Flash Technique: Ducking the Shutter

Here’s a little tip about a flash technique I call ducking the shutter. It’s a way, when using a flash, to eke out a slightly faster shutter speed than the specifications of your camera would suggest is possible, without resorting to any sort of high speed FP sync mode.

Sometimes you want to use a shutter speed that’s faster than your camera’s flash sync speed so as to reduce the contribution of ambient light to your exposure. If you know the limits of your shutter you can sometimes manage to do just this.

Basically the trick is to compose your photo in such a way that the parts that are to be illuminated by your flash are placed in the area of the frame that will get flash exposure at the shutter speed you’re using.

The easiest way to find out where those areas are is to take some test shots. Here I put my camera in manual mode chose an (unimportant) aperture and then took a shot (with my flash) of a blank background at different shutter speeds. In this case I triggered my flash with a radio trigger and obtained the results shown below.

Ignoring the light falloff from right to left (the flash was not aimed perpendicular to the wall) you can see how the shutter curtain begins to obscure the frame as the shutter speed increases. The dark areas in this case are the parts of the frame that were not illuminated by the flash. They are still illuminated by the ambient, it is just that at this particular aperture and shutter speed the ambient was too low to have any noticeable effect.

So even though the official sync speed is 250th as long as I position my (flash) subject in the lower two thirds of the frame I can shoot at 1/400th. It is like I am ducking under the shutter to make the shot. If I duck my subject down to the bottom half of the frame I can even pinch 1/500th of a second.

A perfect example of this technique in action can be seen in the photograph below, a de-fished fisheye close-up of a Ferrari parked at the viaduct. This was 1/400th of a second at f/8 with a wirelessly triggered SB-800 at full power through a Lumiquest softbox.

I was shooting almost straight into the sun. Without a flash there was no way I could get a single exposure for both the car and the sky. But placing the car in the lower part of the frame I was able to sync at 1/400th and still get full flash power onto the car, and thus a good balance between sky and car.

This technique also works in portrait mode. Depending upon which way up you hold the camera you just need to keep your subject to the right or left of the frame.

Exhibition Submmissions Update

I'm pleased to record that my submissions (detailed in the previous post) for the NZFM Passion Exhibition have all been accepted. Woo hoo !

My Exhibition Submissions

I am a member of the NZ Flickr Meetup Group an internet based group of photographers who meet up from time to time for the purpose of photography. The group is planning an exhibition as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography and were recently accepting submissions from the members. Judging for acceptance into the exhibition will be taking place tonight - or at least starting tonight.

Full details can be found here, but in short the brief was:

We want you to show us your passion; what makes you a photographer? What makes you a part of this group? Show us your passion and what it means to be a photographer as a part of NZFM. It’ll be a very personal experience for each of us and what’s important to you may well vary from everyone else.... That’s precisely what we want to capture.
The exhibition brief comprises two parts; your image or images as well as a written statement.

I submitted one image for the print category:

“Theatre photography holds a special place in my heart and this image is one of my favourites. A candid shot taken backstage during a performance of "La Cage Aux Folles", which I had a part in, it shows an actor preparing for their next scene.
In some ways this is simply a documentary recording of a particular person, time and place, but for me it is, at the same time, a representation of any actor, it could be any theatre anywhere and at any time. It is an intimate view into a world that I enjoy and which, through my photography, I would like to share with others.”

And three in the digital category:

“Theatre photography holds a special place in my heart. Capturing a live performance (these are all taken during dress rehearsals) presents a particular set of technical challenges. While there is often a huge contrast range, the light can change in an instant and the overall illumination levels are often quite low. Technicalities aside, capturing the right moment is critical, a fraction of a second often means the difference between a hit and a miss. But every now and then you get one where the lighting, the performer, your inputs and the moment come together and catch a little bit of the magic and wonder of theatre. These three images, from three different shows, are ones that I was thrilled to have captured.”

I don’t know yet whether they will be accepted or not, but you can be sure that the blog will be updated once the results are in.

V-Cards - DIY Light Modifiers

V-Cards are free standing diffuse reflectors. In this post I will tell you how I made mine (it’s real easy), why you might want to use them and show you a few examples where they were used.

I went to a local stationery store and picked up four pieces of 3mm white coreflute (a sort of corrugated plastic board), enough to make two v-cards. Each sheet is about 100cm x 60cm in size. Next I taped each pair together along one of their long edges with transparent duct tape. The edges were taped so that they can hinge at the join like a book so that you can stand them up by themselves. Each sheet measures roughly 1000 mm x 600 mm, so when the two taped pieces are standing opened almost all the way out you get roughly a square metre of white that you can use to bounce diffuse light off.

The photo to the right shows one of the v-cards being illuminated by a Nikon SB-800. The point of the exercise is to turn the small hard light of the  bare flash into a larger and softer light source, or simply to use as a free standing diffuse reflector.

So how do the results look? Well I moved around this setup about 90° to the right of this camera position to take a picture of the lemon you can see in the foreground. I took a couple of shots of the lemon, one on the black background and another with the same setup on a white background. The results:

and

As you can see the light is quite soft.

Next, how do they fare when used to light a portrait? I grabbed the nearest available non-complaining and very patient subject and proceeded to try a few different light setups using the v-cards in combination with a couple of remote flashes. The results, including a brief summary of the setup, are summarised in the picture below. (Click for a larger version).

 

So there you have it -- v-cards.

Advantages

• Inexpensive and easy to make
• Fold up flat for storage
• Provide a good sized bounce surface.
• Free standing (as long as it’s not windy).

Disadvantages

• Although they take up almost no space in one dimension they are still quite large in the other two which could be a problem.
• They will probably blow over in anything more than the gentlest zephyr.

Quick Update

Well there has not been a lot of action on the blog lately, I have just been too busy with a couple of shoots. So this is just a quick update to let you know what’s coming up in the next week or so.

• Currently, I am (still) writing a short piece of text to accompany an image I intend to submit for inclusion in the NZFM exhibition “Passion”, planned as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography. Once complete it will also serve as a good blog post so expect to see something here in a few days time.
• I am also planning to write a gear review extolling the virtues of my favourite camera bag, the Domke F-4AF Pro.
• I also have some vague plans to write a little piece about “ducking the shutter” since I ended up having to do just that for this image of Verity.

So stay tuned there IS more stuff on the way.

Highly Commended

I placed these two images into this evening’s digital image assessment night with the North Shore Photographic Society where I am a C Grade member. Both images received a Highly Commended assessment – I’m quite pleased :)

  and

Fun with Rory

I took today off to look after Rory who has been unwell. Looks like his medicine has started to work since he perked right up towards the end of the day. We went to Marlborough Park in Glenfield where he had great fun playing on the flying fox.

Here’s a couple of shots of the action (click through to flickr).

and

My First Post

Hi there, this is my first post to my new blog, and if you're still reading - Welcome.

The ultimate purpose of this blog is still a little unclear. I want to use it as a tool for showcasing some of my work, as a means to engage with people who have similar interests and as a way to try and pass on some of the things I have learned to any who may be interested.

The first few posts will probably be full of mostly irrelevant and largely meaningless content while I try out different things and (hopefully) arrive at a blogging workflow that suits me.