Lines in pic

[Mary Burgy]

THis is a new mirrorless camera.  I never have had this issue before.  I assume I had HSS on b/c I didn't see the halfway line with my pics.

Is there a limit to how high your SS can be with flash?  I was trying to block out the window light.

 

[Mary Burgy]

In photo groups I was able to determine my new camera was somehow set to electronic shutter.  I have updated it to manual.  

Any other feedback you may have to avoid something like this again or do you agree?

[Brian]

Welcome to Mirrorless Cameras and LED Lights!

As time goes on and LED becomes more common-place, you will be dealing with sort of thing. Surprise!! If you don't want to deal with this sort of thing, buy a DSLR while you still can.

The better Mirrorless Bodies usually have a feature in the menus to combat this sort of thing. Basically, it will pick the SS that matches best with the LED lights, so if you do have this feature on, expect it to be a weird number. It may not be a 1/160th for example, but the number when you view the EXIF data might be 1/172 or some other weird number. Check your manual, or even google your make / model of body and anti-flicker LED lights.

[Mary Burgy]

I don't even know if I Had the lights on in the room.  I honestly don't think I did.  If that was the case, wouldn't I see it in all the photos though?  The other photos with more ambient light did not have this issue.  With a SS that fast, wouldn't it block the ambient from them anyway?

[Brian]

In the photo above, what is the light-source? Because I think we need to talk about Flash Photography. You can not f/2.8 all the things. In order to over-power the ambient light, yes, a faster Shutter Speed is required, but your main light source needs to have more power over the ambient light. That's where Watt Second & Flash Duration Ratings come into play and why some Strobes are more expensive than others. Also, you need to not think of Ambient Light Apertures, meaning f/2.8 with portraits, but how your Aperture not only controls DoF, but Flash Power as well. Most off-camera flash photography has a 1-2 stop difference between the Main (Key) Light and secondary light source. (Ambient or Strobe)

For example, say your Main Light firing on your subject has enough light power being thrown at the subject for a proper exposure @ f/8. Remember, Aperture controls Flash Power and Shutter Speed (and ISO) controls Ambient Light. So if your flash isn't powerful enough to overpower the ambient, you need a better/more-powerful flash, not bumping up your SS to 1/5000th. High-Speed Sync is a work-around, but not at 1/5000th of a second. Most HSS shutter speeds are 1/250th or 1/320th by default, and I've never really seen any real-world photos that were above 1/1600th...and that's with a Medium Format Camera with a Leaf Shutter.

In reality, you needed to increase your Flash Power to kill the ambient, not overpower it with your Shutter Speed. At the end of the day, I feel you need a better light.

Oh! One more thing...

Your camera's built-in Metering System is completely worthless for this type of photography. If you use a TTL Mode, it's going to create a "Balanced Exposure" no matter what you do. You can set it to 1/5000th or whatever, but if you are using TTL (Through The Lens) Metering, the camera will adjust the Flash Power accordingly. In order to have complete control, with predictable results, you need to be on full manual with both your Camera AND Flash.

"But how do I know what to Meter/Shoot at?"

With a hand-held light meter, like a Sekonic Light Meter. With this Light Meter, you walk over to the subject place it just in front of their face, I usually put it in front of the person's chin, and point it towards the light source. Then I will fire-off the flash and it will then give you a "Proper Exposure" reading. Bear in mind, this will almost disagree with your camera's meter, but trust it. Depending on your camera, you might have to adjust the meter slightly. With my Sekonic L-358 meter, I can manually set a exposure composition level, plus or minus. This way if my camera under-exposes by say a 1/3rd of a stop, I can tell the hand-held meter to match my camera. One caveat, each camera body can be different. So if you are shooting with two bodies, do some fiddling first.

Once you come up with your own "Lighting Recipes," you will be able to figure out what power to be at and what to set your camera to, and then just pay attention to your Histograms. Again, that takes time and experience. When you first start out, you will live and die by your meter.

Give this video a watch, it demonstrates using a hand-held meter: Where Should You Point Your Light Meter? Exploring Photography with Mark Wallace

This video is highly recommended by me. Watch it multiple times if you need to: Zack Arias: Aperture/Flash Relationship

[Mary Burgy]

I was back over at her house tonight.  She confirmed I shot with the lights off.  I do understand flash photography but was trying to shut out the ambient backlight in this case to create a different look.  I chose upping the SS whereas I should have chosen aperture instead.   Per another group, they said the lines were due to the way I had the shutter set.  I have now changed it to mechanical shutter.  I agree, I shouldn't have used that high of SS, but I had never seen that before.  The light is fine.  I was using my AD200 which is fine for indoors.  It did great on the normal photos where I wasn't trying to block the backlight.  Thanks for the explanation and I will check out the videos.

[Brian]

It's all a part of learning your gear...what it will do, and more importantly, what it won't do.