Night time flash setting questions

[LJRockstar]

I took these the other night. There was a Huge warehouse fire down the road from my house. I was having trouble getting the exposure right. If I used the flash, it would only light what was nearest to me but the fire itself was nearly invisible. Is there some setting I can use to have the flash, but with a bit longer of an exposure to show the things in the distance? I have learned alot recently about Photography but i really am still pretty green with all of this.

I was also having a lot of trouble getting the white balance set correctly everything looks so red or orange. I tried to use my Expo cap to set a custom WB but there really wasn't enough light to get a proper sample. If I found myself in a lighting situation like this again what would you do?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Photog]

White balance first:
The fire, the street lights, and your flash, would each require different wite balance settings. If they are all in one photo, you need to set the white balance to the subject of interest. If you turn off the flash, then you only have two colors to consider. With the flash off, take a few test shots, each with a different white balance setting. If you have a "grey card", you could use it to set a custom white-balance. You may have to read your manual to learn how to do this.

Using your flash:
The little flash that comes on a camera, does not have enough power to reach out and light up a building. You would need to get some professional lighting equipment and a major power source, to put enough light on a building.

If you want to use the flash to light up the action in the foreground; but also want to see the background; then you need to turn the flash on, and set the camera for either "shutter" or "aperture" priority (it depends on how your camera uses these two functions, with the flash "on"). Flash is based on aperture settings, but exposure is based on both shutter and aperture.

What you are trying to do is have the aperture set for the flash, and the shutter open long enough to capture the background.

High ISO settings (e.g. 800 ISO) can have a lot of graininess (digital noise); but it will make these types of shots much easier, as the shutter won't be open for so long that everything is blurry.

With the longer exposures, you will need to use a tripod. At least the stationary objects will be sharp.

Go ouot on the town at night, and figure this out, before your next "must have" event comes along.

Good Luck:wavey:

 

[Lost Canadian]

If you can adjust the flash timing try using slow sync. You'll probably still want to use a tripod or monopod though.

 

[Photog]

What camera and flash are you using?

 

[LJRockstar]

It is a Canon XTI with a Canon 17-40 f/4 L lens. and a Canon Speedlight 580 EXII. I am sure that this stuff is Way more high end than my abilities require but I HATE to buy things twice so I sprung for the good stuff so I could grow into it. I am still learning how to set up the flash, The book that came with it is more or less useless. It tells you what the buttons and setting do but not why you would want to use them!

I also go the David Busch guide to rebel XTI and it has been a very good source of information but hasn't really addressed this particular situation.

 

[Photog]

It is a Canon XTI with a Canon 17-40 f/4 L lens. and a Canon Speedlight 580 EXII. I am sure that this stuff is Way more high end than my abilities require but I HATE to buy things twice so I sprung for the good stuff so I could grow into it. I am still learning how to set up the flash, The book that came with it is more or less useless. It tells you what the buttons and setting do but not why you would want to use them!

I also go the David Busch guide to rebel XTI and it has been a very good source of information but hasn't really addressed this particular situation.

The "Magic Lantern" book for your camera is very good.

 

[Photog]

Your camera, flash and lenses, all communicate with each other. The lens tells the camera the distance it is focusing. This distance is used by the flash, to calculate the flash power. In your camera, or on the flash, you can tell the flash to be brighter or darker than this calculation.

Why would you want to do that? - During the day, there are shadows under things and on people's faces. By adding a little flash, these shadows are diminished; but not erased. Everything looks natural; but now you can see details under basball caps and eyebrows.

Your flash also has the ability to control other flash units, as a master or as a slave (it is always good to have a slave ). You probably don't need to learn that stuff right now.

Use the flash in ETTL mode, and learn how the +/- settings effect the photos.

Always shoot at shutter speeds below 1/200, with the flash on that camera. You can shoot at 1/10 if you need to, just not faster than 1/200.

There are books on Flash Photography, and good explanations on the net. Once you understand how it works, you will know why those controls are on your camera and flash.

 

[LJRockstar]

Thanks Brian! Now I have an excuse to go to B&N!:jumping:

 

[articulate]

With all due respect to Brian's help here, I'm not sure why you want to use the flash in this instance of recording a building fire at night. I'd be inclined to either use a tripod and ISO 100 (in turn with slow shutter speeds), or crank up the ISO to 1600 perhaps to shoot without the tripod.

It strikes me that the light from the flames creates a really sweet effect, and I'd just expose for that.

I have to admit that I only use the flash for fill-in light for those shadows on a bright day that Brian talked about.

 

[nwoods]

Check out TimTadder.com to see some great flash photograhpy:

 

[Photog]

With all due respect to Brian's help here, I'm not sure why you want to use the flash in this instance of recording a building fire at night. I'd be inclined to either use a tripod and ISO 100 (in turn with slow shutter speeds), or crank up the ISO to 1600 perhaps to shoot without the tripod.

It strikes me that the light from the flames creates a really sweet effect, and I'd just expose for that.

I have to admit that I only use the flash for fill-in light for those shadows on a bright day that Brian talked about.

I must agree with Mark, regarding the images posted above. If the fire is the subject, you don't need a flash. You won't be able to light up the flames anyway.

If the Firefighters are the subject, then you will need to have enough flash power to reach out and light them up, then leave the shutter open long enough to see the background flames and buildings.

A couple of the photos show the effect of the spot light coming from either a helicopter or a support vehicle. This is the level of horsepower you would need behind lighting equipment, to fill the request made in the first post.

I still agree with Mark. Forget about the flash (for the situation in question), and work with the available light. Let the flames dance across the image in a longer exposure. Shoot in RAW mode, so you can mess with the White Balance later, to create the dramatic images you were after.