Electronic Flash Flashcards
why use electronic flash?
-ambient light is not enough
-produces the proper quality of light, color balance (tints)
-narrow apertures can be used
when is ambient light not enough?
early morning, late afternoon, nighttime, indoors
what are guide numbers?
flash unit’s relative output power
what is the relative output power?
how much light that particular flash can throw out onto a scene
what is the exposure triangle?
the use of a flash eliminates shutter speed as a variable (sync speed)
ISO 400 or digital equivalent will be in dim conditions or ISO ? for comparison photos
ISO 100
4 exposure variables
f/stop (aperture)
film speed (ISO)
Shutter speed
light (ambient/flash)
how to determine f/stop?
the guide number of the flash allows the f/stop to be determined, depending on the distance between the flash the subject
GN / Distance =
f/stop
what is the distance?
between the guide number and the subject
most electronic flashes have a ?
calculator dial
most have a dial or display so that you will not have to do any actual math
each flash has a specific ?, not all flashes are the same
guide number
GN 160:
GN 120:
GN 80:
GN 56:
GN 36:
very strong and expensive flash units
normal
less powerful
weak flash
built-in-flash unit
GN 120 and 10 ft away from subject. what is the f-stop?
GN/D = f/stop
120/10 = 12
f-12 is closest to f-11
GN 160: f-stop =
GN 120: f-stop =
GN 80: f-stop =
GN 56: f-stop =
GN 36: f-stop
f-16
f-11
f-8
f-5.6
f-3.5
smaller guide numbers puts out ? light and needs ? aperture
-puts out less light
-needs wider aperture
what is sync speed?
shutter is completely open when the flash fires
what does sync speed do?
the entire scene receives light from the flash and the scene reflects this light into the camera before the shutter closes
what is the designated sync speed usually?
1/60th or faster
how does faster-than-sync shutter speed happen?
faster-than-sync shutter speed leads to the shutter closing when the flash unit fires
how does faster-than-sync control motion? is it a fair and accurate “representation of the scene”?
freezes motion
no, because there is still a black bar in the image
what happens if shutter speed is slower than sync? -what if it is very slow, below 1/60th?
-typically nothing
-blurred image, ghost images
how to set the flash; old and and newer flashes
old flashes: must manually set the flash to the correct ISO
newer flashes: flash automatically detects (syncs) to the ISO
in the manual flash mode, the calculator dial has ? rings. what are they?
3
f-stops - outer ring
distance in feet - middle ring
distance in meters - inner ring
f-stop for the distance in feet
f-22 to 10’
f-16 to 15’
f-11 to 20’
f-8 to 30’
what happens if object is closer?
vari-power increments (1 stop)
as you change f/stop (aperture on camera), what will happen with the flash?
the flash will correspond the correct distance