Experimenting with flashes. For this setup I used Canon EF: 24-70mm f/2.8 L, two Vivitar 285 HV, Blazzeo RF Speedlites Trigger and Receivers. Surprised the triggers worked pretty well, despite the ebay rep.



The setup:

http://i49.tinypic.com/2j5m51j.jpg

Any CC is appreciated, this is literally my second time experimenting with off camera flash. I realize I have two much reflection on the manifold plate.

 

Awesome work.
The shallow DOF almost gives it a tilt-shift look. I like it.

 

Too blue? I kinda like it....White balance maybe off...

 

Work to get the reflection off the entire CF cover. Diffuse the light more or change the angle slightly.

Your WB is fine, its actually very warm.

 

^ good ideas. thanks....

edit: Will practice a bit more today. After talking to some more photogs, most likely it's the position of my camera and lighting. I may try this shot again, but reposition a few things to see if it reduces/eliminates the glare.

 

Here is another test shot that came out a bit better then the previous. Used Canon EF: 24-70mm f/2.8 L, two Vivitar 285 HV, Blazzeo RF Speedlites Trigger and Receivers.



For the hell of it, I took a wheel shot. Used Canon EF: 24-70mm f/2.8 L, and one Vivitar Flash (off camera). The picture is comprised of two layers due to the body of the car looking too blown out.

 

Shot like this the light on the left is too sidey. You be better off with a straight on or 3/4 back light. It'll make a nice edge of light along all the back lines of the engine and it'll kill the last bit of glare on the CF.

 

i want your car

 

Nice possibly try making a snoot out of some cardboard/cereal box for the wheel shot it will direct the light more.

 

Thanks for the tips guys. Take a look at my exposure time. I know it's way too long. I was using the strobes primarily as fills and bouncing them off. I could probably try to up the intensity level and shoot at a faster shutter speed.

 

I like the second shot, the composition and lighting are much better than the first. Keep shooting!!

 

There’s one thing I’m just not getting with off-camera flash. In most of the reading I’ve done on the subject the inevitable discussion of E-TTL vs. manual flash comes up with a decent number of people stating something like “I just shoot manual flash. It’s actually not that difficult.” Ok, fine. But how the hell do you arrive at exposure settings and flash power values for off-camera manual flash? I just don’t get it. Sure there’s guide number and I guess that can become second nature like anything if you use it often enough. Here’s the thing though, isn’t guide number only applicable when using the flash as a direct light source? What if you’re using umbrellas, softboxes, bouncing the flash off a wall or ceiling, multiple light setups, and so forth? At that point guide number seems to be substantially less useful as a tool.

Overall, it seems like there’s three choices when determining exposure. You either buy the gear that allows off-camera E-TTL, buy a flash meter, or you need to refer to guide number tables and keep notes on how your light modifiers effect exposure values. Am I missing something?

 

You're missing one thing: Trial and error.

You're right on point though. Unless it's in a sudio, shooting off-camera manual flash will present challenges.

 

Granted, I'm just learning but this is what I did for my "experimentation" shots. The shots were 100% manual. I set the exposure on the camera using the light meter. The room was very dark and explains why my exposures are at 10 seconds. Then I stopped down a bit and allow the flash to add a bit of a fill. This is the trial and error method. heh

 

getting umbrellas?

 

maybe down the road... but don't think umbrella's are the most ideal for outdoor shoots.... I'm mostly going to be doing automotive photography.

 

You probably wants diy shoot through panels for cars.

Make a bunch of pvc frampes and slap on some white thin cloth it will help spread and soften the light even sunlight too for outdoors.

From what i've learned its all trial and error.

Shutter speed = contols ambient longer it is open the more ambient burns in.

ISO = flash effectivness so at 200 a flash is normal 400 it is doubled its effect in the picture and so on.

Apeture will help tweak some of the light down, so say i shot something at 1/32 on the flash and its a bit bright at f 2.8 and then i need fine tweak it without running to the flash try bumping 3.2 3.5 and so on.

 

your first engine shot has the bar blocking the field of view, but the second one is a good one. composition-wise, they all look good.

id recommend bouncing the flash on a whiteboard (handheld or fixed) or if you shoot it through an umbrella. that would put even, softer lighting on the subject, and put texture on the surfaces.

also, i recommend shooting at a faster sync speed (fastest you can get away with) than dragging a slow shutter. this blacks out the background to put more emphasis on the engine bay, kinda like the way i set up this shot of my brother's Evo X engine bay:





these were before he had the Ralliart parts:





all shot with just one softbox at high speed sync. the previous two are 2-strobe setups.

 

^awesome! i like how the flash was used to emphasize certain parts instead of adding soft light to the entire image