I learned a few important lessons at DragonCon. First and foremost, never let James talk you into laying down with a Jägermeister bottle if you really like your pants, but most of the lessons revolved around using my flash on my camera.  (the Jägermeister story will have to be asked of me in person if you really want to know.)
 
I had planned to take a lot of pictures at DragonCon (DC) of the various costumes and such, and I like to think I did a fair job, but there were some much more serious photographers there with much better gear.  I know I know, it’s not the gear, it’s the eye that goes with it, and there were some folks that had great gear but the shots I saw them make made me kind of weep.  But I digress, my biggest failing as far as gear went was my flash use.  

I’ll be honest, I am a little scared of my flash.  At least I used to be.  I have gotten pretty good at adjusting ISO, Aperture, and Speed, to get the right light and clarity, but when you throw a flash into the mix there is a whole new dynamic.  Nothing over 180 speed, F-stop is more for DOF than it is for light, and then there is the whole calculating how much flash for the distance to subject…..UGH!  Sometimes I felt like I was back in math class!  See, I have a SB-600 speed-light to use for Off camera shots and bounce shots, but I ate how harsh the light from it is.  Bouncing isn’t as bad, but at when the ceilings are too high and the walls are few….needless to say, I only use it for special occasions.

While at DC my biggest problem when taking shots of folks was lighting.  I was using both my 50mm and my 35mm f1.8 and they just weren’t giving me enough light without bumping to ISO 6400 (I had more grain than a 1930’s film!)  So I talked with a few of the other Photogs and got some tips on flash use.  Derek helped out a Ton with some of these tips.  The biggest one being DIFFUSE!!!!  I noticed a lot of guys using covers on their flashes, anything that would soften the harshness of the flash.  Some went all out with the Gary Fong stuff, while others just had basic caps.  There were a few that went simple with a bounce card.  Another huge tip was (and I feel kind of silly for not knowing this) Change the White balance to “Flash”.  Yeah yeah, say what you like, but when you don’t use a flash that much, this doesn’t occur to you!

No Flash = Lots of NR and Bright Background:

Camera Nikon D5100
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/1.8
Focal Length 35 mm
ISO Speed 6400
Flash No Flash
Exposure Program Manual
Subject Distance 2.51 m
Metering Mode Spot

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Bounce Card = Color, Clarity, Separation!

Camera Nikon D5100
Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture f/3.5
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Flash On, Return detected
Exposure Program Manual
Subject Distance 0.94 m
Metering Mode Spot
Light Source Flash
White Balance Manual

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My Macgyver gene kicked in and I set about rigging up a simple white bounce card out of some tape and cardboard bits we had in the room.  I dropped my ISO to 100-200, Speed to 160, flash down to -1.8, and Aperture to 1.8.  Boom! Shots were clear, not too harsh, and great color.  I was amazed.  For the rest of the night I only had to adjust the strength of the flash to compensate for the distance to subject.  I even busted out the 18-270mm to get some wider angle shots.  (Although the D5100, with the SB-600, and the 18-270mm meant Zomg Heavy!)

What I found was that I had to do less noise reduction, I got a MUCH better seperation of subject and background, and the details of the subject came out much better.  Not to mention after having a few drinks my steady hand wasn’t so steady!  That cinched it!  When I got home I started looking up some different diffusers.  A lot of the guys at the con were using the Gary Fong Lightsphere but I couldn’t really justify $60 for something that did what a 20 cent piece of cardboard did.  Instead I found the Prolight Dome.  It was exactly the same as the Gary Fong, but only $13!  Sold!

A few days later it arrived and I have to say that most of my shots now are taken using this setup.  (indoors of course).  I tried a few using off camera, and then a few portrait shots.  Thankfully my pets are always willing subjects!  (well, almost always.)  Given this new found love for the flash, I think I may look at doing a few more Portrait type projects.  

So the important take away’s here are:
Diffuse that sucka!
Check your white balance!
Adjust for distance!
Profit!

Ok maybe not profit.