Strobies it's what your hotshoe flash has been waiting for.
 

Test shots WITHOUT STROBIES

Lets have a look at how this all works in practice now that we have set up the camera and flashguns as per the last tutorial.

in the image below this is a standard SB900 mounted on the hotshoe of a D3 using the settings shown in the setting up the camera and flashgun guide. If you have not read this guide, please go back and read it now before continuing it is important.

 

So what is so interesting about this image, well it shows us that we have HARD LIGHT being produced by the flashgun, see the shadows behind the hands and behind the models hair. this is a direct result of having a small area of light coming from a hard tube of the flashgun. Hard Light is created because the contrast in this image is high. Black Jumper and a White background. But we don't have a white background shown, we will come on to that at a later point.

The Strobies range of light modifiers enable the "small flash head" to produce a much softer light, that is great for portraits and also product photography. It is commonly know that the larger the light source the softer the light.

It can be argued that we can produce better images by taking the flash of the camera, lets have a look at that now below.

On Camera flash without Strobies

The flashgun is taken off camera but we still have the hard light which can be used as a creative stand point.

But It has added a little more depth to the image.

Here the camera and flash were connected using the new Strobies Multi-fit Cord to enable TTL Metering.

The STR131 can be used with both Nikon and Canon cameras so if you are lucky enough to have both, now you only need one cable the STR131.

STR131 2mtr (6.5 ft) for off camera flash
So because we are not modifying the light source, we have a fairly hard light being produced, which is creating hard shadows.
So should i work with Manual Flash or TTL flash

TTL flash works differently to manual flash, But today's modern camera are so clever at analyzing a scene that we can use TTL most of the time. BUT we need to have a really good understanding of Manual flash to get the best possible results from TTL.

When we use manual flash you have four controls to control the flash exposure these are: The aperture, ISO setting, flash power or output and the distance that the flash can physically cover i.e. its maximum or minimum distance.

When we use TTL flash in aperture priority all of this is controlled by the camera to some degree and sets the flash exposure for you based on the "Pre Flash monitoring flash" / the subjects reflectivity (just before the shutter is open you will see three or four small flashes this is the pre flash) chosen by the cameras system parameters based on what you have chosen. i.e. your Apertures, shutter speed and the ISO setting it will then adjust the output based on your flashguns response received by the camera sensor.

So does this mean it is better than Manual flash, NO it simply controls the light based on pre set manufactures ideas of correct exposure, and we all know that a flashgun can only push out so much light. As long as you understand what the parameters are then you can get the best out of TTL. When you change any of the four setting in the camera or on the flashgun you will need to take into account what effect it will have on the other three settings to get correct exposure, lets look at it like this:

So in Manual modes, If you change the Aperture from f8 to f4(two f stops) to control the depth of field in your image, you need to change either the shutter speed or the flash power or the ISO to set the correct level of exposure, by changing the shutter speed this in turn could cause some image blur so it is best to also change the ISO setting upwards to allow a faster shutter speed to be used.

If you did this in TTL, the camera will make a best guess at the settings available using one of the other three to automatically change and balance the light for you and should in theory give the best exposure.

So using a combination of Manual mode and TTL BL (Balanced Fill), as we have suggested in the Camera and Flashgun set up you will get the best out of the system by only adjusting the EV settings on the back of the flashgun. You now have the manual control, but the camera adjusts the setting to give the best results that are well proven by many professional photographers all over the world.

Now you can control your flash system very easily without having to make guesses to set the correct exposure, by only adjusting the EV values you will look much more confident at events such as weddings etc and will reduce you post processing work on the computer as most exposures will be balanced from one to the other which will enhance your wedding albums and the quality of your work. This is the power of flash photography.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE : Images and colour's used on this site are for illustration purposes only and should not be relied upon to accurately represent actual products. Differences in colour/shade are impossible to prevent using current internet/computer technology.