Re: [Leica] Fill flash help

["Joe Codispoti" <joecodi@thegrid.net>]

Hi Kip,
following is my method for successful fill flash:

FILL FLASH
*The shutter speed is set to the maximum allowed by the synch capability of
the camera, or lower (depending on light level requirements).
*The lens opening is set for the highlight.
*The flash is set for the amount of desired fill in the shadow areas, or
contrast between highlight and shadow.

For example:
A side-lighted or back-lighted scene requires an exposure of 1/100 (1/125)
sec at f:8
The top synch speed for the camera is 1/50 sec.
The camera setting will be 1/50 sec at f:11.0
If the desired ratio between  highlight and shadow is 1:2, the flash is set
to f:5.6; for a ratio of 1:4 the setting would be f:4.0
Depending on the flash, the setting can be made for manual or automatic
mode.

Since it is a group that you will be photographing, you might have time to
bracket in order to cover all possibilities.
Good luck,
Joe C


- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Kip Babington" <cbabing3@swbell.net>
To: "Mailing List, Leica" <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2000 2:21 PM
Subject: [Leica] Fill flash help


> Can someone either give me some help, or point me to a quick & dirty
> exposition on line, on how to add just a bit of fill flash to a Leica M
> (on topic) portrait setup I have to do this week?  I've never had to do
> this before, and am having a brain spasm trying to think through what to
> set where on camera and flash.
>
> The physical setup is a group shot of four vocalists (including my wife
> - this has to work) after a performance in a church hall.  I did a roll
> there last week with just available light, but while there's enough
> light to get a picture (on HP5 @ 800) the light is all from directly
> overhead and the eye sockets and foreheads have unflattering shadows.
> The situation permits a tripod (which I had to use last week too -
> exposures were about 1/60 @ 2.8) but won't allow me to set up my
> umbrella stands to get a lot of light with balance.  (I don't want to
> take just a straight flash shot.)   So I'm thinking I can just lighten
> up the facial shadows with a bit of fill from a shoe mount flash held
> about arm's length  away from the camera (I can dial the flash output
> down to 1/16, and add a wide angle diffuser to further reduce power, if
> need be.)
>
> I started to plan on using my N**** with whiz-bang TTL everything
> dedicated flash, but after reading the flash instruction book I can't
> figure out how to adjust the ratio of available light to flash (it seems
> to be a "use these settings and we'll do fill flash for 'ya" sort of
> deal) and since I'm not sure what I'll get automatically I'm thinking
> I'll just do it myself with a real camera (real photographers don't use
> auto . . .).
>
> Anyway, I have ambient and flash meters, both incident and spot (but no
> instruction books, which might answer this question) to help me get a
> basic exposure - I used 'em last week, along with the M6 meter, and got
> decent "average" negatives.  But like I say, I need to add a bit to the
> faces and for the life of me I can't figure out how to use the meters to
> tell me what to set on the camera and flash. I'll bracket a couple of
> stops (with the flash power control, I expect) either side of my
> starting point, but can someone give me a clue how to find the starting
> point?  Off list is probably better if there's any back and forth
> necessary, but if it's just a two or three step process there may be
> others on the list who could use the info too.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Cheers,
> Kip
>
>