Canon speedlite 430exII help required

[Kyle72]

Hi all

Can someone help me shed some light on the above mentioned flash, what each of the buttons are for and what type of settings do you use for a particualr photo,

Everytime i try to use mine it seems the flash is that bright it washes alot of things out. I just want to get a better understanding on using the flash

Thanks
Kyle

[fess67]

I think you are going to have to give us a bit more information to work with here Kyle.

What exactly are you trying to achieve? What is the subject? How far away? which lens? f/stop etc etc. in ETTL mode or manual.....

Maybe post an example up.

Do you have the manual? That will help you with the buttons.

[mikec]

Yep without more info we can't really help. I assume you've bought it second hand and don't have a manual?

Here is a link to one.

Cheers!

[Kyle72]

Thanks guys and totally understand, Im trying to find the photo i was trying to create, i want for an example someone in a dark room or with little light, so i can just capture there face and part body leaving everything else black background or very dark. Yes i did buy this lens brand new and like most males i throw away all instructions and try to work things out for myself. In other words i have them around somewhere but wouldnt have a clue where they are.

I done a search on you tube and found a nice explanation what everything does so from here i should be able to create that dark background shot by reducing the amount of light that comes out

here is that link if anyone else is interested in learning more about the 430 ex II flash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvwFSxUMOz8

Cheers

[norwest]

Kyle, there's so many variables that it's extremely difficult to advise. Your best bet might be read your manual as best you can, look up some strobist websites like Lighting 101 where you can learn and shoot with the flash as much as you can to learn what it does under different circumstances and settings, both in camera and flash.

[ricktas]

Most of these dark background, body outline photos are done using several lights, at low power output. You will need more than one speedlight, and most of them are taken with studio lights. But doing it with speedlights is possible, you will need to be able to use them off-camera. So with the 50D, that means purchasing some wireless triggers as well.

Some of the AP advertisers sell wireless triggers:

http://www.fotogenic.com.au/index.php?route=common/home

http://www.hypop.com.au/

http://www.phottixstore.com/index.php

[Kyle72]

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated and i will give that look norwest. Ricktas, i purchased a few triggers awhile ago, but they also were used as a remote so i can take photos without touching the camera like a wireless cable release.

I suppose its just all a learning curve

Cheers

[Kerry]

I'm also new to flash photography and thinking of getting this flash..thanks for the info and the links!

[Ezookiel]

I've been playing with the exact same idea you're trying to achieve. I'm also using a 430ExII and I am controlling the power of the flash - even though it's mounted off camera - via the menu on the 60D. I'm down to 1/250sec (fastest the flash can sync to without me buying more gear) at f/20, and down to between 1/32th and 1/64th power on the flash. You hold down the zoom button on the flash to set it to slave mode for remote operation, though my guess from what Rick has said, is that the 50D won't remotely fire the flash for you, whereas the 60D I'm using does so via the popup flash.
For this technique, I believe you will need to get the flash off the camera, but that's just from my very limited knowledge of this type of photography, and very limited it is. I have only once > results here < been able to actually sit down and try it, and then I went no further since finding that I'm likely to need more than one flash, which I simply cannot justify at the moment.

One mistake I made while doing it, was if I put the flash in certain places, I couldn't get the camera to fire the flash, as the infra-red sensor on the flash was facing the wrong way. It was one of those D'Oh moments when I realised - only as I was packing up the gear - that I could have rotated the body of the flash to face the camera and still had the flash itself firing in the right direction by rotating the top and bottom so they each faced the way they needed. Funny thing is, I notice just now, that THAT is explained in the instructions, which I actually did read at the time I bought it, but I read it at the same time as the manual for my whole camera, and it was all just too much information too quickly I guess.

Good luck with it. It positively scares me to think how far I have still to go if I'm going to try and get good at this type of photography.

[patrickv]

Just dial down flash exposure compensation, it will lower the power of your flash. You may also want to direct it towards the walls, it makes a nicer light and diffuses it ( = less power). I don't know off the top of my head how to set flash exposure compensation on a 50D, but my guess is go to menu, flash, and you'll have it in there.

On my 7D I can set it by pressing on the ISO button up the top: one of the dials will control ISO, the second one will control flash exposure compensation. It's probably similar too.

I use remote flash with triggers and manual operation, that's something else again...

[Bennymiata]

If you use the flash on the camera, the easiest way to dial down the flash output is to press the button in the middle of the big round knurled wheel in the centre.
Then as you turn it anti-clockwise, each click will bring down the power of the flash by 1/3rd of a stop.

Just experiment with it. It should go down to around -3 stops at its furthest rotation, and can also be increased by turning it clockwise.
Each time you do an adjustment, hit the centre button to lock it in.

To get a dark wall behind a well-lit subject, you will need some distance betwen the subject and the wall because if the subject is close to the wall, then the flash will also light up the wall.
The further the 2 are away from each other, the darker the background will be.

I hope this helps you out a little.