Flashgun Tips & Tricks?

Congrats!

Having owned both the 50 f/1.8 and the 11-16 at the same time, the Tokina rarely came off my 50D. It's as solid an ef-s UWA as you can find.

Beware of falling into the "All UWA, All the time" trap though

Some fun things to do with the Tokina-

-Get LOW. On the ground low.
-Get CLOSE. It has a great MFD for an UWA
-Dont be afraid to open it up when you are close, it can handle it and performs great wide open

Tips for the 430II:
-I wouldnt bother with the diffuser too much. Bought one years ago, have not used it in as many.

-Learn to bounce. I still am not as capable as I would like to be in bouncing. Soo many factors; diffusing surface distance, ange, color, texture, etc. Its great fun though

-I am not sure what still sort of still photography you like shooting, but if you do any sort of music or event shooting, don't be scared to try some shutter drag stuff.

-As soon as funds/time allow, get a set of ebay triggers and a vivitar 285HV. OCF is like a gateway drug of photography. Not only did it open up new ways to shoot, but the things I have learned from strobing directly help my non-flash work as well. Learning about light behavior in general.

Pic: Took this with bounced 580EX off ceiling on camera, 2 speedlights cross lighting off camera, Tokina 16-28 (Your tokina's FF older brother) pretty much on the ground pointing up to capture the limbo.


In summary- My biggest advice is to get crazy with the UWA. 50mm is pretty standard and safe, but the 11-16 will let you create some very unique images. Put your camera in places you normally wouldn't, angle it in ways that you think might not work. You will be surprised!

 

This is a little off topic maybe, but definitely something you'll want to give a go eventually!!!

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

 

Glad to help.

IIRC, this was actually taken with a 50D, Tokina 11-16, and 430EXII on camera. Close, low, shutter drag, probably wide open!


A few more quick / dirty tips:

- Index card + rubber bands = bounce card.

- At my local non-big-box camera shop I bought a "sample pack" of "sample size" gels. It was about $10 and had a inch high stack of different color temp 1" x 2.5" gel strips, the perfect size to fit under the flip down wide diffuser on most modern flashes. Bang for the buck is enormous.

 

What about creating natural vignetting, can look kinda cool if you get it right, kinda like a spot like on the subject...

anyway zoom the flash all the way in i think the 430 goes to 105 (you will have to do this manually).

Then go wideangle get close and take a pic, you should get a a nice spot of white light on the subject and a vignette around with available light.

once you learned whcih button to press to manually zoom your flash, this is a cinch!!