Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: Simba on June 14, 2005, 11:08:33 pm
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PScs2
Bob
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At least get a flash extension cord and hold the flash off-axis at arms length.
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The only thing the better beamer does is significantly extend flash range by focusing flash output into a narrower beam. It has no effect on redeye.
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You might consider using a flash bracket to get the flash further away from the lens axis.
Paul
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You will find a flash bracket and an off-shoe cord helpful, as some have mentioned.
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After putting it off for some time, I finally went out and got a flash for my camera. This weekend I eagerly headed out to try using it at a nearby park.
I was starting around 5:00 PM and going until 8:30 or so. Overcast most of the time.
Rabbits and deer almost always showed red eye (or bright gold eye, as the case may be) and birds frequently did so as well.
I liked what it was doing for the rest of the picture, but glowing eyes are not so great for most purposes.
Is there some magic to avoiding red-eye from a fill flash? I'm just using the flash plain - no better beamer or the like.
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Is there some magic to avoiding red-eye from a fill flash? I'm just using the flash plain - no better beamer or the like.
The most effective strategy is to get the flash away from the camera so that there isn't a direct reflective path from the flash to the eye back to the camera. The closer the flash is to the lens, the more of a problem red-eye becomes. If you can set up a stand with a remote flash located away from you and the camera, you can pretty much eliminate red-eye.
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Hmmm. None of these bode well for portability. Even the extension cord idea implies that I can't use 2 hands to hold my camera.
This all seems odd, because I see people recommending fill flash with a better beamer for wildlife photography all over the place. The better beamer doesn't look like it'd get the flash any farther from the lens, so you'd think that redeye would be about the same.
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Hmmm. None of these bode well for portability. Even the extension cord idea implies that I can't use 2 hands to hold my camera.
This all seems odd, because I see people recommending fill flash with a better beamer for wildlife photography all over the place. The better beamer doesn't look like it'd get the flash any farther from the lens, so you'd think that redeye would be about the same.
Actually, the Better Beamer will produce more red eye because at greater distances the incident angle between the lens axis and the flash head is less.
Geometry.
You can choose to question this, but I'll do my thing. I agree with Jonathan. Better Beamer devotees never talk about red eye, do they? That is because Phtoshop has a red eye solution.
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I use the better beamer with a Right Stuff flash bracket, which raises it off my 600 about 6 inches, but it doesn't do much in avoiding red-eye. Unfortunately (for taking pictures) the darker it gets, the wider the eye diaphragm of the animal, so it makes it worse as compared to daylight shots. I'll go with a slower shutter speed, higher iso, even mirror lockup, and remote cord (assuming that's possible) before I attach a flash. I took lots of shots this spring of great horned owls, and got some vivid "birds from ####" with the flash. Nocturnal animals usually have larger eyes, which exacerbates the problem.
I have resorted to using PS in making corrections, and there are various ways of doing it. Arthur Morris has a workflow guide out, I think it's $20, and it explains how he deals with the correction through PS. You might check out his site, which is www.birdsasart.com
Attach is one of my owl photos corrected through PS.
http://imagenorthwest.com/owlgh14-05.jpg (http://imagenorthwest.com/owlgh14-05.jpg)
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Wimberley, RRS, and Kirk all make extension posts for their flash brackets that raise the flash to avoid eyeshine. The RRS extender adds 8.5", Wimberley's adds 5" (you can connect 2 or more to get more height), Kirk's is adjustable from 9" - 15". They tend to cost $8 - $10 per inch.