The Big Brother AF 540 FGZ

In the previous session we went over the Pentax AF 360 FGZ settings in detail. This session we're going to piggy back on that and discuss what the bigger brother the AF 540 FGZ brings to the table.

The Pentax AF360FGZ In Detail

I started the Pentax wireless flash sessions but I just realized I have not discussed the flash or flash controls in any detail yet like I have for the camera controls.

So here we start the discussion on the AF 360 FGZ.

Dual Strobe Lighting P-TTL

In the last article in this series we talked about using a single strobe in wireless P-TTL mode to light a portrait. Now it's time to move on to the first article in dual strobes, one to light the subject and one to light the subject.

As you can see comparing this photo to the ones in the previous article the background is fully lit and there is much better separation between the subject and the background. You'll notice some kick light on the subjects temple and hair. A kick light, or kicker, is a separate light that is used to highlight a certain spot on the subject. Similar to a hair light, a kicker is used to highlight certain parts like cheekbones, lips, jewelery etc, where a hair light will only be placed on the hair.

Umbrella Fill Patterns

Now that we've all got our light stands and umbrellas we need to find the optimum flash zoom length and umbrella/flash distance that will fill the umbrella without any spill over. Spill over is the flash light that is at such a wide angle that it extends past the edge of the umbrella. This light is wasted and can cause unwanted reflected/bounced fill in you images. So we need to completely fill the umbrella so we have the largest light source possible and yet keep the spill over at the minimum.