Boat-Balancing light and flash

[MiriamJ]

I've been spending time at the Strobist and learning about balancing off-camera flash and ambiant light.

This was taken yesterday morning at the Mojave River. (River in name only. It's usually dry, or at best has only a little water, like the ankle-deep water pictured here. Flash-flooding, which is not unusual here does fill it up, but a person would have to have a death wish to want to boat in those turbulent waters. No idea what this boat was doing there. It had a huge hole in the other side).

Also playing around with my recent wide angle aquisition, the 20mm f3.5 AIS. Flash unit was the Vivitar 285HV. Triggered by the Cactus v2.

http://www.pbase.com/miriamj/image/86574857/original.jpg

Just experimenting, so any thoughts or suggestions on anything, but especially on the use of the flash and the wide angle lens alway appreciated. Thanks!

[MGlennn]

I'd say you were picking up on the techniques pretty well....nice work :cheer:

Did you try any "takes" with less flash and wider aperture or longer exposure to bring up the background more..???

[MiriamJ]

Thanks, Mike!

Yes, I did, here's one that was far less extreme. http://www.pbase.com/miriamj/image/86580040/original.jpg

[TheDuck]

Yes, I'd say you had it right in #1. Technically I can't pick on anything and I think the result is great. Since you ask for anything on wide angle or flash, I can only say I'd like to see even MORE extreme. For example, I notice that the gorgeous detail of the boat was at the cost of the sand. The second picture has a rich colour to the sand that is washed a bit (washed - ha ha) in the first pic. Since you're going for the challenge of it you probably don't want to selective edit in photoshop. Therefore, you might shoot upside down or try some angle on that flash, slightly longer exposure and see if the warmth of that sand can come up a bit for even more contrast on that stark, cool blue of the boat.

[MiriamJ]

Doug,

That's great advice. Maybe a snoot on the flash unit? Can't get back to reshoot, but I will keep the foreground in mind for the next off-camera lighting attempt. Thanks very much.

Miriam