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Create a beauty-light portrait with nothing but speed lights

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Why would you choose to use speedlights when so many other, more powerful options are available? Well, several reasons, actually. They are small, portable, and lightweight, and the latest versions can really pack a punch. They are fairly good value, and you don’t need an external power source or heavy battery pack. Some new models even come with modelling lights. They are simple yet still capable of giving professional results.

In this video for Adorama, photographer Gavin Hoey shows you how he creates a gorgeous beauty light effect using nothing but speedlights.

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.

How to create a dramatic ad-worthy beer pour shot with minimal gear

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We’ve featured some of Workphlo‘s brilliant product photography tutorials before, and Dustin Dolby doesn’t disappoint in this latest one. In this video, Dustin shows us how to capture a dramatic beer pour advertising style shot using just basic equipment. He explains that it’s fun to evoke some motion in an image, and pour shots are surprisingly simple to create. The entire set-up is compact and uses only an entry-level DSLR and 3 speedlights.

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.

The Dualflash wants to turn your single speedlight into two light sources

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These days, there are a lot of modifiers out there for speedlights, but this is certainly amongst the more unusual ones I’ve seen. It’s the “Dualflash” and it’s about to launch on Kickstarter. What it essentially does is turn your single speedlight into two. Kind of. It splits the output into two separate sections, but its practical uses seem fairly limited.

Like most speedlight modifiers, it slots over the head of the flash and then holds on with a velcro strap. It sits directly across the centre of the Fresnel lens splitting its output into two distinct areas, allowing you to then gel and alter them independently. At least, that’s the theory. How well it’ll do in reality… I’m not convinced.

Here’s why you should upgrade your speedlight to a studio strobe

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I’d argue that nearly all of us owned a speedlight at some point before we owned a studio strobe. When we’re looking to dip our toes into supplemental lighting, strobes seem like a big investment. It just makes sense to pick up a cheap speedlight to play with right?

Like many others, I did the same thing. I bought a cheap speedlight (that was ultimately pretty crappy), then I got a proper one, but I was still unhappy, whereupon I quickly bought a strobe. I immediately wished I’d done it sooner. Here’s why.

This speedlight diffuser is either brilliantly stupid or stupidly brilliant

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I haven’t quite made my mind up about this one yet, and I think I’d actually have to try it – or at least see some results shot using it vs a regular Stofen style diffuser – before I’m able to, but Irish accessory manufacturer, Hahnel has released a new speedlight diffuser that’s… Well, it’s interesting, to say the least.

The humble Stofen style diffuser has been around for years and serves 99% of people quite well. The other 1% believe that other products will serve them better. Whether or not this one will, though, I’m not entirely sure. I love the concept and would be very happy to know that it works to diffuse the light while offering better output performance than the existing options, but I’m not convinced.

Profoto dives into smartphone market with C1 and C1 Plus pocket-size lights

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With smartphone cameras getting better and more widely used, there are more and more accessories for mobile photography on the market. Profoto has decided to jump on the bandwagon and it has just announced two pocket-sized speedlights. Profoto C1 and C1 Plus are aimed at smartphone photographers, and these tiny, yet powerful lights can fit a palm of your hand.

The Godox V1 goes head-to-head with the Profoto A1 in this side-by-side comparison

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There has been some drama around the recently announced Godox V1, which was accused of stealing the Profoto A1’s design. But can the more affordable Godox V1 compete with the $995 Profoto A1? In this video by Robert Hall, the two speedlights go head-to-head, so let’s see how they compare.

Guide numbers explained – the maths behind the mystery

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When flashes first started to use Guide Numbers, they were a fairly reliable judgement of how one flashes power stacks up against another. But as flash technology has evolved, the humble Guide Number is often exploited as a marketing gimmick to make flashes sound a lot more powerful than they actually are.

In this video, Gerald Undone breaks down the maths behind the Guide Number. He explains exactly how it’s calculated, why it isn’t always an accurate measurement of power, and how you can make sense of it all.

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