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DPChallenge Forums >> General Discussion >> I'm Baaaaaaack!
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 07/20/2006 12:02:27 AM · #1
After an extended hiatus, I'm back in the DPC folds (and with new camera goodies)!! I've been busy -- real busy, but I really miss this place. Last week I did a 44-page book for a client, who paid me in camera goods, so I'm gonna be asking some of you how the heck to use some of it. What did I get? Well, here's the list:

- Canon 30D
- BG-E2 Battery Grip
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
- Canon Speedlite 580EX
- Gary Fong Lightsphere Cloud C4 (FRS)

It's a great setup, but I have to admit, the Speedlite 580EX is a little more advanced than I am. I'm still trying to figure out how to use it well. I seem to be getting a lot of photos with a heavy red overtone when using it (especially when the flash is pointed straight up). IF ANYONE HAS ADVICE ON THE 580, I'D APPRECIATE IT!!
 07/20/2006 12:05:28 AM · #2
Welcome back Dave ;)
 07/20/2006 12:05:50 AM · #3
Originally posted by aboutimage:
I seem to be getting a lot of photos with a heavy red overtone when using it (especially when the flash is pointed straight up). IF ANYONE HAS ADVICE ON THE 580, I'D APPRECIATE IT!!


What is it bouncing off of? That could change the WB. Also, you may not be providing enough flash to over-power the ambient lighting enough, especially if the lighting is tungsten.
 07/20/2006 12:06:34 AM · #4
Welcome Back, David!

RE: the 30D
Get rid of it. it's no good. I can take it off your hands just as a favor - no need to pay me or anything.

Since you're getting rid of that, the lenses won't do you much good either so...

:)

Congrats! I have a 580EX but haven't read the manual either. I have no idea what to do with it except I have figured out how to turn down the power.
 07/20/2006 12:08:06 AM · #5
Originally posted by aboutimage:
After an extended hiatus, I'm back in the DPC folds (and with new camera goodies)!! I've been busy -- real busy, but I really miss this place. Last week I did a 44-page book for a client, who paid me in camera goods, so I'm gonna be asking some of you how the heck to use some of it. What did I get? Well, here's the list:

- Canon 30D
- BG-E2 Battery Grip
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
- Canon Speedlite 580EX
- Gary Fong Lightsphere Cloud C4 (FRS)

It's a great setup, but I have to admit, the Speedlite 580EX is a little more advanced than I am. I'm still trying to figure out how to use it well. I seem to be getting a lot of photos with a heavy red overtone when using it (especially when the flash is pointed straight up). IF ANYONE HAS ADVICE ON THE 580, I'D APPRECIATE IT!!


A 44-page book of what?!?! Did you have to rob a bank to get the "pages"???
 07/20/2006 12:10:21 AM · #6
Originally posted by Vapor63:
A 44-page book of what?!?! Did you have to rob a bank to get the "pages"???

I'm thinking it was a nude study of Cheeseman. Hence the high price to endure the post-traumatic stress.
 07/20/2006 12:37:49 AM · #7
Hee hee... I'm liking the "nude" concept, but I dunno anything about cheesemen!! The 44-page book was essentially a yearbook that I custom-designed for a large corporation.

Here is an example of one of the shots I took using the 580EX that has tremendous red overtones. Not all are this pronounced, of course, but you get the idea:



Actually, it doesn't look as pronounced as it does when I read it in Aperture. I think the "Save for Web" changed the coloration a bit.

Message edited by author 2006-07-20 00:38:51.
 07/20/2006 12:41:51 AM · #8
Maybe a white balance issue? Shooting RAW? Adjust temperature? I've had issues with mixed lighting conditions and the 580.

oooh, I sound like I really know what I'm talking about, huh? :) Might be helpful though.
 07/20/2006 12:43:54 AM · #9
Not in RAW. Almost absolutely a WB issue, though. I'm guessing the days of AWB are over -- I'm gonna have to learn which WB settings to use when I flip the flash upwards.
 07/20/2006 12:45:46 AM · #10
Why not RAW? Just curious. RAW has saved me from not knowing what I am doing.
 07/20/2006 12:47:02 AM · #11
I'm wondering if you set the WB off of auto and manually to flash mode, then that might take car of it.

