Some of the Secrets from the Flash World

I’ve been reading “Speedliter’s Handbook” from Syl Arena. Reading is nothing, the most important part is actually trying and experimenting. Here are my discoveries from some of these experiments.

Secret #1 of when using the flash

The shutter speed controls the ambient light when using the flash. The Canon 7D has a sync speed of up to 1/250th of a second with the flash. At short range, the flash is the main source of light. The flash, at full power, has a speed of 1/1000 for the 580ExII and 1/500 for the 430ExII. The light from the flash will not be affected (almost) by a camera Tv change of 1/250 to a 1/60 of a second. But the ambient light will be significantly affected.

Secret #2 of when using the flash

The aperture controls the flash exposure. A f/4 will give a very different flash exposure than a f/8.

Secret #3 of when using the flash

• Indoors: I get more flash success with the center-weighted average metering.
• Outdoors: I get more flash success with the evaluative metering.