Originally posted by Popty Ping Hi all
I’d just like to be able to bounce the flash and get better pictures (I shoot at music events in low light) with a single flash (presumably attached to the camera).
Si
I've shot rock style music events and, to be honest, lots of fast action, not a lot of good flash-bounce opportunities...seemingly always a dark environment. What works for me is higher ISO, watch and try to work with the stage light patterns for upper body light and use the flash for fill in the lower areas.
At these events, actions is fast and I find there's a need to shoot many times as quick as the flash will recharge (hoping for that perfect capture). So, if this is your environment, make sure your flash recovers quickly and doesn't excessively eat the batteries. On the battery front, found the "black" Eneeloops worked best...shoot a whole night with one set.
Additionally, found that some flashes, in those machine-gun style shoots, the capacitor overheated and recovery slowed potentially missing shots and definitely affecting any learned stride with respect to the lights. Initially, this is what brought me to the Eneeloops (the other batteries would come out too hot to hold) assuming it was the batteries breaking down and overheating the flash. The Eneeloops didn't get hot and quickly realized it was the capacitor.
Next thought was it might have been my flash was worn out but in research to find a replacement discovered this was almost a common phenomena with consumer grade flashes. Finally settled on a Metz and I can hammer away all night and it never even breaks into a sweat. At the time, the off-shore flashes were not readily available so never ventured to testing them although if I was to do it again would definitely consider these options.
Al