Flash and Indoors Location Portraits

[arigram]

I hope the title is descriptive enough.
I started doing a series with indoors location portraits, specifically of shops and their owners. The shops are small and crowded with things, most often only lighted by what comes in through the door and one or two modest lightbulbs.
I am using a Hasselblad 503CW and a Metz 45 CL-4 connect via SCA for TTL metering and bounced on the ceiling with the LumiQuest 80-20. I also can carry a Sekonic L-558 flash and spot meter or an ambient meter for the present light. I will throw the 40, the 80 and the 180 to the fray. I will be using BW film, FP4+ or HP5+ and color Fuji Reala 100. The tripod will be a Manfrotto carbon.

There are three aproaches I am working on:

- Camera and flashgun handheld.
- Camera and flashgun on tripod.
- Camera handheld, flashgun on tripod further away.

Questions I've come up with:
- Is the first approach, all handheld just fine? Is the tripod necessary? I want to inconvenience these people as less as I can and be able to set up in very tight quarters.
- Will I need HP5+ or FP4+ would be fine at 100 (stuck with Reala 100 though)? The less grain and more detail the better!
- Will the person in the portrait, probably either sitting on leaning on the wall, come out blurry if I drop the shutter speed to let's say 1/30 or 1/60 to get some good amount of ambient light as to use the flash as little as possible (for more natural lighting)?
- My metering will probably be just measuring the general ambient light from the person, adjusting to taste and serving with a dose of TTL.

Any advice and pointers, especially things I didn't think of, would be very much appreciated.

 

[Nick Zentena]

If you don't mind having the flash so close to the camera then it's fine.

How far will the flash be ? At F/8 you could manage 5 metres with 100 EI film.

If the person is close enough that they get mostly flash exposure then dragging the shutter won't matter. If they are mostly getting ambient then it's different.

 

[Resoman]

Hi, Ari -

I'm very interested in your post, since I have the same camera and have recently replaced the battery in my Quantum Turbo battery so I can use my Quantum T2 flash in the TTL mode, much as you plan to do with your Metz unit. The tests I've shot around the house look good (the TTL system actually works!); all I need is a subject, I guess!

I really think all three of your proposed lighting schemes are capable of excellent results. Personally, the method that most appeals to me is to have the flash unit mounted on a stand, bounced off the ceiling or wall. Whether or not to use a camera tripod is an interesting issue, for sure, and I think it has a lot to do with one's personal work-style, though a slow shutter speed will pretty much dictate a tripod, unless a bit of blur is acceptable.

As for me, when I'm working with a tripod mounted Hasselblad, I focus with the focus ring (obviously). When I hand-hold the camera, I prefer to pre-focus and move in and out to achieve sharp focus, if that makes sense. I like working both ways, and would likely bring a tripod and make a decision at the time of the shooting.

In the past, I've done this kind of photography a lot with AC powered studio flash units metered with a hand held flash meter and all, but the idea of setting up quickly, shooting with a battery powered TTL flash unit and still getting the image quality of the Hasselblad is very appealing to me.

Anyway, I hope your shooting goes well and that you'll share your results here!

Regards,

Gary,

East Snook, TX

 

[eddym]

I hope the title is descriptive enough.
I started doing a series with indoors location portraits, specifically of shops and their owners. The shops are small and crowded with things, most often only lighted by what comes in through the door and one or two modest lightbulbs.
I am using a Hasselblad 503CW and a Metz 45 CL-4 connect via SCA for TTL metering and bounced on the ceiling with the LumiQuest 80-20. I also can carry a Sekonic L-558 flash and spot meter or an ambient meter for the present light. I will throw the 40, the 80 and the 180 to the fray. I will be using BW film, FP4+ or HP5+ and color Fuji Reala 100. The tripod will be a Manfrotto carbon.

There are three aproaches I am working on:

- Camera and flashgun handheld.
- Camera and flashgun on tripod.
- Camera handheld, flashgun on tripod further away.

Questions I've come up with:
- Is the first approach, all handheld just fine? Is the tripod necessary? I want to inconvenience these people as less as I can and be able to set up in very tight quarters.
- Will I need HP5+ or FP4+ would be fine at 100 (stuck with Reala 100 though)? The less grain and more detail the better!
- Will the person in the portrait, probably either sitting on leaning on the wall, come out blurry if I drop the shutter speed to let's say 1/30 or 1/60 to get some good amount of ambient light as to use the flash as little as possible (for more natural lighting)?
- My metering will probably be just measuring the general ambient light from the person, adjusting to taste and serving with a dose of TTL.

Any advice and pointers, especially things I didn't think of, would be very much appreciated.

Ari, what color is the ceiling? I've found that the Lumi 8020 reflector works quite well, balancing direct flash and bounce for fill (I use it with a Sunpak 622, which is similar in power to your Metz). But if the ceiling is very high or dark, you won't get much bounce, so the "on-camera flash" effect will be stronger. If that is the case, then separating the flash from the camera and using some other kind of diffusion might be a better idea. If you use the camera on a tripod, then you could even just hold it above the camera and a little to one side with your hand. If you want more separation (and setup hassle) you can put it on a separate stand. You could even consider putting the light on a stand and handholding the camera.

If the ceiling is low and light-colored, then the all-handheld approach would probably be fine. But you will lose the ambient lighting effect.

With the color film, remember that if the ceiling is some weird color, that is the color that your fill will be.

If you are going to be shooting both color & B&W, and one is going to be EI 100, then I would make the other film the same speed. Otherwise, you are asking for a screwup.

You can use the slow shutter speeds if you are on the tripod, but I'd try to shoot a little faster if handheld. Of course, watch for blinks and jerks as the shutter fires. With an SLR, this is another reason to use a tripod; focus, then look up at the subject as you fire the shutter. A TLR allows you to see the instant of exposure, which is a great advantage.

