Natural light or artificial light? Sure, it’s a matter of preference, but photographers Manny Ortiz and Jessica Kobeissi made an interesting challenge out of these two approaches. They had three rounds of photographing the same model in the same studio. Jessica used only natural light, and Manny added off-camera flash. Let’s check out the results and see which you prefer.
See the pros and cons of using natural light and off camera flash outdoors
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Before the proliferation of speedlights and portable strobes over the last few years, people always asked me why I’d take flash out in the daytime. It was often difficult to formulate an answer that they’d accept. They never really “got it” unless I took them on a shoot with me so they could see first hand.
This video from photographer Manny Ortiz embodies the answer in my head, though. Essentially it’s about having options. Sometimes the natural light will give me exactly what I want, and sometimes it won’t. In the horrible British weather, for me it’s more often won’t. So, I take flash with me.
How I shot this portrait in sunset using a two lights setup
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Shooting an evenly lit portrait in backlight is a bit of a challenge. Photographer Daniel Ceapă has created a wonderful, balanced portrait in conditions like this using a two lights setup. He has shared his image and some BTS shots with DIYP, along with a detailed explanation how he took the photo. So, all of you searching for knowledge and inspiration in OCF portrait shooting, this will certainly be a valuable resource.
Here’s how to take awesome night portraits with off camera flash
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Recently, we published an article on overpowering the sun and shooting portraits in bright sunlight. But this time, we’re going to a completely different extreme. After daylight comes the dark, and Francisco Joel Hernandez will help you take portraits at night using off camera flash. If you’re new to this kind of portraits, you’ll find it really useful, and even the more experienced photographers can use it as a checklist.
Francisco shares advice for getting enough ambient light without ending up with overexposed subjects. He also provides some sample images and BTS shots to get you inspired and illustrate what he’s talking about.
The Strobist is back with a free flash lighting course focusing on colour
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David Hobby, aka “The Strobist“, was the original Internet trailblazer when it came to using small hotshoe flashes. At least, if you wanted to use them for more than just giving your subject red eye. Inspiring photographers to get their speedlights off the hotshoe, David created a free Lighting 101 course way back in 2006.
I learned so much from that first course. So, when David released Lighting 102 the following year, I dived right in. Speedlight technology and variety has come a long way since 2007, so David updated Lighting 102 this year to reflect some of those changes. Now, David has announced an all new Lighting 103 course coming in January 2017, which takes things even further.
Quick Tip: Quickly Change Between TTL and “Dumb” Sync Modes With Off Camera Flash
by Leave a CommentWe got this great quick tip by mail from Brian Carey. He shoots a lot with off camera lighting and came up with a clever hack to switch between TTL and “dumb” PC-sync in a second. No complex menus, no fiddling with small buttons, just a straight easy swap. And it only takes a small game of Operation.
This is one of my favorite and most used photo hacks. With my portable speedlite light modifiers I use either Cybersync or TTL flash and this hack allows me to change to and from wired TTL to wireless (in this case non TTL) in seconds. The 3.5 mm, 1/8″ miniature jack also works with Pocket Wizards and other triggering devices.[Read More…]
