So I'm still fairly new to photography. I bought my first DSLR (a Canon T3i) last year in December, and I've been having a blast learning all sorts of new things. I was so excited to jump in head first that I did a lot of reading on the exposure triangle and shooting in manual mode before I even got my first DSLR, including reading Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. Within a couple of weeks I was comfortable shooting in manual mode for most situations.
I have spent the past 6 months or so learning how to best use the equipment at my disposal, and one of the biggest hurdles I've still been encountering was how to deal with low light situations (so far I've been sticking strictly to my 50mm f/1.8 in such situations and keeping the aperture open to at least f/2.8). After feeling frustrated with the limitations of slow shutter speeds and big apertures in low light situations I decided to purchase my first speedlight.
So I bought a Yongnuo YN-565EX because it seemed to be the best flash within my budget for my needs. It came in the mail today and I'm already having fun playing with it, and testing it in ETTL mode vs no flash to see what kind of shots I can get that I couldn't get before. I also got a cheap CowboyStudio transmitter/receiver set (I wanted to go PocketWizard, but just couldn't afford it at this time). I want to become proficient at using the flash both on camera and off camera, but I feel like using it in ETTL mode takes some of the control out of my shooting in the same way that shooting on auto did without a flash. I'm aware of Strobist, and I've read through most of their "Lighting 101" series, but it still all seems so much more complicated than the basic exposure triangle without a flash.
tl;drIf I'm just starting out using an external flash and want to quickly learn how to use it manually, what resources would you suggest to get me rolling?
I have spent the past 6 months or so learning how to best use the equipment at my disposal, and one of the biggest hurdles I've still been encountering was how to deal with low light situations (so far I've been sticking strictly to my 50mm f/1.8 in such situations and keeping the aperture open to at least f/2.8). After feeling frustrated with the limitations of slow shutter speeds and big apertures in low light situations I decided to purchase my first speedlight.
So I bought a Yongnuo YN-565EX because it seemed to be the best flash within my budget for my needs. It came in the mail today and I'm already having fun playing with it, and testing it in ETTL mode vs no flash to see what kind of shots I can get that I couldn't get before. I also got a cheap CowboyStudio transmitter/receiver set (I wanted to go PocketWizard, but just couldn't afford it at this time). I want to become proficient at using the flash both on camera and off camera, but I feel like using it in ETTL mode takes some of the control out of my shooting in the same way that shooting on auto did without a flash. I'm aware of Strobist, and I've read through most of their "Lighting 101" series, but it still all seems so much more complicated than the basic exposure triangle without a flash.
tl;drIf I'm just starting out using an external flash and want to quickly learn how to use it manually, what resources would you suggest to get me rolling?