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Yongnuo’s YN686EX-RT Li-Ion flash gives 750 full power flashes on a single charge

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Well, it looks like Yongnuo finally jumped on the Lithium Ion battery powered flash train. Releasing its first Li-Ion powered speedlight, the YN686EX-RT, the new Yongnuo is designed for the Canon RT system. The flash was first mentioned a couple of months ago, but now it’s available to buy.

The YN686EX-RT features a 2000mAh Li-Ion battery, capable of producing over 750 full power flashes on a single charge. It integrates a 2.4Gh transceiver that can act as either a master or a slave for Canon’s RT system. But, it will also work as an slave in Nikon’s CLS/AWL optical system.

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Godox release first iPhone studio portraits using the new A1 flash trigger

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A couple of weeks ago, Godox teased us with their new A1 flash trigger for mobile phones. The Godox A1 is designed to give your phone the ability to trigger their popular line of X1 compatible flash units (and various rebrands). But that tease is all we’ve seen, until now.

Godox have now released some images from a studio portrait session shot using the iPhone 7 Plus, the Godox A1 and Godox QT-600II studio strobes. Of course, the quality of the shots depends entirely on the person using the camera, but they do look quite impressive.

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Natural light photographers, here is how to start using studio lighting

When you decide to take the step from natural light and start shooting with artificial lighting, you may not know where to start learning. Daniel and Rachel from Mango Street have teamed up with photographer Daniel DeArco to introduce you to the basics of studio lighting. And when they do it, it seems less scary and it will help you successfully take the first steps.

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How to create strong dynamic portraits using only one light and a beauty dish

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The whole “one light” thing always seems to be a popular topic. And it’s not really surprising. Every day new people are getting into flash. Buying just a single light and learning to master it is the usual recommendation. And it’s a great way to start. The next logical step before buying more lights is to try out a couple of different modifiers. And what better modifier than a beauty dish?

Photographer Joel Grimes likes working with beauty dishes. So much so that he even put his name on one. The Westcott Rapid Box, designed by Joel, isn’t exactly the cheapest beauty dish out there. But, it does illustrate the principles. And while you won’t get the exact same look, you can get pretty close with any similarly sized beauty dish. In this video, Joel shows us how he likes to use it.

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Three modifiers to improve your light when working with on-camera flash

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The camera’s hotshoe is generally the last place you want to place a flash as your main light source. Sometimes, though, it can’t be helped. It’s common at weddings and events where you’re constantly walking around looking for the shot. It’s more about the memory than the quality of the light. Although that doesn’t mean we should neglect it entirely.

This video from photographer Ed Verosky shows us three ways we can modify the light coming from a flash on top of our camera. Ed admits that none of these solutions is ideal, but then putting a flash on the camera isn’t ideal, either. But these can go some way towards reducing that harshness of a bare, direct on-camera flash.

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Photographing a model in sunset with only one strobe

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Combining natural light and flash can be tricky, but photographer Axel Rivera shared a perfect example of such image with us. He shot this gorgeous portrait in quite tricky conditions – it was during the sunset, the model was backlit, and he only had one strobe. But he did a great job, and he kindly shared his setup, tips, and tricks with DIYP.

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How to use split color lighting in your photography

There is a progression that takes place in the journey that is our lighting knowledge. At first it is learning the ways of ambient light (read: I don’t want to buy a flash). As our career progresses we decide to buy our first flash and throw that sucker straight on the camera, only to question why the shadows on faces are gone… along with the artistic merit. Soon after that we discover a site like Strobist and point the flash at the ceiling and realize our first “Eureka” moment as a photographer. From there we buy our first off camera strobes and it is all downhill…

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Watch how technology changes: Kodak’s vintage commercial shows their innovation from the ’60s – the Flashcube

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Apart from new digital solutions in photo and video technology, it seems that this year the analog and “back to the roots” approach caused the most reactions. After CES 2017, we’re left with many news and impressions. With all the innovations, it’s still something vintage that made the most of us thrilled. It’s launching something new, which is actually old. Yes, I’m talking about Kodak bringing back Ektachrome, and possibly even Kodachrome.

This made me think about the “old days” and how technological innovations in photography were observed back then. And then I saw this video. It’s over 50 years old Kodak commercial, showing their latest technology at the time – the Flashcube.

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Did you know flash photography can harm baby sea turtles?

Flash photography is harmless more often than not. But there are times when the powerful flash of cameras can do damage to things, both living and inanimate.

One of the latest examples detailing how flash photography can harm a living creature is shared in a recent PSA given by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

According to the announcement, taking flash photos of sea turtles can interfere with the reproduction habits of the reptiles by disorienting the mothers while making their nests, which house the little ones throughout the incubating and hatching process.[Read More…]

Watch How This Photographer Creates High-Action Images with Stroboscopic Flash

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Stroboscopic flash photography is basically putting your camera on a slow shutter speed and firing bursts of strobe lighting to freeze moments in action for a “double exposure image” on acid, so to speak.  When David Einar was booked for a shoot with the Linköping Hockey Club in Sweden, he wanted to convey the full sense of action embodied in the fast-paced game.  So he turned to the stroboscopic technique to create adrenaline action in these incredible images.

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