For me one of the best things about being a professional photographer is that I have licence to indulge my child hood quest for new toys. So by now I have cameras I could have only dreamed of in highschool. The latest for me is the Canon 5dmk2. 21mp and high def video. On the other hand is the assumption that the camera makes the photos. Every photographer has heard this "what a beautiful photo, you must have a nice camera." Yes I do but it is light that makes photos. As an exercise I wanted to create some examples of photos taken using a point and shoot camera and some better lighting. Normally I use studio strobes and speedlights (flashes) which are controlled manually but out of curiosity I wanted to try out canon’s wireless ettl system..jpg)
For the purposes of this article I am going to concentrate on a fairly high end point and shoot style camera - the canon G9. Much of this information could be used with a canon DSLR’s, as the flash system is precisely the same. The effects and ideas are universal to lighting whether it is with flashes or studio strobes and could be duplicated with manual flashes and slave triggers (IR, Radio, optical). Also Nikon has a similar system, called CLS, available for their DSLR’s. It is a fantastic system, but I shoot Canons so it is not my forte. The purpose here is to deal with a very advanced lighting system available to users of a point and shoot style camera. Also, throughout the article I use the terms master and slave when referring to the flashes. These are unfortunate terms but they are the ones Canon uses in their literature and on the displays of the flashes.
What can we do to improve this? Wanting to do better is the first step. Many photographers, even some high end ones, get so disappointed and confused by flash they quit using it entirely. The problem is that the sun eventually goes down, or you walk indoors and you can’t just put the camera away because it is dark. Also, more advanced lighting allows for looks that a small, built-in flash can’t hope to create. We are creative, so why would we simply accept the world as presented to us?Some basic concepts...
Flash doesn’t care about shutter speed. Aperture is the only control over the flash. Once the f-stop is set, lower the shutter speed to get more ambient light, or raise it to have less ambient light.
The softness of the light is caused by how large the light source appears to the subject, not by the flashes actual size. The best way to quantify this is by how sharp the edges of the shadows are.
Flash direction is the biggest change you will be able to make. If the flash is close to the lens, you will likely have red-eye, so if it is higher or farther to one side it will usually look better. Remember, the xerox puts light out straight ahead.
Shadows make pictures. Without shadows we can’t really see the features of a face or other three dimensional object. The edges of the shadows tell us if the light is hard or soft. Shadows can add interest and texture.
Bounce flash is good. To bounce light off of a large surface adds softness and direction, and more flashes = more directions, qualities, and colors of light.
Light comes in many different colors. Light from a tungsten bulb is really orange, and light from a flash or from sunlight sometimes looks cold or blue. Color can be added to light by placing a filter (called a gel by theatrical and photo supply companies) in front of the source or bouncing the light off of a colored surface.
Before I bog down into the minutia of the settings and buttons lets think of a portrait setting. I was short on models today so I brought in this guy (girl?). It is a dragon mask, but it is three dimensional and reflects light so it will do for a lesson. The photo below is our example of bounce flash. For this look you only need the G9 and one dedicated Canon flash. The flash goes in the hot shoe and the head points up, so the light is softer and from a logical direction. Works but it can get boring.
Canon offers a wireless flash control system for its line of DSLR’s, and it works with some of the point and shoot cameras like the G9 and the G10. The only gear you have to buy are flashes (at least one you should have bought by now any way) I have a G9, so I will use it as my example. You can attach a canon 580ex, 580ex2, 430ex 430ex2, directly to the hot shoe of the G9 and have full automatic control from the camera. The heads on these flashes both tilt and swivel so that they can be bounced off of walls and ceilings. The 580ex(II) can also act as a master to other flashes including the 580ex(II) and the 430ex(II). You can use as many as you can afford. From the master flash you can set the power of each slave unit individually or set them to automatic ratio control.Let’s assume for a fairly simple head shot (the dragon is applying to an agency) that we want to have soft light and good separation from the background. We set the lights on stands and use photo umbrellas to soften the light. Umbrellas do this because they change the perceived light source from a two inch by three inch square into a 20-60 circle. Larger apparent size equals softer light. In this case the main light is to camera left. Broad lighting like this won’t work for everyone but our subject has chiseled features to say the least. If the intention had been to slim the face the narrow side would be lit more strongly than the broadside. For a model or a bride we might use what is referred to a butterfly or clamshell lighting. In this case the lights would be above and below the face (typically facing front) to reduce (but not eliminate all) shadows. We might want a light coming from behind the model to illuminate the hair and therefore separate it from the background.
In this case,the hair light is at extreme camera left has a magenta gel on it which gives the hair some color and add some color contrast to the face. There is also a rim/kicker light high up to camera right and just behind the model. It has an orange gel (CTO). For simplicity I did not light the background and raised the shutter speed to 1/500s to eliminate any ambient. Here is an advantage to using the G9 over a DSLR. On the DSLR the top sync speed (highest shutter speed you will be able to use with flash) is usually only 1/200s-1/250s. The G9 has an electronic shutter and may sync all the way up to 1/1000s. 
The settings would go something like this. On the master flash hold the zoom key until the master option comes on then roll the command dial to master on, and then tap the sel key in the center of the command dial. Tap the zoom key to access the other functions such as ratio and whether the master flash contributes to the exposure and what channel the master is on. The command dial will set the ratio. The flash in the front would be set to "slave a" on the same channel as the master. The side light to camera left is or "slave b". The master flash on the camera is set to a:b c ratio on. The ratio would be1 to 2 on the "a" side. This means that the side light is twice as strong as the front light. However, the master flash offers ratios from 1:1 to 8:1 in either direction. Our kicker/rim light is in group c and are set separately from the master flash. We wouldn’t want the master flash to contribute to the exposure because that would prevent you from moving around without changing the exposure. Fortunately the master flash can be set to control the other flashes but not contribute to the exposure. In this example we have 3 slave flashes and 1 master. 
As you can see the cost of this system would mount up quickly. On the other hand, you gain quite a bit for the cost. First add some photo umbrellas and stands and you have a very portable studio. Second, you can use the same system for lighting the kids’ play in that dark auditorium with out red-eye. Third, this is all transferable to your Canon DSLR whether you already have one or you plan to upgrade later. Fourth, you can start small (ish). Buy just one flash for your camera which will allow you to bounce, then add more flashes as you need them. The cost of this is considerable but not far off from using cheaper manual flashes such as the Lumopro lp120 with a PocketWizard Plus 2 attached to each. We end up around $300 per dedicated Canon flash or per manual flash plus PocketWizard. There are draw backs to either system, but the beauty of using a G9 with Canon wireless flashes, is that the camera plus 3 flashes fits into a fairly small bag and offers a great deal of control and creativity. 
