Tag: Flash Photography

AtoZ Challenge: T – Tonal Range

Tonal Range

This can be defined as the range of tones, both coloured and black and white which span from the lightest to the darkest areas in the photo.
A photo with a wide tonal range shall have areas which exhibit dark areas and white areas while the ones with a narrow range shall have more of gray shades.

The photo above has a a majority of black areas while the tonal range extends to the other end of the spectrum too.

While, in the photo below, the range is more concentrated in the mid ranges and is hence overall grayish in colour.

The wider the tonal range, better shall be contrast in the photo. While striving to achieve a wide tonal range, one must also keep in mind not to overdo the exposure and exceed into the clipping regions.

Tell me about your ideas on this topic in the comments.

In the earlier series, T was for TTL Metering.

Cheers!!

by Categories: AtoZ Challenge, PhotographyTags: , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Light Trails

Photography is all about how you play with light. Whatever be the kind of photography you do, light is the essential common denominator, be it portrait, landscape, macro, or any other thing you can think of.

Light trails are a mix of use of depth of field, controlled shutter speed and ISO. Along with the basic trinity, you also bring in creativity, and different props. The understanding of how a shot is being taken, or how it should be taken, is paramount while doing light trails, light paintings and such.

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Its not always that a slow shutter is all you need. Sometimes, varying the light source also helps.

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In the end, all that matters is, that you must have a lot of fun.

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Have fun experimenting with different light sources. Understand this, when your shutter is open during an exposure, any and every movement of the light source pointing towards the camera, shall be captured by it. Use this to make shapes, letters, drawings .. the possibilities are limitless.

Good luck.

Cheers!!

by Categories: Photo Effeccts, TechnicalTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

April AtoZ Challenge: PH – R: Rear Curtain

R for Rear Curtain

Rear Curtain is a term used to describe flash setting when the flash is fired at the end of the exposure. In general, the flash is fired at the beginning. In a fast shutter speed, it doesnt really matter, but in the slower ones, having a rear curtain flash has very interesting effects. It shows movement, and then freezes at the end moment. On the flip side, is the front curtain, which also shows movement, but in a different form. I suggest all to try these out. A full detail post can be found here.

Rear Curtain
Rear Curtain

This is a part of April AtoZ Challenge. The letters up to Q can be found here.

Cheers!!

by Categories: AtoZ Challenge, PhotographyTags: , , 2 Comments

7. Flash Diffuser

In my previous post, I wrote about flash photography. I hope you, my readers, have taken some shots using the flash. And also, I believe, you have faced the issue, where the flash felt very harsh. Skin tone has become unacceptably white and too much of the detail has been lost. No amount of post processing will help in these cases.
This is caused, when the flash is too strong and the light is very concentrated. Hence, our options are either to lower the flash strength or diffuse the light.

Lowering the flash strength is fine upto a certain level but beyond that, still photos do get blown. This is where the diffuser comes in.
First, what exactly does the diffuser do? Imagine the flash on your camera as a point light source, like a strong bulb. It gives out a dispersing beam allright, but the dispersion is not enough hence the subject’s details are getting overwhelmed by the light. Now, the diffuser’s work is to disperse the light even more, make it softer. This makes the subject retain the details and also gives your photo a balanced look. For a further enlightenment on the diffuser, feel free to check up on the web, but the nutshell description is the same.

Normal flash
Normal flash

 

Same settings, with the diffuser
Same settings, with the diffuser

Diffusers are generally not available for the onboard flashes, and a decent external flash costs at least 15k INR, plus the diffuser box is around 6k INR. Frankly, I dont have that amount of money at all, hence, a bit of improvisation (Jugaad, the Indian term) is all we need. Head over to the DIY section for a awesome jugaad that ll make your day.

Cheers!

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