Idea for Night Parade Photography

Scottwdw

Scottwdw

Member
I was going through my photos from my last trip and came upon this one of SpectroMagic. ;

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Notice the flash going off from someone's camera which produced some interesting highlights on Mickey's face and the electro-ball.

If I enlisted a VAL (Voice Activated Lightstand and used cell phones to give directions) to help, one might produce some unique photos. ; Anyone ever try this with a remote fired flash?
 
Uhh no but if I had help it would be an intriguing idea, since Nikon's CLS will allow other cameras to use it (if you have the channel programmed the same).

We did that in my portfolio class. ; Setup a few remote flashes and everyone used the same channel.

That could be interesting....
 
It could be interesting, but it would also impinge upon others' enjoyment of the parade, so I wouldn't be too tempted to try it.
 
How many flashes go off from guests during that parade already? ; It's not like during Fantasmic! where the flashes will either reflect off the water screen or won't reach the stage at all....
 
"WDWFigment" said:
It could be interesting, but it would also impinge upon others' enjoyment of the parade, so I wouldn't be too tempted to try it.
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Like Roger said, there are a lot of flashes that go off during SpectroMagic from people with P&S cameras in Auto mode. ; I don't think it would be to bothersome. ; Since the VAL could be positioned behind the crowd holding up the flash over them. ; The tricky part would be telling the VAL how to change the power settings before hand. ; Also, there are places along the parade route that don't have as many people. ; Maybe try this during a second showing of SM near the entrance to the Haunted Mansion?

Hey, don't know until one tries. ; Anyone with a Nikon and SB-600/800/900 going down anytime soon?
 
Very cool idea!
Can't you "drive" the flash from your camera without needing the assistant do anything other than hold the flash up?
Roger?
 
"Scottwdw" said:
Anyone with a Nikon and SB-600/800/900 going down anytime soon?
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I'll have my SB-800 with me at Pixelmania. ; Is that soon enough?

"Craig" said:
Can't you "drive" the flash from your camera without needing the assistant do anything other than hold the flash up?
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Doesn't the remote flash have to be in front of the camera (assuming you are using the built-in flash to command the remote)? ; There was a tutorial on using Commander Mode on D-town TV, but I don't remember the details.
 
Well, heck, I'll be down there then too! I know we've talked about doing one of those mass flash pics with all our SB's for fun.

Using the photo I posted, the flash would be used as rim lighting or front lighting on a float. ; Using flash would freeze the subject or front or rear sync could be used for motion effects.
 
"Scottwdw" said:
Like Roger said, there are a lot of flashes that go off during SpectroMagic from people with P&S cameras in Auto mode. ; I don't think it would be to bothersome. ; Since the VAL could be positioned behind the crowd holding up the flash over them. ; The tricky part would be telling the VAL how to change the power settings before hand. ; Also, there are places along the parade route that don't have as many people. ; Maybe try this during a second showing of SM near the entrance to the Haunted Mansion?

Hey, don't know until one tries. ; Anyone with a Nikon and SB-600/800/900 going down anytime soon?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it will be even worse since the flashes will hit the floats and make them look odd and/or reveal portions that you aren't intended to see, like this (left):

(Two different shots side by side, caught on burst; left caught someone else's flash).

I guess I don't see how this is any different than people using flashes during PotC or Haunted Mansion as far as spoiling the mood. ; That seems to get people around here fairly upset. ; Just because others do it, doesn't make it okay, in my opinion. :shrug:
 
Boy, leave to train some employees and all these replies...

The flash has to have LOS with the commander. ; And the LOS is very liberal. ; I once shot an off-camera flash that was basically directly above.

And...you could always mount the flash on a tripod. ; I know my 800 has a tripod mount that came with it.


And to answer Figment's last one - only use it on the appropriate floats.
 
"Roger" said:
The flash has to have LOS with the commander. ; And the LOS is very liberal. ;
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That's true at short distances, but there is a limit to the distance between the commander and the remote flash. ; I photographed the exterior of a house at twilight and used flash to illuminate the house. ; I was using a SB-800 as a commander and another SB-800 as the remote. ; I found that at a distance of 30-50ft the master unit had to be pointed directly at the remote with diffusion dome removed from the master for the CLS to work properly. ; At distances of 50-75ft, you had to set the master unit into regular flash mode and set the remote flash to SU-4 mode (making it a basic optical slave) above 75ft it didn't work at all. ; Of course anything under 30ft worked perfectly.
 
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