Hello everyone

I am hoping for some advice regarding flashes. I own just one at present, a Canon Speedlite 430EX. I mostly shoot animals and all on site in owners homes, so the light available varies wildly.

I have done well for the most part with my speedlite and I also use "fill lights" that sit upon or clip to my table to light the subject.

My last shoot I did not have anything good. My pics were so dark, i wondered if my flash fired at all (from behind it it is hard to tell at times). Moreover, there are no highlights in the fur, no shine as is normal. Everything is just flat.

The kitty is black but that has not presented a problem for me. I have enclosed below one of the horrible shots from the photo shoot and next to it a couple of recent shots in the home using the same equipment, but ambient light only with no table or fill light. No problem there!

http://www.pbase.com/torigregory/inbox

So I am wondering; did my flash just die? Of course I get poor results or it doens't function if the battery is too low but i also get a warning light and that didn't happen here. So my problem was apparently NOT the battery.

So I guess my #1 question is what could have happened? Could my flash have died? Some other problem? I did include only one of the "bad" pictures. I can add more but they are all bad in the same way. Same flatness etc.

I have other questions about lighting and flashes, such as using an off camera flash to augment the speedlite that i will save for another post. First I am hoping you all can help me diagnose what went wrong here. I have been doing these kinds of shots for 5 years, with the same equipment, in different homes, and I have never had this happen before.

Thanks in advance!

Tori G

How do i shrink my photos to 1 byte to post here? I have done this before but can't remember exactly how; it's been a long time. No luck with photoshop so far. Advice appreciated.

Hi Tori,

Do you have a website? The trick is to embed it in to your own website and post the link here.

[img ] http://www. your web site here. c o m [ / img ]

No spaces.

James

Thank you! The pictures can be viewed at
http://www.pbase.com/torigregory/inbox

Tori

So I am wondering; did my flash just die?

Some other problem?


Hi,

Looking at your sample photos, I believe the flash did fire. You can see the catch lights in the cat's eyes. They look like small round lights - it looks like two of them, but may only have been one.

Shooting black pets can be difficult - particularly if you are metering off of another brighter object in a scene...for example, I am looking at the rose in front of the cat. My guess is that this is not a problem with the flash as it is a light metering issue. Just for poo, have you tried shooting the same scene with manual flash?

BTW, I don't feel like going through the exif. Can you include your shutter/aperture?

James

Bad Pic: Shutter 1/200 aperture f9
Good Pic: Shutter 1/60 aperture f4

I hadn't thought of the metering, but that does make sense with the black kitten and the brighter rose.

Any suggestions to fix?

In answer to another question you asked i have not tried this flash on its manual settings but I am game if that would help.

Thanks- you are awesome and kingly!

Tori

No problem, Tresta. I stopped shooting with speedlights years ago because I found them to be unreliable. Part of the problem was the metering (which caused me to shoot manually), but the other problem is that it is hard to get a really good spread with them - even when you are using the portable umbrellas for them.

Given that most of the photo is black, I am surprised that the flashes did not exhibit more juice. However, it really depends on what the camera was metering on. You may also want to examine spot metering as well on something you want properly exposed and then firing the flashes.

James

Hi James

So, upon review, you still feel that the problem is with metering rather than the flash itself- at least so far as the possibility of the flash dying.

I have been considering the possibility of adding another flash so that I can experiment with some multiple flashes and off camera work. Two questions about that:

One, do yo think it would help with this sort of shot, especially lighting the dark fur? And two, I was naturally thinking of getting another Speedlite but now am having second thoughts about that based on your comment about reliability.

What other flashes could I use with a Canon in the Rebel series? Is is worthwhile to move into some off camera flash work? Again, I don't have a studio; I work entirely on location with pets in their peoples' homes, so lighting varies wildly.

I really do appreciate this board and the help and advice that is offered here. There are always new things to learn and the members of this group are very generous with time and answers.


If others have experience with Canon Speedlites, good or bad, and have advice on other flashes that be used with a canon, I would love to hear!!