Your metering technique sounds fine, as long as the ambient is sufficient for your shooting technique. But if you're shooting at EI 100, go with the tripod.

And last... I'd be wary of the SCA automation in a situation like this. If you have a good flash meter, then I would meter the ambient, then set the flash on manual and use the power control and the flash meter to arrive a a good balance effect with the ambient light. Or if you want just the flash effect, then meter the flash to be sure of what you will get, and not have to worry about the SCA meter trying to over expose a dark background. An incident meter is your best friend when shooting flash.
And watch your recycle times to be sure you are not shooting again before the flash is fully charged!

 

[arigram]

Thank you Gary, Eddy and Nick.
You gave me things to think about.

In the two photographs here, I've used a handheld 501CM, the 2.8/Planar, with no flash, aperture from 2.8 to 4 and speed down to 1/60 with Ilford HP5+ rated at 400. They are both in a covered market, lit by the afternoon sun and ceiling lights.

The shops range from tiny to small with low to very low ceilings of white and gray color. Most are so small that the sun entering the glass front is enough to light them, so in most cases, the camera will be with its back or side to the light source. Thus a flash mounted on the camera, reflected off the low ceiling or slightly direct won't be too unnatural, taking in account the contrasty greek sun. If the color film picks up a cast, that won't be necessarily bad, giving more of the color of the shop to the photo.

I still can't decide between the three approaches.
It would be swell to work without a tripod with a 100 iso film and still get no too strong of a flash light and if I go to 400, I am not sure if I can find any color film at that speed. Plus I have plenty of expired Reala I am happy to burn. The tripod could work fine though as it will just require a bit more diplomacy as it will block the store and intimidate any customers.

There is one shop I want to start with, just under my house and I've known the owner since I was a kid, so maybe I will do a couple experiments with her.
My first I am thinking is just pass by with the L-558 and the Metz 45 and meter the ambient and flash light at 100 and 400 iso.

 

[juanito]

Hi,
If I were you I will do:
Camera handheld, flashgun on tripod further away with some kind of diffusion
for the flash.
I will put the people 1/2 stop higher than the ambient light.

 

[eddym]

I'm with Juanito. Looking at your sample shots, I'd say they do need some fill light. The light-on-stand-handheld-camera technique will give you more freedom of movement to find the best composition. My only reservation would be that with 100 film in a dark interior, you may need such a slow shutter speed to balance the ambient light that you won't be able to hand-hold without inducing some camera movement. Maybe a monopod?

 

[waynecrider]

In your examples above I would probably just add fill flash as eddym advised. Shoot with a higher flash bracket mount like a Stroboframe RB66b. A cheap little velcro mounted slaved fill flash down low would get under the chins. Meter your light and set for that. Backgrounds in quicker shooting situations are best handled with dragging the shutter. I also think you'd be much better off with 400NC then Reala if you could get it.

 

[arigram]

Backgrounds in quicker shooting situations are best handled with dragging the shutter.

Can you elaborate on that please?

Unfortunately I'm stuck with Reala.

 

[waynecrider]

From what I saw in the pictures provided, the back wasn't too bad really considering it was setting the scene, all you needed was fill flash for the people. Using a slower shutter speed tho when using flash for someone changes the background exposure not the flash exposure. As an example, I used a blue cloth background and would simply pulled my subject forward and shot as high a speed as I could to get a black background. A gray background cloth can be made to look black in this way. In reverse you can lighten the background with a slower shutter speed which is called dragging the shutter beyond what is needed for the foreground exposure on the person. If your flash exposure for the shop owner is 1/60 @ F5.6, drag the shutter down to 1/30th or 1/15th to lighten the background it it's too dark. The opposite is exposing for the background and fill flashing the main subject. You'll have to practice this a little to see the effects.

 

[removed account4]

ari

i take photos like this from time to time, and i used to have to
be in the same situations when i shot for a newspaper ...

if you can practice in that situation that would be KEY.
i used to like taking the flash off my camera ( i used a lumedyne or a sunpak )
and hold it to the side and up / down. sometimes i used a diffuser on the flash head,
or i used a white card behind the flash with it pointed UP so it was a nice fill
and it doesn't look like a flash on a camera bursting in their face.
i don't know your flash unit, but can you crank up / down the amount of light
your flash gives off ? you don't need much extra light "just enough"
another thing to think about is maybe set the camera up on a tripod and hold
the flash far away from the camera ( you might need a long arm, or a willing
assistant, or a monopod for the FLASH for that one ).
both the images you posted are nice, the top one only needs a small burst
and the second one needs almost no fill at all. ( i LOVE the second one!)

this sounds like a great project!
i can't wait to see it in full-tilt

john

 

[Lee L]

One thing to watch for if you're bouncing your main light off the ceiling from close to the subject and not supplying some sort of fill; you might get shadows that are deeper than you want in the eyes below the brow. This happens when the brightest patch of bounced light is more directly over the head of the subject. A small card reflecting some of the light from your flash straight at the subject helps with this. Adjusting the flash to hit the ceiling closer to the camera also helps.

Lee

 

[benjiboy]

If you're shooting colour film, and bouncing your flash off a ceiling be careful what colour the ceiling is, because coloured ones produce parasitic reflections (Green ceilings make green faces ) I speak from bitter experience.
Metz make metal frame that fits the head of the 45CL4 that comes with a plastic 10"x8" bounce card and holds it at 45 degrees above the flash head when it is pointed vertically , and you loose a lot less light than bouncing off the ceiling, I can't remember the number of the item but I have used one on my 45CL4 for a few years and I can recommend it.