Rear-Sync Flash Photography

I have just been investigating my Canon 430EX Speedlite's functionality, as I only ever use the flash for quite basic lighting techniques.  I decided to work on my rear-sync flash technique, so thought I'd share with you what I now know!

What is rear-sync flash?


Your camera shutter is actually made up of two curtains - a front curtain and a rear curtain.  When you take a photograph, the front curtain reveals your sensor and then the rear curtain comes across to cover your sensor again.

Your flash will normally go off when the first curtain goes up.  This lights the scene immediately and will freeze the action at that moment.

With rear-sync flash - you've guessed it - the flash fires at the end of the shot, just before the rear curtain closes.  It is often also known as rear-curtain flash.

What happens in practice is that your camera shutter will open and begin to record the movement of you scene on the sensor, quite  blurry.  Then, when the flash fires, a sharp image is recorded over the blurred information of any subject that is within the flashes firing range.

How do I do it?


Firstly you usually need an on-camera flash, although some camera models may have a rear sync flash option.  In small point and shoot cameras, this is effectively what Night Portrait or Party mode is doing.

• This works best at night.  Try taking a friend/model out into a fairly busy area where there is a lot of motion or if, like me, you head out alone, look for a still subject in front of a moving scene.
• Take a tripod, although this is not essential.
• Set your flash to rear sync mode.  In Canon cameras, this is done by pressing the H button on your flash until three fast forward triangles are revealed. In Nikon, press the flash symbol button on your camera body, and your LCD will cycle between various modes until it reads REAR.  Refer to your manual for rear-sync if in doubt.
• Set your camera to TV or S mode and select a slow shutter speed, I found that anything from 0.5" works. 
• Place camera on tripod.
• Focus on your subject and take the shot when motion is detected behind - e.g. car passes, crowd passes.
• Play with different shutter speeds for different effects.
• Take the camera off the tripod and try shooting whilst you are moving for more creative effects.

Why would I use it?


This technique gets you away from the boring shots where your flash exposes your subject but the  background is in darkness.  It allows ambient light into the background that is filled with motion.

It is often used to great effect at weddings to get the bride and groom sharp but an active background.   I've also seen some great shots where it is used to accentuate the idea of motion, e.g. the blur of an arm frozen at the last minute, e.g. in a chopping or violin action.

Go on, be adventurous and give it a go, it's easier than it seems and the unpredictability of the shots is quite exciting!

Happy snapping,

Nic

Shooting in the Midday Sun (AKA 'High Noon'!)

 Ok, so you've heard all the rules - always take photographs an hour before or after sunrise or sunset, as you get that lovely golden light that just makes everything look gorgeous, right?

But let's take a reality check here.  Firstly, who get's up an hour before sunrise and is compus mentus enough to get out with all of their photography gear and find a great place to shoot?  And secondly, when can we ever get out at just the right time in the afternoon?

So, it's 11.30 am on a Saturday morning and you have a precious two hours to spare.  Is it a waste of time to pop outside with your camera?  The short answer is no.

It is true, however that sunlight between 10am and 3pm is pretty harsh light.  It has a tendancy to wash out colours (desaturate) and cast very harsh black shadows (think portraits with black shadows under the eyes, nose and chin).  So what can you do to combat this?

1.  Shoot in the shade

You are always best to aim for a shady spot on a sunny day - in fact, overcast days are actually best if your shooting in the middle of the day.  If you can shoot with your entire scene in the shade, your results will be a lot more even and better saturated.  Beware dappled shade (from tree branches etc).  This will put dark and light dappling across your shot which simply looks ugly and unprofessional.

If you can't find any shade, it's always handy to have an umbrella.  This can be held (preferably by a kind supportive friend) between the subject and the sun to give you the shady, diffused light you need.

2.  Get in close


Work with closer subjects rather than broad landscapes for better results.  Landscapes are notoriously hard to get correctly exposed in bright sunny conditions, as you usually have a very bright sky and a darker foreground.  The camera will try to meter the scene and will fail miserably, leaving you with either a black, under-exposed foreground or a burnt-out white sky.  If you are skilful you can bracket your shots and HDR layer them in Photoshop later for the perfect shot (the subject of a later blog!) but otherwise, save it for a different time of day.

3. Under-expose your shot

A great trick if you are shooting in bright conditions is to use exposure compensation (a later blog will deal with this in detail).  Under-expose your shots by around 2/3rds to 1 stop.  This will allow less light into your camera and so your images will look more saturated and more similar to what we see with our naked eye.


[QUICK TIP:  Most camera models have a +/_ back and white square button which takes you to the meter reading    -2 . . -1 . . 0 . . 1 . . 2     Each dot is a third of a stop.  Minus under exposes, plus over-exposes.]

4. Lower your ISO 

If you leave your ISO too high from shooting in dark conditions previously, chances are your shots won't come out to the best quality and your camera may even blink at you to tell you it can't take the shot.  This means your sensor is far too sensitive for the bright light.  You need to reduce the sensitivity by bringing down the ISO to 100.

5.  Shoot away from the sun

Finally, the old adage of shooting with your back to the sun is still true in most situations.  If you have the sun behind you for architecture and detail shots, the sun will light your scene, rather than creating  glare and flare in your image.  If you're shooting portraits, however, you will simply get people squinting - not their best look.  Again, try and take them into the shade, but if not, a 90 degree angle to the sun can give some nice side light, or if you have a flash, putting the sun behind them and filling in the shadow on the face with flash works nicely.

Remember too that rules are there to be broken and the best results often come from experimentation.  So shooting into the sun to get strong silhouettes or vintage look lens flare can often be very effective.

Happy snapping!

Nic