I want to start doing more wildlife photography, particularly macro work. I was wondering if there is are any tips for using flash to help for faster shutter speeds. I have always felt that it can be a little unnatural and I find it quite difficult to balance correctly.
Sorry for the obvious questions but it has been something that I have always wanted to try but never had the confidence and perhaps patience.
Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated. My current kit in terms of flash is obviously the on board speedlight of the D300 and a Metz hammer head.
Hi Drew
Us "sad old men " in the old days had to use flash for many wildlife shots , ranging from bird to beetles. Often on slow film with, birds for example there was no other way. Things have changed a lot . I use a ring flash for insects, which is about the best way of getting a diffused "natural" look as is possible. The pics do still look un natural though because in real life there will always be a dark side . ( You can say that again ! )
With birds I used three flashes for my pool work. You have to play around with distances, diffusers, baffles etc to get the balance right but you will never get it to look like real daylight.
At least we can use 800 ISO speeds these days and get away with it ! Flash fill in sttings (when you get it right) can be pretty good. You only have to look at some of the shots on this site to see that.
Hope that helps a bit.
Cheers
JohnR
In addition to John's reply, it may be worth spending a bit of time going through the archives on this forum {just type fill-flash etc in the search box}.
I also used to own a Metz hammerhead {60 ct4}, and you should be aware that its full-power duration is a relatively slow 1/200 sec, compared to other brands, and 'if' you will be using it as a non-dedicated flash {if you don't own a dedicated module}, then bear in mind that the guide number is reduced when using a camera with a higher sync speed { as with the d300, which i guess has a 1/250 base sync speed}.
Of course, if you are using slower sync speeds {as with static/ slow moving subjects}, the flashguns guide number can be used with confidence.
I use flash quite a lot in my macro work. If I'm using my Sigma 150mm lens I will often use a small amount of fill-flash on dragonfly or butterfly images, for example. I use either a Canon Speedlight or a Sunpak 383. If using the speedlight I generally use -1 FEC or -1.5 FEC, if using the Sunpak I tend to use manual and use 1/16 power or similar. The key however is to diffuse the flash, I tend to use a Stofen omnibounce diffuser but sometimes put a piece of kitchen towel on the flash to reduce the harshness of the light further.
When using my MPE-65 macro lens I light the images entirely with flash. I use my Speedlight on a side bracket but angle it right down so that it is very close to the end of the lens (there is very little working distance with this lens). I use a home-made diffuser made out of a drinks can, lots of tape and kitchen roll on the end! Sounds a bit Heath Robinson but it works well and can produce fairly natural looking light. The biggest problem is the black background that can arise when using flash. The only way to really avoid this (short of using a 2nd flash to light the background) is to try to ensure there is some foliage in the background fairly close to the subject.
Discussion
4 repliesSorry for the obvious questions but it has been something that I have always wanted to try but never had the confidence and perhaps patience.
Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated. My current kit in terms of flash is obviously the on board speedlight of the D300 and a Metz hammer head.
Drew
Us "sad old men " in the old days had to use flash for many wildlife shots , ranging from bird to beetles. Often on slow film with, birds for example there was no other way. Things have changed a lot . I use a ring flash for insects, which is about the best way of getting a diffused "natural" look as is possible. The pics do still look un natural though because in real life there will always be a dark side . ( You can say that again ! )
With birds I used three flashes for my pool work. You have to play around with distances, diffusers, baffles etc to get the balance right but you will never get it to look like real daylight.
At least we can use 800 ISO speeds these days and get away with it ! Flash fill in sttings (when you get it right) can be pretty good. You only have to look at some of the shots on this site to see that.
Hope that helps a bit.
Cheers
JohnR
In addition to John's reply, it may be worth spending a bit of time going through the archives on this forum {just type fill-flash etc in the search box}.
I also used to own a Metz hammerhead {60 ct4}, and you should be aware that its full-power duration is a relatively slow 1/200 sec, compared to other brands, and 'if' you will be using it as a non-dedicated flash {if you don't own a dedicated module}, then bear in mind that the guide number is reduced when using a camera with a higher sync speed { as with the d300, which i guess has a 1/250 base sync speed}.
Of course, if you are using slower sync speeds {as with static/ slow moving subjects}, the flashguns guide number can be used with confidence.
Alan
I use flash quite a lot in my macro work. If I'm using my Sigma 150mm lens I will often use a small amount of fill-flash on dragonfly or butterfly images, for example. I use either a Canon Speedlight or a Sunpak 383. If using the speedlight I generally use -1 FEC or -1.5 FEC, if using the Sunpak I tend to use manual and use 1/16 power or similar. The key however is to diffuse the flash, I tend to use a Stofen omnibounce diffuser but sometimes put a piece of kitchen towel on the flash to reduce the harshness of the light further.
When using my MPE-65 macro lens I light the images entirely with flash. I use my Speedlight on a side bracket but angle it right down so that it is very close to the end of the lens (there is very little working distance with this lens). I use a home-made diffuser made out of a drinks can, lots of tape and kitchen roll on the end! Sounds a bit Heath Robinson but it works well and can produce fairly natural looking light. The biggest problem is the black background that can arise when using flash. The only way to really avoid this (short of using a 2nd flash to light the background) is to try to ensure there is some foliage in the background fairly close to the subject.
Matt
I will be looking at the various archives on the forum and it guess nothing beats practice with plenty of patience !
Thanks all very much.
Drew