Lighten up!

Creating light where there was none, or the art of off camera flash.

I have a couple of flashguns, a flash extender cable and some wireless triggers. All this means there is no excuse for nasty washed out camera flash pictures. I can't claim to be a true Strobist but every now and then I make a point to use the flashes to create a specific image:

Here is a particularly comely vegetable, illuminated against a black background by off camera flash. I stood it on a white card to act as a reflector for the underside. The result is rather dramatic, for a vegetable...

Here is a more complex image. I wanted to show both the rose and the moon, but the rose was barely visible in the moonlight, and a long exposure suitable for the rose would burn out the sky. So, I selected the right exposure to bring the sky and moon out then adjusted the flash power and distance to bring the rose up at the same time..