[Cee Cee]

For future reference, knowing that flash shooting is occasional, and lessons learned can end up recollected incorrectly, my workflow for an important shoot calls for simulating the shooting experience a short time before it happens. If it calls for multi-flash (often making use of an optical slave as Cee Cee did), the practice generally involves shooting in front of the bathroom mirror to confirm that the on-board is triggering and the slave lights in image.

an interesting and clever technique, so when I looked at the shot I would have seen that slave strobe flash was not recorded on the image, I like it.
I was a little pushed for time leading up the the shoot, I don't know whether I would have done the test though, as I was using the same set up as the previous years shoot, I did a full set up & test before last years shoot, this year I just did a quick test of individual items, what could go wrong ? .... just me

[BigMackCam]

Funny thing about all the "auto" settings that make everything "easier"... Simpler meant limited choices that required thinking through the manual aspects. Amazing how well flash worked back then, and you didn't have any opportunity to fine tune until after the film came back from processing (or hanging in the dark room).

It's an interesting point.

Only quite recently (the last couple of years, maybe), I find myself looking to understand first and foremost how a product (particularly a camera + accessories) works when controlled in the most manual way possible, then looking to exploit various automated benefits as "side orders". I know for a fact that I'm not utilising all the brilliant automated capabilities of my kit, but I do feel more "in control" knowing that I can throw the (undoubtedly very clever) automated stuff away and rely purely on the manual stuff (assuming the equipment lets me work that way!!)

[ScooterMaxi Jim]

There is nothing wrong with comparing "professional" and "amateur," and in some cultures "amateur" is more highly valued because the discipline is pursued out of passion for the activity - and this surely can show through favorably when it comes to artistic pursuits such as photography.

Have no idea who said this, but it has always stuck with me. A professional is set apart from the amateur based on two requisites. 1) Thorough preparation; every bit of equipment to be used must be checked out before going on the assignment. 2) Back up plan for every possible failure on the shoot; that means back-up body, extra lens, adequate power (spare batteries).

If you are accepting an assignment where several people are depending on the results, this is a quasi "pro" situation even if you aren't paid. Of course, back up equipment isn't practical for everyone. However, if the assignment was offered in a timely way, there is always time to think ahead and get prepared; if the offer came late, I'd be tempted to say "no."

Not mentioning all this to scold (I know it sounds like it), but it has been invaluable to me as a general guide.

[Cee Cee]

There is nothing wrong with comparing "professional" and "amateur," and in some cultures "amateur" is more highly valued because the discipline is pursued out of passion for the activity - and this surely can show through favorably when it comes to artistic pursuits such as photography.

Have no idea who said this, but it has always stuck with me. A professional is set apart from the amateur based on two requisites. 1) Thorough preparation; every bit of equipment to be used must be checked out before going on the assignment. 2) Back up plan for every possible failure on the shoot; that means back-up body, extra lens, adequate power (spare batteries).

If you are accepting an assignment where several people are depending on the results, this is a quasi "pro" situation even if you aren't paid. Of course, back up equipment isn't practical for everyone. However, if the assignment was offered in a timely way, there is always time to think ahead and get prepared; if the offer came late, I'd be tempted to say "no."

Not mentioning all this to scold (I know it sounds like it), but it has been invaluable to me as a general guide.

sound advice, but I think my problem was more due to a lack of knowledge rather than a lack of prep, I did the same shoot last year, at that time I did a full setup and tested my gear & method well before hand, and all went well with the shoot and happy with the results. So a "tried & true method", I was going to use the same gear & method. I felt as well prepared as I thought I could be, I had tested every piece of equipment, had spare SD cards, double spare batteries for every device, took my K20D as backup camera with spare battery & extra lenses, extra light sands & fittings etc. then made the mistake of deciding to control the aperture from the camera instead of from the lens ring followed quickly by a second action of removing the external manual flash and switching to the popup flash, unaware that the flash was now in p-ttl mode. It's an interesting thought to consider if I had of done full setup & test run would I have gone through the the same sequence of events & made the same desisions as I did on the night, maybe, who can tell, both those desisions were made based on the conditions at the venue. An expected large variation in ambient light over the course of the shoot led me to think it might be more convenient to control the aperture in camera, for reasons still unknown to me the external flash I had planed to use failed to trigger the stobes on a couple of the test shots, (maybe the higher ceilings) , so I abandoned that Idea and went back to the inbuilt flash, the same as what I had used the previous year. So who knows, maybe I might have tried both ways & discovered that it didn't work. What I do know is that I paid a heavy price, 15-20 minutes per photo in pp to remove the shadows, and group shots upwards of an hour per photo, seriously it cost me a weeks lost income but I couldn't send them out the way they were, even if I did do the shoot for no fee (family connection)
Some samples..
one fron last year all went well


this year with shadows


after PP

[ScooterMaxi Jim]

Nicely done on the post processing. That's a lot of work. I'm sure that makes you want to do the prep in the future, if you have the time.

To the extent your set-up allows, softening or reducing the on-board flash harshness would also help yield a more three-dimensional look. The Demb Flip-it Deluxe can be easily modified for most Pentax cameras even though the flash stands taller. Makes a big difference. For external flash softening I tend to prefer using the LumiQuest 80-20 system.

[BigMackCam]

Nicely done on the post processing. That's a lot of work.

+1. Impressive result on the PP - nice job!

[clackers]

Yeah, nice save, Colin! :-)

[mcgregni]

The Pop-Up flash has never before received so much attention !