Learning how to use slow-sync flash; first vs. second curtain

[padrepaul77]

Hi all,

Just found the show and wanted to post on the forum for a bit of advice. I shoot nature, landscape and street a lot, and some sports indoors, and love night photography, but haven't done much with people. I was looking for advice on how to get solid night shots using the slow-sync flash; specifically first vs. rear curtain or dragging the shutter a bit for nice background shots. Below are a couple of shots I took where I got a little bit of blur; sometimes it's nice to show movement, but in these cases I just wanted a nice background on the image, no blur. It's first curtain, just on the "slow sync" setting (or night scene mode shot setting on the camera); but in hindisight maybe a tripod and second-curtain setting would have been the way to go.

Thanks for the suggestions. Photo one: Slow Sync, front curtain. Photo 2 of the guitarists; ISO 3200, no flash; Photo three, one from last year that is rear curtain I believe, with a tripod. Third photo could have been better with the performer off-center and me getting lower, but I think from a crispness standpoint its a little better.

[Iguanasan]

Welcome to the forum. I'll have to let someone with more knowledge in this area answer your question but I wanted welcome you anyway.

[Marko]

Welcome PP77,
The best way to learn is to compare apples with apples. Take the SAME subject with Front curtain sync then rear curtain sync. Choosing 3 different settings is simply confusing and hampers learning.

Just so we are on the same page: AKAIK,

- Front curtain sync occurs when the flash fires at the beginning of the exposure, it's the default setting. It works great except if the subject is moving (most notably in a linear fashion). If the subject is moving, because the flash fires at the beginning of the exposure, the 'movement trail' occurs IN FRONT of the subject and this looks un-natural. We like to see movement trails behind the subject. In these cases, use rear curtain sync.
- Rear curtain Sync occurs when the flash fires at the end of the exposure.
- Slow sync flash simply means that you use a longer exposure (ie 1/15 sec or longer) so that the flash fires (and lights the foreground subject) and after it has finished firing, the shutter is still open to capture the ambient light.

I would HIGHLY recommend redoing this exercise and experimenting with only one scene at a time, but fiddling with the settings mentioned above. In particular, if you shoot a scene with headlights, or motion trails you'll see and learn the difference between front and rear sync.

Hope that helps - Marko

[padrepaul77]

Thanks for the suggestions. My camera has various settings, one that is "slow" and another for "second curtain" slow. The latter I've used to get taillights on cars in the background, as with the guitar player on the street. Basically I was just trying to figure out which one was best for night shots involving a person. I'll experiment a bit with various settings and see what turns out best.

Great show and glad I found it - looks like a great forum too!

[jlabel]

Hi Paul, the slow shutter option will make the shutter to be open longer than usual, for long exposures. It does not usually work well without a tripod because you will get blurred subjects. The second curtain will add a flash pop into the picture, however the flash will pop after the long exposure, it is good for two things: moving subjects and people. Since it will pop just before closing the shutter youll record the ambient light and then fill flash, if you pop the flash before the slow shutter finish recording the scene, probably your subject will think the picture is done and start moving around before the shutter closes, and it will result in ghosting and blurring.
However everytime youll try to record ambient light in a dark place youll require tripod for sharpness, if youre using fast shutter speed and flash then its not a problem because the flash will freeze the subject and the fast shutter will avoid the background to appear.

Probably the best result handheld will be setting the ambient light exposure to be -1 or -2 exposure point and compensating the subject lighting with a kiss of flash, ust a small pop to light your closest subject. So the background may be a little blurred and the subject will be flash frozen, making the image pop