Manual Flash As Main Light

[Arthur Morris]

Too dark to photograph? Need lots of d-o-f? Learn to use Manual flash as main light.

This Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was photographed south of St. Petersburg, FL with the Canon 800m f/5.6 L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 400. Manual Flash as main light at 1:1 (full power) with the Better Beamer: 1/60 sec at f/18. One shot AF on the nares (nostrils). (With long lenses at close range d-o-f is always very close to 50/50 in front/behind the point of focus.

To see what happens in these situations when the flash does not fire, see the pane below.

If you have no idea what I am talking about :) :) :) see Flash Simplified in ABP II (plus tons more).

Don't be shy. All comments welcome. I am here to learn too.

[Arthur Morris]

With any relatively fast (high frame rate) camera, the flash will fail to fire at times. When you are using flash as main light, the image will be vastly underexposed when this happens. If you are using flash as fill, the image should still look pretty good if the flash fails to go off.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Interesting technique, thanks for sharing the specs, I have to try this sometime. Is this blood above the bill?

[Edward Fisher]

Thanks for the explanation, Artie.
A very nice image, and the only thing that bothers me about it is the shadow under the beak created by the flash. Perhaps a bit of cloning would eliminate it.

[Arthur Morris]

Interesting technique, thanks for sharing the specs, I have to try this sometime. Is this blood above the bill?

Not sure Axel. I blew it up even before you asked but cannot be sure--it might be goo from the lugworms they were eating...

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the explanation, Artie. A very nice image, and the only thing that bothers me about it is the shadow under the beak created by the flash. Perhaps a bit of cloning would eliminate it.

Thanks for the suggestion. I eliminated the shadow using two Quick Masks--this technique is much better than using the Clone Stamp as it retains texture (which the Clone Stamp does not)> You can learn to use QMs in APTATS and in Digital Basics.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Nice shot and great lesson, love the result. Detail, BG, and colors are terrific Artie.
Congratulaitons and thanks!