I will Conquer Part 32424242 - New Flash

David's band Borstal Holiday and our friend Kristy's band, Deeper, played a show last night at the Retox in San Francisco. It was my first time using the pro flash to photograph live music - and I was really, REALLY happy with how much easier it was - and how fantastic the photos came out.

I like using natural light whenever possible - until two weeks ago when I purchased my new flash, I never used the flash on my camera. It's horrible. All point and shoot flashes are horrible. So I have labored over aperture setting and ISO to get non-blurry, low light live music photos. My new f2.8 lens was a big help, but after using the new flash last night, I am a transformed woman.

The major difference between a point and shoot (or pop-up flash on an SLR like mine) is both the type of light and light metering as well as the angle and size of the flash. The 430ex is poseable in different angles, allowing for light to be bounced off the ceiling or other fixture rather than pointed directly at the subject. The photos you'll see below were done with the flash bounced off the ceiling. It creates a great, diffused light that simply awakens the colors and shoos the shadows on the subject - leaving the rest of the stage naturally lit.