flash or natural light photography?

Skynet-T800

Skynet-T800

Skynet-T800

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Joined
16 Jul 2011
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523
Location
Cumbria, Ambleside
Hi,

What's your preference?

Who's a fan of the flash gun? Not the on board flash!!

I love it and miss it as I sold my SB-800 which gave amazing results.
Thinking of getting the SB-910 now as I really miss the flash it in some shots.
 
Natural light whenever possible until the aperture and ISO are at the limits and tripod is not possible. When the flash comes out it is to try and replicate natural lighting.

Basically, if you can tell a flash was used then I don't like the photo.
 
I've a couple of SB900's but rarely use them outside of fill flash.

My issue is I really need to practice with ocf, however, I am a firm believer in using both.

It really depends on what you want to accomplish :D

Purists/lighting snobs I find quite humorous because they are so stuck in their ways!
 
AHarvey said:
I've a couple of SB900's but rarely use them outside of fill flash.

My issue is I really need to practice with ocf, however, I am a firm believer in using both.

It really depends on what you want to accomplish :D

Purists/lighting snobs I find quite humorous because they are so stuck in their ways!
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You try getting a flash to light up a distant mountain or a grizzly bear ;)
 
Skynet-T800 said:
Aye I agree with that.
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If one uses flashes and studio lighting and the end results look natural then that is great. Quite a skill which i don't have.

It is my basic philosophy in all photography, if something looks wrong then I probably wont like it, if that is HDR gone too far, weird post processing and Photoshop trickery, photographing animals in captivity and passing them on as wild, etc.

I just don't like. Horses for courses.
 
D.P. said:
You try getting a flash to light up a distant mountain or a grizzly bear ;)
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Who ever mentioned landscape or wildlife? You yourself mentioned bringing the flash out when natural light faded, so were you also talking about landscapes then or are you making a silly point to try and make me look stupid? However, I've seen some great long exposures at night using a flash to light areas and some great night time wildlife shots that used flash!! (ie Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009)

As I said before, if your skill and knowledge is good enough then combining them both shouldn't be a problem.
 
AHarvey said:
Who ever mentioned landscape or wildlife? You yourself mentioned bringing the flash out when natural light faded, so were you also talking about landscapes then or are you making a silly point to try and make me look stupid? However, I've seen some great long exposures at night using a flash to light areas and some great night time wildlife shots that used flash!! (ie Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009)

As I said before, if your skill and knowledge is good enough then combining them both shouldn't be a problem.
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I think you totally misunderstood me.
You mentioned some stupid infantile comment about lighting snobs. I merely pointed out that flashes are as useful as a chocolate teapot in many situations, it's got nothing to do with being "purist".

I even said earlier in the thread that it takes a lt of skill to get good results which I don't have.
 
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I don't like using a flash because I suck at it :D I can never get the subtle look and fill flash is always obvious and just looks odd.
 
My preference is for natural light, because I look for my work to be realistic rather than artistic. However, that means an approximation of what the human eye sees rather than what the camera sees and even in good light that often means fill flash.

If your interests extend to the artistic then it can work. The most interesting flash photo I've seen was a landscape showing the a train crossing a big wooden bridge in the American west. At night, with the entire bridge and train (a hundred+ meters in frame) lit by flash. I was fascinated with it because it seemed almost impossible to do, really pushing the boundaries. I have a copy in a book but can't find it online, it's an amazing shot though.
 
Catch lights in their eyes, hard shadow under the chin and the hard (as opposed to soft) reflections on the cheeks, forehead and shoulder? I supposed that could be due to other light sources in the room, but it looks like flash? You've got good distance between the subjects and the background so at least there is no outline shadow.
 
Rojin said:
Catch lights in their eyes, hard shadow under the chin and the hard (as opposed to soft) reflections on the cheeks, forehead and shoulder? I supposed that could be due to other light sources in the room, but it looks like flash? You've got good distance between the subjects and the background so at least there is no outline shadow.
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Cool so its not toooo obvious? i used a bounce card btw and aimed m flash at the ceiling
 
jonneymendoza said:
Cool so its not toooo obvious? i used a bounce card btw and aimed m flash at the ceiling
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Well I only know because I do the same :D I've tried bouncing, flash diffusers etc. I need to put some time into it rather than just the occasional dabble. I don't think you can ever get rid of all tell tales when using on camera flash to be honest.
 
jonneymendoza said:
Really? Doesnt look like it? if so, what gives the impression that flash was used?
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Skin tones show reflections and specular highlights giving that plasticy look, flash is caught in the eyes, some of the shadows are not very soft, the main light source would naturally be the door behind but this is being over powered.
 
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