Mastering Flash Photography

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While I was out scouting locations for place to shoot with my students during a Utah workshop, I discovered this rock with holes in it. I thought if I wait…

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More color tips There are some color techniques you cannot achieve with your AWB in camera and the photo right is the perfect example. When I shoot landscapes at sunset,…

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More fun with colored gels Rosco also makes colored gels that are for coloring a light rather than correcting light as in the previous section. I use these all the…

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Mixed Lighting Summary If you took the picture now in tungsten light everything would be off color. To correct the photo you now need to go to your camera and…

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Here is an example showing Kelvin temperature color relationship: Amber    warmer     warm    Daylight     cool      cooler   blueish     blue 3200K     3800K     4500K   5500K       6200k     6800    7500K     8000K

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Using Flash in Mixed Lighting So your boss knows you are a good photographer and wants pictures from in the warehouse of a group of employees. You know you need…

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I have always enjoyed the idea of hide-a-flash in places that create light and result in a cool effect.

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Stop Action The idea here as previously mentioned, is to stop or freeze the action WITH FLASH and not necessarily the shutter speed and there are two ways to do…

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In this image of a mountain biker, I set the camera at -1 EC to darken the background and make the flash stand out better. Then I just panned with…

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These two photos below are a perfect example of panning with the subject and flashing to put an edge on the subject. If you look at the blurry background and…

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In previous lessons, we have explored the many ways to use flash both on-camera and off. For our last lesson, we’ll look at fun ways to continue to get creative…

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REAL JOBS You will notice in my descriptions that none of these jobs were photographed using ETTL and were all on manual flash. I want total control! If you consider…

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My strategy is to set the flash to manual output and set it to full power as a start. I take a test shot usually by just ‘guesstimating’, a skill…

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BIGGER FLASH UNITS Depending on what you shoot, you may also find you need a much bigger and more powerful flash unit. I am not talking about studio strobes, rather…

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USING REMOTE FLASH FOR EFFECT The next step beyond wireless flash is using wireless remotely by placing flash in more distant locations. This is putting light in out-of-the-way places to…

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Rear Curtain – cont To enable rear curtain flash to work, you have to make adjustment either on the camera or flash and it depends on the make and model….

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 Portraits using Flash There is no difference between shooting portraits with studio strobes versus flash units as far as the approach to lighting. The advantage to flash is the compact…

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Radio Remotes Triggers There are numerous methods for triggering flash using wireless radio technology. There are a number of third party systems designed for wireless triggering and originally most were…

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SETTING THE CHANNELS

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Dedicated Wireless Some of today’s state-of-the-art flash units come with wireless flash ability built in. Canon’s 430EXII and 580EXII are three of them while Nikon’s SB 900 and SB700 compliment their line. They have the ability to trigger…

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Optical Slaves – cont. Most older, yet state of the art flash units do not come with a PC sync socket on them to plug that slave into with the…

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When using the flash off-camera, you need to trigger the flash to fire from your camera. In the previous pictures, I am using a Dedicated Flash Cord that allows me…

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Off Camera Flash So far we have covered many different ways you can use your flash on-camera such as bounce and diffused flash and hopefully you have mastered those. Now…

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Flash Fill Flash fill is a very useful tool for photographers. Both film and digital cannot record the range of contrast in a photo scene like our eyes can. In…

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How to use flash key If you are in Manual shooting mode and flash is set to ETTL, you meter the scene. Next, adjust your shutter speed to a setting…

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Here is an example of flash key. The flash is the brightest light on the subject. They would silhouette without the flash.

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When to use Manual Flash? The reason to set your flash on manual output is to maintain a consistent output each and every time the flash fires. You are at…

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Keep in mind that 1/1 is full power; ½ is ½ power; ¼ is ¼ power, and so on. What is nice about the flash’s manual output ability is that…

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While you are shooting in Manual, you have to do these calculations in your head or by testing to make sure your exposures are correct. Wedding photographers usually have their…

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Flash on Manual Mode Up to now, we have covered all the options available for using flash in an automated capacity. There are however, many advantages to using flash in…

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Another method is the red eye reduction features of your system.  The camera, as you are pressing the shutter release, fires a small flash-type light to get the pupils in…

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Exercise: To test your flash and camera system, place the focus point on the subject and take a fully flash image. Take a second exposure by placing the AF point…

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Watch These Videos

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Using the flash, step by step Now that we have covered all the details of flash and how it works, here is the step by step approach for simple flash…

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Guide Numbers in Depth Guide numbers were just mentioned but if you want to know more, continue, but if you get it move to the next page. They are as…

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FEC Exercise Here is an exercise for helping understand FEC better. Have a person or subject stand in the garage with the garage door open and lights off. You want…

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There could also be situations when an increase of flash output may be suitable for an ‘over-flashed’ look. FEC is adjustable usually in 1/3 stop increments, but some flashes are…

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ISO We just looked at ISO and its effects on flash range, but here is a bit more info. The ISO setting on your camera can extend the range of…

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Flash Range in TTL Each flash unit has a certain range of flash ability based on the total power it has. Remember, the higher the Guide Number the more flash…

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Flash Range – cont. If you have little experience using your flash unit and are photographing your child’s school play and have set the camera to f/22 because the camera…

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Flash Range-The Math Each flash unit has a certain range of flash ability based on the total power it can produce. This means based on the manufacturers designation for that…

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Histogram Hopefully you are familiar with your cameras histogram and how it works. This is always a valuable tool when it comes to determining accuracy of your exposures. It is…

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The Power of ETTL What makes flash photography so easy is the power of ETTL. (iTTL on Nikons) This function of your flash and camera working together can in most…

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Inverse Square Law As mentioned in an earlier lesson, the Inverse Square Law relates to the fall-off of light in relation to the distance from flash to subject and is…