Wild Iris HDR

[raynerj1]

Hi Rich,

The key is to make the background either 5 stops darker (if you want black) or the same intensity if you want a pure white background. The further back from the subject, the less light the background gets, thus darker.

If you are trying to do greenscreen/blue screen make sure the subject doesn't have any of that color in it and light it evenly. Different shades will cause you to open up the selection colors. Have to use 8/16 shades instead of 1.

Again if you want to create a separation, then have the background as far from the subject as possible, so as little of the light from the background spills onto the subject.

[molucca]

John,

The shed was a bird house at one time. Not the largest exnclosure. I can never get too far from anything. I only get light from one window, and it doesn't get illuminated all day. Shooting HDR has a large effect on the areas around the image. More of a glow from the foreground. The SM separations work much better and easier than I had thought. I'll practice a little more, and maybe read the tutorial. I was surprised how little effort was needed on my part.

I set the background as far back as possible, and tried to keep any light off of it.

Rich

[raynerj1]

Hi Rich,

Can you trigger your flash off camera? If so move it to the side so it doesn't shine on the background. Set up a piece of cardboard between the flash and the background to block any spillage if you need to. Using the flash and set to a level 7 (I think 5 is enough but 7 for sure) stops above what is reflecting off the background will be enough to turn a white background black. The trick to using flash is to get it off the camera, and pointed at the subject, but not the background.

When you work with flash, it is not the ambient light level but the instantaneous level when the flash fires. I have done stop motion shots in bulb mode. The young lady dropped the spray bottle right before I triggered the flash manually. The camera was set on bulb exposure. The total exposure time was 1.8 seconds. The second shot is a closeup with the brightness increased so one can see the shadow of her arm and the spray bottle against the background. See the attached shots:

[molucca]

John,

I have a flash unit cable for the 580EX, and can set about two feet maybe. It would act as a rempte unit with another flash. I have a 300EZ. I am not sure about using it on the 20D.

Rich

[raynerj1]

Hi Rich,

Nice shot!

Can you check the synch voltage on the connector pins. Some of the older flashes that where designed for the old film camera can pop a DSLR. I forget which models had synch voltages in the 150-300V range.

if that is the vivitar 580, then you can grab an extention cord for that synch cable. I broke down and bought a wireless trigger/receiver setup for my lights. Now I don't have to worry about tripping over cords when I am shooting.

I can wirelesssly synch my Pentax AF360FGZ. I am saving my pennies for another one, or maybe the next model up.

(That ole Rule two for women, really cuts into a guys play money).