The "Flintstone" flash technique

[Uncle Muddy]

This technique was developed from mere laziness. I've been shooting a new digital camera with more bells and whistles than I've been able to absorb. So I set the thing on full auto program, mounted an IR filter on the pop-up strobe, and began shooting to a Firefly-slaved strobe. When the first exposure came up on the viewing screen it was clearly over exposed. We moved the slaved unit further from the subject and tried again. Still too much light! Well, heck, the strobe sherpa simply covered up 1/3rd of the output lens with his fingers and we shot again. Voila! Photography made simple. We quickly devised a simple shoot-and-review system, and I called for the needed percentage of light required per the proof. Guide-number-math be damned! It worked very well. We dubbed the technique "Flintstone" for the obvious bone-headed, archaic reason.

[Uncle Muddy]

A "Flintstone" foto from Cova des pas de Vallgornera, Mallorca, featuring Bobby Panian. Per: T. Harrison and Tony Merino.

[bigalpha]

Cool pic.

[Dave Bunnell]

If you're shooting on auto settings, in a cave you are probably stuck at the widest aperture your camera has. One trouble with the flintstone approach (which I've used too) is that it reduces the angle of coverage of the flash as well as cutting its output.

If you are shopping for flashes in the future, another solution would be a variable power one.

Dave

p.s. Nice pic, btw. We ran some of Tony's shots from that cave in the News a couple years ago and it looks pretty awesome.

[MoonshineR DavE]

Nice pic. I'll have to try the "Flintsone Flash". Right now I use a 1 million cp spotlight and a long exposure time. The only problem is getting the light in all the right places.

[graveleye]

what kind of cameras are you guys using? My little Olympus digital camera doenst have a feature to hold the shutter open, but I think my wifes camera does.

[Ralph E. Powers]

I wonder if anyone uses the tissue paper technique. Sometime in the past I used to do photography for a living. I found that often times I didn't like the harshness of the flash when photographing a subject. Using a flash diffuser sometimes didn't give me the effect that I wanted either. Soo, a rubber-band and a piece of tissue paper over the main flash lens helped solve the problem.
Just wondering if that might not be a more viable option than just a pair of muddy fingers. Depending upon the flash unit you could construct a box with a sliding door that fits over the flash lens and use the door to cut down on the amount of light provided.

[Dane]

Hey Graveleye!
I have an Olympus Camedia D-595 Zoom (I know! sounds like an STD!!!) - it a 5mg pocket camera, and in manual mode, allows you to have the shutter open up to 15 sec's. That, combined with a 12 sec self-timer should allow for quite a bit of light manipulation.
Spelunker Bob took us to Cedar Ridge the other night and showed us quite a few tricks.
Let's see if I can post an example!

[graveleye]

Thats a great picture Dane!!!!!! Is that the same camera you dropped at White River? I was sure it was a goner!!

[Dane]

Yea, it has been thru a few spills and thrills!
Glad I didn't drop it when I was doing the "looking down the rope" shot at Neversink!
I got it a couple of years ago for less than $200 - it has been one of my better investments!
I put a couple of more those on my MySpace site, along with a handful of pic's (before my CR photo class darn it!) from Neversink last weekend.
Feel free to check them out.