Flash - Behind the scenes

[Don Hoey]

An idea for a self supporting reflector.

Materials required. Stiff garden wire 2mm dia, A4 plain paper, sticky tape.

A bit of white art card would be better as it would last longer and be stiffer than paper.

Don

[Canis Vulpes]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

An idea for a self supporting reflector.

Materials required. Stiff garden wire 2mm dia, A4 plain paper, sticky tape.

A bit of white art card would be better as it would last longer and be stiffer than paper.

Don

I am thinking tin foil wrapped around cardboard as a better material for a refelector but would it make lighting too harsh, whitepaper may also diffuse?

[Lello]

Hi guys
I've been following this very interesting thread over the last 2 weeks or so,
And as soon as I get my slave unit I will have a go at some subtle flash shots.
I need ask a question, what do you think the best material to use for diffusing the flash?
Lello

[Canis Vulpes]

Originally Posted by Lello

Hi guys
I've been following this very interesting thread over the last 2 weeks or so,
And as soon as I get my slave unit I will have a go at some subtle flash shots.
I need ask a question, what do you think the best material to use for diffusing the flash?
Lello

You'll notice that before this thread my flash technique was appalling During the course I have used paper towels (kitchen roll) but fears of burning the flash unit stopped that although one my best photos used a paper towel diffuser. I next used small 12" lastolite type diffusers that were free in Amateur photographer, these are made of nylon sheet similar to lightweight waterproof coats. The small diffusers are great but sometimes not large enough. I have now invested in a medium/large 38" lastolite, also made of nylon sheet and works best of all because of its size. Don's large lastolite has a cotton based cloth as the diffuser material rather than a nylon polymer. Providing the material spreads light out and evenly then there will be little difference in the end result.

[Lello]

Thanks for the info, I will let you know how I get on.
Lello

[Don Hoey]

Following a discussion with NFB on lens reflections, I have taken a series of pics as the best way to explain it.

Essentially it is down to angles. The key one being the taking lens toward the camera subject. In the three lens composite you can see that too sharp an angle will produce no reflection from the coating and will appear as crystal. The demarkation line is quite abrupt. These appear on the left hand lens in each case. This effect is very visible in an SLR viewfinder. Flash will not change it.

All of the pictures were taken with the camera in a fixed position and light provided by a single diffused flash positioned in front of the centre lens, square on 2 feet away.

Lenses were moved around to show that coating colours have different colours depending on angle.

Two further comments.
The white spots on the lens top right are reflections from a camera body positioned behind the centre lens.
On the middle row, mirror lock up and viewfinder blind were used to show that light through the viewfinder has no effect.

Don

[Don Hoey]

As a number are having a go at taking pics of old camera's I thought that it would be worth mentioning attention to detail.

I have taken a picture of the F2, as a just drop it on a background and take a picture .... job done. Faults with this technique are illustrated. I then cleaned the camera, lens and background and did a proper job of taking a picture.

Don

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Stephen Fox

I am thinking tin foil wrapped around cardboard as a better material for a refelector but would it make lighting too harsh, whitepaper may also diffuse?

Tin foil is certainly gives a harder reflection than that from a white surface. On shiney objects it can create specular highlights that burn out easily.

Don

[yelvertoft]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

I have taken a picture of the F2, as a just drop it on a background and take a picture .... job done. Faults with this technique are illustrated. I then cleaned the camera, lens and background and did a proper job of taking a picture.

Don

Have to say Don, whilst the second pic may be more "correct", I much prefer the overall composition of the first one.

[Leif]

Does anyone have suggestions for suitable background material, both white and black? Fabric is okay but can get dirty, so I would have thought that some sort of flexible plastic sheeting that can be wiped clean would be ideal. I'm not sure if matt or gloss is better. I see that Speed Graphic and others sell portable backgrounds but they cost a fortune for something that must be cheap to knock together. Thus far I've used sheets of paper but that's only suitable for small objects. Using multiple sheets of paper causes shadows where the sheets overlap.

Regarding diffusers, I also use Lastolites. I've got numerous ones, though the smallest are poorly made as the metal rim soon cuts through the surrounding fabric. They are useful for outdoor photography too.

Leif