Just got some new toys and my uncle was willing to be my temporary model

The shot. My jaws dropped looking at the 100% crop. (Yes, i know the pose isn't really flattering)



The crop!!! Default sharpening in LR. No adjustments


The setup! I think i need to crank up the power for the hairlight, the separation isn't enough.


And the main toy, I need to test out the beauty dish i got too.

It's not that flash = sharp, but more light = lower iso = smaller aperture = sharper images.

PS: Your uncle looks like a boss.

This post was edited by onepagememory on May 3 2011 12:05am

Makes sense lol. But yeah, he does look like a boss

also, more light (from dish) = better focus chance

its also that flash is fast light and stops pretty much anything, stopped motion = sharpness. ofc low iso and small aperture also adds to the sharpness, but you can get sharp, even wide open kit lens and high iso if you are using flash.

As far as I'm concerned, a flash unit never stopped me from moving. The only reason flash works produces sharper images relating to motion is the ability to use faster shutter speeds.

400d + 50mm 1.8 hand held straight out of camera @ 1.6sec shutter speed, f/1.8 and 1600 iso


my hand holding abilities are superb and people manage to be really still or you are wrong

This post was edited by Antichrist- on May 3 2011 11:13am

This, I'm sure, is filled with small motion blur. You cannot compare it to the sharpness in eek's photo.

This post was edited by onepagememory on May 3 2011 12:08pm

pretty much the whole picture is filled with different colored blur, except for the parts that flash hit, since flash is stronger light. but thats not the point, the point is that its sharp even wide open, max iso on crappy camera and LOOONG shutter speed hand held -> flash sharpness isnt about fast shutter speed, but about fast strong light. i can take 30 sec exposure in pitch black room with a flash and sharpness will look the same as it would be shot with 1/250th shutter speed, thats because flash is faster than 1/250th sec, if i remember correctly it was something like 1/17000th sec if you dont take preflash from ettl in account

It does not look sharp, lol. You're confusing defined texture lines (produced by increased light availability & motion, as in your photo) with sharpness. Shutter speed produced the former, while the latter is produced by a combination of shutter speed, low iso, available light, good focus, and glass/sensor ratios. The difference between a sharp photo and a photo that isn't 'sharp' as Eek is talking about include softness produced by lens, softness produced by improper focus, and motion blur.

While you can take a 30 sec exposure in a pitch black room with flash, and you can take a photo with 1/250, both shots will definitely NOT look the same in all situations. Perhaps in your room scenario, they may look similar, but put this in other scenarios and you'll see huge differences. TH exposure math doesn't add up