did you need that much DOF? When I helped my wife do one we set aperture at about f/4.5 I think - lets the flash work a bit less hard. Of course, you may have needed all that DOF, but it's a thought.
I use 2700 MaH rechargeables , the bigger the MaH the better the power i was told , so i went with the biggest i could get my hands on. Hope thats all thats wrong with ur flash .. But yeh cheap but new batteries just dont cut it really !!
Just looking at your settings - did you need that much DOF? When I helped my wife do one we set aperture at about f/4.5 I think - lets the flash work a bit less hard. Of course, you may have needed all that DOF, but it's a thought.