When you’re first starting out photographing people with flash, it can be a bit overwhelming. Even if you’re used to shooting with natural light, the pieces don’t all click into place right away and it’s easy to make mistakes and not be entirely sure how to rectify the problem. So, here’s Francisco Hernandez with three of the mistakes he sees new off-camera flash photographers making and how to resolve them.
Here’s when, why and how to use flash for outdoor portraits in bright daylight
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Have you been wondering why anybody would use flash outdoors during the daytime? After all, it’s daytime. It’s pretty bright already, isn’t it? So, you’re not ramping your ISO up high, so why would anybody use flash outside? Well, yes, it’s bright-ish, but the natural light isn’t always giving you what you want. Sometimes it needs a little help.
In this video from Andrew Boey at Beyond Photography, we learn how, when and why you might want to use flash outdoors in the daytime – even on a bright sunny day.
Does your flash distance really matter?
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If you’re new to studio flash photography, you may be a little confused about how everything works. The types, sizes, and shapes of light modifiers, the light’s placement and distance from the subject… There’s a lot to learn, and in this article, we’ll focus on the distance of the flash from your subject. Does it really matter how far you place the light? Spoiler alert: it does. And in this great video from Adorama, Gavin Hoey will give you plenty of examples of how and why the flash distance affects your studio images.
This is the one simple thing you need to know about working with bounce flash
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Sometimes, as much as we might hate it, we’re forced to stick a flash on the hotshoe. Perhaps it’s something not too important and we just want a bit more light on things. But maybe it’s something very important and you really need to not screw it up. Whatever the reason, getting great light out of an on-camera flash isn’t that difficult. There’s just one thing you need to think about.
In this video, photographer Neil van Niekerk explains that one important thing and how it affects your photos in very simple and easy to understand terms. Yes, I’m going to spoil it now, but that one thing is the inverse square law. But don’t worry, there’s no maths or charts here. Just a simple practical demonstration that’ll make it easy for you to get decent shots when using on-camera flash.
How to use scrims and strobes outdoors in bright sunlight for amazing portraits
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So before my regulars start to suspect that I’ve been kidnapped and forced to write this against my will, yes this is indeed a lighting setup article that involves natural light! But don’t worry, we’ll quickly skip over the easy, beginner daylight setup and move on to the adult version that combines gels and strobes later on. So, if you’re suspiciously U.V. averse to the point where you could star in an Anne Rice novel, don’t worry, stick around to the end and I’ll have something a little more visually engaging for you there.
Frio relaunches as a one-stop shop for small light mounting accessories
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Frio, the maker of the Frio cold shoe has relaunched under the new management of Imaging Brands, the company which also owns Tether Tools, as a new one-stop shop for off-camera light mounting solutions for photographers and filmmaking. The original Frio cold shoe has now been renamed the Frio Hold and the product line has been expanded with a number of new mounting solutions.
The new lineup includes a number of products for mounting hotshoe based lights including speedlights and LEDs, in various ways to help offer you more versatility on location when choosing where to put your lights, microphones, monitors or other small devices.
How to get a good natural light look when using flash outdoors
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I’m always asked why I use flash outdoors and the answer is quite simple. The natural light doesn’t always give me what I want. Sometimes I want to complement or augment it and sometimes I want to override it completely. There’s nothing wrong with natural light and I use that too when it looks good, but yeah… It just doesn’t always look the way I want it to.
But how can you work with flash outdoors and still have it look natural when shooting things like weddings or portraits? Well, in this video from Vanessa Joy, we look at several different ways you can light a subject with flash, balancing it with the natural light to create a natural look. And, yes, there’s more to it than simply adjusting the power level to even out the brightness.
Hard vs soft light – 5 portrait lighting setups broken down to show you when to use each
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When shooting portraits, the difference between hard and soft light on your subject makes a massive difference to the final result. There are so many ways we can use both, and when it comes to photographing people, the challenges of hard light can be particularly tricky to work around. But knowing when to use each allows you to make better creative decisions.
In this video, John Gress walks us through five different lighting setups using both hard and soft light to see how they come together and how the different quality of the light affects your subject and how it makes the final image look. You may even want to mix the two from time to time.
What the heck is an optical snoot and how do you use one?
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There are two different types of snoot out there when it comes to flashes. You’ve got your regular snoots, which essentially act like a cylindrical flag around your light that blocks off any light not travelling directly ahead. Then you’ve got optical snoots, which incorporate some kind of lens, letting you project the light.
In this video, photographer David Bergman shows off how both types of snoot work but with the main focus being on optical snoots, using the Light Blaster – a popular optical snoot designed primarily for speedlights but that can also be adapted to studio strobes.
Godox sets its sights on high end flash with the new P2400 pack & head system
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Godox has announced their new P2400 pack and head system. It’s the most powerful strobe system they’ve produced to date, which Godox describes as “a giant leap in the Godox innovation history”. And it sure does look the part, with Godox’s sights obviously set on brands like Profoto and Broncolor.
As with most of the other strobes in the Godox lineup, the H2400P heads to go with the pack are Bowens mount and feature a 60W LED modelling lamp (equivalent to a 300W halogen lamp). The flash power offers up to 10-stops of control (it goes all the way down to 1/512th power) in 1/10th stop increments. It’s also compatible with both of Godox’s 2.4Ghz and 433Mhz trigger systems.
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