Posted by John Tobias on April 16, 2011 at 10:57 AM
In the Avian gallery there is posted a photo of two common terns. The comments indicated the need of a catchlight in the eyes, which I agree with. Any suggestions on how the photographer could have accomplished this? A fill flash might help, but then you could be stuck with a sync speed too low to stop the wing action of the bird.
thanks for any responses.
Posted by Nate Chappell on April 16, 2011 at 11:40 AM
Hi John,
There is a function on most flashes called high speed synch. It allows the camera and flash to synch together at speeds higher than the normal synch speed which for many cameras is about 1/250 of a second. On the better Canon flashes it can be programmed by pushing a button right on the back of the flashlight. On Nikon flashes you need to go into the camera menu and set this function. I recommend having it set when using flash during the daylight because otherwise if you have the flash on and the camera is reading for an exposure faster than 1/250 then the image will generally be overexposed. When using high speed flash the distance that the flash travels will be reduced, so a Better Beamer is very helpful in that respect. However, even if the flash isn't really strong enough to illuminate the bird it will often be enough to produce a catchlight. So you can have your fill flash and a higher shutter speed as well. However, the faster the shutter speed is the more the distance the flash goes will be reduced - at speeds up to 1/1000 or so it will be much more effective than for example at 1/2000 or more. There is no penalty for having the high speed synch set at all times during daylight shooting because if the shutter speed is less than 1/250 the flash and camera will revert to normal flash shooting and the distance the flash travels will not be reduced. If anyone wants to read more about fill flash techniques I have 2 articles/newsletters on my website at http://www.trogontours.net/november2010 and at http://www.trogontours.net/january2011
There are digital ways to add the catchlight such as adding a white dot and blurring it. I don't do that, I prefer to try and pull more light out of the eye by doing a selective levels adjustment to just the eye, sometimes that can improve it a lot, sometimes not.
I've often asked myself the same question about flash and sync speeds when photographing birds but for some reason it never crossed my mind to post it here. Likewise I've always always dismissed high speed sync flash as not being very useful to me. The possibility of the two coming together to solve a problem was never on my radar. So, thanks, John, for asking the question, and Nate, for your response. You've given me a new tool to play with. That's the power of forums like this.
Regards,
Chris
Posted by Garry Revesz on April 19, 2011 at 2:48 PM
I echo Chris's comments. I have a 7D and Canon 580E flash but haven't had the time to figure out how to properly use it. However, it would never cross my mind to use it for birds on the wing. It's tough enough just getting the camera settings right for the situation, lighting, etc. without adding a flash to the equation. By that time the bird is in the next country.
Discussion
3 repliesthanks for any responses.
There is a function on most flashes called high speed synch. It allows the camera and flash to synch together at speeds higher than the normal synch speed which for many cameras is about 1/250 of a second. On the better Canon flashes it can be programmed by pushing a button right on the back of the flashlight. On Nikon flashes you need to go into the camera menu and set this function. I recommend having it set when using flash during the daylight because otherwise if you have the flash on and the camera is reading for an exposure faster than 1/250 then the image will generally be overexposed. When using high speed flash the distance that the flash travels will be reduced, so a Better Beamer is very helpful in that respect. However, even if the flash isn't really strong enough to illuminate the bird it will often be enough to produce a catchlight. So you can have your fill flash and a higher shutter speed as well. However, the faster the shutter speed is the more the distance the flash goes will be reduced - at speeds up to 1/1000 or so it will be much more effective than for example at 1/2000 or more. There is no penalty for having the high speed synch set at all times during daylight shooting because if the shutter speed is less than 1/250 the flash and camera will revert to normal flash shooting and the distance the flash travels will not be reduced. If anyone wants to read more about fill flash techniques I have 2 articles/newsletters on my website at http://www.trogontours.net/november2010 and at http://www.trogontours.net/january2011
There are digital ways to add the catchlight such as adding a white dot and blurring it. I don't do that, I prefer to try and pull more light out of the eye by doing a selective levels adjustment to just the eye, sometimes that can improve it a lot, sometimes not.
Regards,
Chris
Garry