Or they have red shag carpet on the cieling, I vote for red shag. Tre shic
07/20/2006 12:47:47 AM · #12
Spooky...I was looking at your profile page only yesterday wondering where you had got to. Welcome back;)
 07/20/2006 12:49:19 AM · #13
Originally posted by wavelength:
Or they have red shag carpet on the cieling, I vote for red shag. Tre shic

Reminds me of an office building we moved into when I worked for a startup software company. Brown shag carpet in the ceiling between all the beams. Yeah baby!
 07/20/2006 12:50:19 AM · #14
Originally posted by amber:
Spooky...I was looking at your profile page only yesterday wondering where you had got to. Welcome back;)

Our resident clairvoyant. :)
 07/20/2006 12:52:45 AM · #15
Welcome back, David! I've been wondering where you were! That's a heck of a stash you got laid on you...

R.
 07/20/2006 12:53:52 AM · #16
Hey David - did you do this as a side gig or is this a service you make a living at? Just curious as it seems there would be a good market for corporate photography / chronicling corporate events. My brother is a wedding videographer and he does corporate videos like that also.

I was the resident company photog and historian at that startup. My editing skills weren't wuite as good then, but good enough to put together some nice blackmail photos since nobody ever remembered what happened at the parties anyway. :)
 07/20/2006 12:54:08 AM · #17
Wow! Great new kit! Welcome back to the funny farm! :)
 07/20/2006 12:54:15 AM · #18
Originally posted by Art Roflmao:
Originally posted by amber:
Spooky...I was looking at your profile page only yesterday wondering where you had got to. Welcome back;)

Our resident clairvoyant. :)


Funny you should say that - I have just updated my profile page if you'd care to take a look;)
 07/20/2006 12:59:20 AM · #19
Originally posted by amber:
Originally posted by Art Roflmao:
Our resident clairvoyant. :)


Funny you should say that - I have just updated my profile page if you'd care to take a look;)

The all seeing eyes are upon us.


"Criminology and studied Parapsychology " - very interesting stuff, Kate.
 07/20/2006 01:02:04 AM · #20
I was just reading your profile. Very funny stuff in your writeup (and true). Your website is quite interesting. I too have been to many of those same places as I traveled from post to post. However, my "postings" are nearly finished - I finish my grand 20-year tour in sunny San Diego.
 07/20/2006 01:07:05 AM · #21
LOL: Perhaps I should change my username to Claire Voyant?

Thanks Dave. I set that up when I first started photography - haven't updated it or even looked at it in a while.

11/15/2006 02:45:51 PM · #22
WHITE BALANCE!
You are adding light at different color temperatures. I won't bore you with the specifics, but here's the deal: Tungsten (most indoor lighting) has an amber-to-red cast to it, especially when it is set to low power with the use of a rheostat - which is what I suspect was happening in this picture. Then you add the flash - closer to sunlight, a "whiter" light if you will. Your camera's meter tries to set both the light and the color balance for your camera. So, when your camera meters this situation, it corrects to what it sees as the prominent lighting (what is large and in the foreground) (which it appears to have done reasonably well) and says to Heck with the background. It can't meter for the difference in the two types of light.

So what can you do?

One thing would be to learn -

Order Blue Crane Digital's Canon Speedlight 580EX Tutorial on DVD. While some of Blue Crane's stuff is just crap, when I bought my first 580EX, I bought this. It is an hour long and I still go back to it - it is that good.

Second - learn to manage color balance. you can do this by googling "White Balance Tutorial." There are a lot of them. Once you get it, there is a tool that handles white balance -especially mixed lighting like this extremely well. It is the ExpoDisc (link). Check it out. If you get serious, it will be the best money you spend - especially when you consider the hours of Photoshop Color Correction you won't have to do.

I hope this helps.
 11/15/2006 03:06:50 PM · #23
Why do people pull up 4 month old threads? Why?
 11/15/2006 03:42:43 PM · #24
Originally posted by wavelength:
Why do people pull up 4 month old threads? Why?

and this seems to be thier first post.
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