Fish Faces

[Will Milne 0]

Graham- you mentioned reflectors.

 

A setup I have used with my Sony R1 and now use with the D200 with a Nikon SB26 set to slave and a Lumiquest Big Bounce or Wescott Mini Apollo( the latter having slightly harder shadows)-

 

with the d200 on a tripod - set the popup flash to manual/1/128 th power/slow sync. Set the SB-26 to slave/manual and dial down the output to 1/8 th-1/6th

 

 

The d200 popup flash works to trigger the SB-26 without adding any light to the final image. The SB-26 is now cordless and can be held in the hand to add fill light where it is needed. Reflectors can be set opposite the flash direction to add off axis fill.

 

With the Nikon SB600/800 I,m guessing you could set the poup flash to" commander mode" and get the same functionality .

 

hope that makes sense

 

Will

[Graham 0]

Will, Very interesting indeed. I had not considered bouncing the flash in the field. I really like the D200 wireless flash system, sure makes flash positioning easier. I also really like using the SC-29 flash cord because it allows the flash to communicate more information in both directions with the camera, including distance. Anyway, you really got me thinking about posibilities which I had not considered before. Seems to me that bouncing flash off a reflector with off axis fill can allow for controlling light direction and could allow a polariser to take all of the glare off the fish while nicely illuminating it. Thanks, I'm really looking forward to experimenting with your technique. I'm wondeing if two Novoflex flex-arms, with mini-ball heads and ground spikes would allow me to set up my flash and reflector, then use the D200 wireless feature and allow me to hand hold and not bring a tripod on stream.

 

Graham

[Will Milne 0]

Graham- Lol- you leapt way ahead of me-I'm still playing how do I psuedo hack this with what I have / can afford:))- but yep I can see no reason ground spikes etc would,nt work with some testing/refining. I just hand hold my flash/modifier and pump a little flash added light where I think it's needed. My subject matter is most often static. I thing the big issue would be chooosing flash modifiers to dial down/control the shadow effects , especially on your main light but maybe also on on your secondary if your using a multi flash setup.Add some simple white foam core for added relected/controlled fill or black ones to subtract light and you have a field kit:))) I think IMHO getting a setup that works in slow sync mode, so you have a combo of controllable ambiant % and flash % is a good way to go. I,m not a big fan of pure flash as a light source for what we are looking at.

 

hope that makes sense

 

Will

[Vito1 0]

But when taking fish photos I prefer not to have the fly in the shot, unless it adds drama, or a story line, as opposed of the cold sting of steel distracting from a beautiful fish face.

 

I'm the same way with everything except streamers. Big, gaudy trout streamers are my favorite thing to tie and I usually leave the fly in the mouth for a closeup.

[Graham 0]

I agree Vito, Streamers sure add drama, makes the fish seem wilder, eating other fish instead of bugs...lol..

 

But I do like this old photo,

 

 

I sure hope to go to Chile again, with a nice camera.. Someday...

 

About reflectors on stream, I guess what I had been wondering about was just bringing a small round reflector, which folds up a vanishes in my vests back pocket, and either hand holding it, as well as cutting a hole in the middle, making a flap that would allow me to place my lens though the middle. I think it would kick up the light on fish-face shots without fill flash. I guess I could velcro it to my fishing cap...lol..

[Frogfish 0]

 

[Dale 0]

Here are some fish faces from this morning!

[Dale 0]

OK, a second try on the fish faces . . . . .

[Dale 0]

And the second one . . .

[Twofingerz 0]

only one fish face this past weekend. well at least the deck is in focus