I need to shoot something...

It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to use my camera for anything more than my home projects, or documenting small travels here and there.  With the small camera bag that I have it's sometimes difficult to carry my camera in a discrete way that doesn't say "Hey I'm THAT girl who's going to whip out my mumbo-jumbo camera and take pictures of everything in the room!" So for the past few months I've just been taking pictures of only the "really-good-stuff" that needs to be documented....ya know like hallway makeovers, and furniture projects. I can feel the REAL photographers out there judging me... you can stop reading and move on now :)

Recently I was asked by my company to be the photographer for some upcoming large scale events.  Seeing as what a great opportunity it would be to advance my photography skills I was eager to jump at the challenge. Our COO, who is a phenomenal photographer, had an impromptu meeting with me to talk about the events, and my "skillz."  Realizing minutes into our conversation that I'm not going to be using my own camera equipment (Nikon D90), but the company's (Canon 5D Mark II) my stomach began to sink.  I'm realizing:

1. I dont think I've ever officially spent any real time with a Canon camera.  I've had a few experiences for minutes at a time, but never spent more than an hour with a Canon. 
2. I've never even shot with a flash!! Like a REAL speedlite that you have to actually work to use!
3. I'm not a real photographer. I'm a big fat "natural light" phony photographer.  Shoot me!

After a fabulous reality check, and confidence boost from the executive, he sent me home to "practice" with the Canon, and that other scary piece of equipment...the speedlite.  One thing I know about myself is that I learn fast when I teach myself, and I learn best with experimentation. I came home knowing that I would be YouTube-ing instructional videos, and throwing that flash off of every surface to try and figure out how everything works.

I first spent some time out in my backyard around sundown shooting in program mode, with the flash set on ETTL. This is pretty standard when shooting, for beginners at least. Immediately I could tell a huge difference in my photos.  It was like there was more dimension, more clarity to what I was shooting.  I realized pretty quickly that having a flash makes your lens not have to work as hard to do its job.  Here are a few shots of experimenting with bouncing the flash. Pay attention to where the shadows fall. 

            Flash pointing upwards                               Flash aimed directly at chimes

You can see from both of these photos with the flash pointed upward and directly at the chimes, there is a shadow that is being cast in the background. I needing to figure out a way to fill the space with more light, to expand the light so that my shadows aren't appearing in the background and so that my wind-chimes (Garden Ridge) can be properly illuminated. I tried turning the flash off, and then pointed it at the ground.

                                             Flash off                                                         Turned down to the ground

When the flash is off the ambient light (background) is not well lit.  However with the flash turned down to the ground I can bounce the flash down and then back up underneath the awning to fully illuminate the ambient lighting.  I was shocked! It worked! It was a completely different picture than I had imagined.  I wasn't a failure!

I found a WONDERFUL video from Adorama TV that has a great lesson in explaining the basics of speedlite.  This is what I used to teach myself regarding adjusting your aperture and shutter speed to balance out the ambient and direct lighting.

There was a light that came on for me that day...no pun intended.  Soon after the sun set and I went inside to review my pictures I sent over this text to our executive. 

Scared is exactly what I was. Doesn't that sound weird? There is obviously more for me to learn with experimenting with flash and I am now happy to do so, but the moral of the story is: Don't be scared to try something new!