Re: Flash fill ratio? Metz 40Mz and Leica R8

[Donal Philby <donalphilby@earthlink.net>]

Ted Grant wrote:
> 
> I rarely use flash, well almost never!  It's sort of mixing gasoline and water,
> using flash and a Leica! :)  But now that I'm an R8 owner with a Metz 40Mz and
> the correct flash adapter SCA3501.  I have to learn how to balance flash light
> for flashfill situations and I don't really want to know I used flash.  Just a
> subtle blink of light.
> 
> For openers I hate those flash filled images that have blown out shadows where
> you are more aware of the flash than looking at the photograph.
> 
> So folks I'm yours and all ears for any suggestions one might care to offer.
> 
> ted grant

Ted,

It can be a no brainer.  A bit of test roll will tell all.  Start with
minus 1.7.  That should give you a barely noticed fill.  But test at 1,
1.3 and 2 and even 3 down.  One thing to remember is that the subject
already has light on it, so you are adding light, trying to fill up that
space below the D-max.    So once you get a little experience, you can
up or down the compensation to get the feel you want.  It really helps,
often, to get the flash off the camera on an extension cord.

Did a portrait not long ago, a quickie, where I had my subject lean
against a tree in the shadow side in early afternoon.  Everything else
was brightly lit garden.  I set the strobe for minus 1.3, zoomed the
head to 70mm, aimed it at his face while holding it with my left hand
just overhead  and under the brim of his Buffalo Bill-style hat..  Shot
with 35mm lens.  Was perfect.  No squinting, light fell off at his
shoulders.  3 minutes.  Program automatic with a couple of frames at
minus and plus .7 on the camera (which would include the strobe).   Will
probably run full page in magazine.

I know there are a couple of purists on this list (okay, more than a
few), but the key idea to keep in mind about fill flash is that done
correctly, all you at doing is reducing the contrast range of the what's
on the film.  You can do that with BW (and color to less extent) by over
exposing and underdeveloping.  But that is no less "pure" a way to
reduce contrast.

What I lust after is 3 or 4 40Mzs and the cordless TTL.  Just Set them
around a room high up or on a shelf or where ever and open fire. 
Wonderful for documentary (in my experience: darkumentary), just to add
a bit of fill and crispness to the ambient.  Jim Cook, who developed the
Inview/Stockview program uses Minolta for his documentation of American
Indians for gallery images and does just that.  He said it is almost
impossible to get a bad exposure.  And the Metz uses the same IR
technology (and syncs up to 1/60 sec).

And if you shoot enough, people will eventually quit paying attention,
and your work can be nearly as candid an completely natural light.

I choose to believe fill flash is no sin.  Or at least less of a sin
than coming back with murky pix.

And I choose to believe you can teach an old dog new tricks!!!

Donal Philby
San Diego