{"id":1983,"date":"2012-06-01T11:20:18","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T11:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1983"},"modified":"2023-08-28T12:02:20","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T12:02:20","slug":"5-essentials-every-photographer-must-know-before-using-off-camera-flash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/5-essentials-every-photographer-must-know-before-using-off-camera-flash","title":{"rendered":"5 ESSENTIALS every photographer MUST know before using Off Camera Flash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Off Camera Flash Essentials<\/h1>\n

\"CT2A4602\"<\/p>\n

Off camera flash is a popular technique at the moment, taking speedlite flashes off the camera, onto light stands and using radio transmitters to trigger them. It’s getting easier and cheaper – with budget brands bringing flash to the masses<\/p>\n

Technically, there and awful lot to understand to get fantastic results – so here are 5 things\u00a0you absolutely have to understand<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1 – Understand manual exposure<\/h1>\n

\"285<\/p>\n

You need to understand how your camera works and “manual exposure.<\/p>\n

A challenge in itself if you’re not used to metering. To control the brightness of the background<\/a> and the flash-lit areas, Manual Exposure is the most effective way to work.<\/p>\n

2\u00a0– Understand where to put the light stands<\/h1>\n

\"CT2A0153\"<\/p>\n

How near should they be, what angle should they point, should they be high or low… you can put them pretty much anywhere in the 3-dimensional space around your model… and they all have different effects!<\/p>\n

3 –\u00a0Understand flash power<\/h1>\n

\"CT2A8692\"<\/p>\n

You’ll need to put your flashes in Manual power output and give work out how much power they need – the power output is in fractions of “full power”, so you get 1\/1, 1\/2, 1\/4, 1\/8, 1\/16 etc. usually down to 1\/128<\/p>\n

4 –\u00a0Understand\u00a0light colour<\/h1>\n

\"CT2A9381\"<\/p>\n

The white balance question – if you’re shooting in sunlight, it’s a different “ambient light” to that of moon light, or street lights, or\u00a0fluorescent\u00a0tubes…. It’s a question of “white balance”, and we have ways to change the colour of flash light to whatever we need. Or use a mix of white balances to creative effect.<\/p>\n

5 –\u00a0Understand Light “Quality”<\/h1>\n

\"CT2A7949\"<\/p>\n

The “shape” or “Quality” of light from your flash can be manipulated using accessories such as umbrellas, snoots, barn doors, beauty dishes, grids…. there’s a lot out there. Basically these help control the direction of light, how much it spreads, whether it’s a “soft” light (creating smooth edged shadows) or “hard” light (harsh “mid day” like shadows) – the use of these can become your signature look.<\/p>\n

So those are the 5 areas we cover in our 1-2-1 Strobist Training – it is a lot to take in if you’re new to it, so 1-2-1 time is the most effective way to boost your skills and transform your photography<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example….<\/h1>\n

Here’s an example\u00a0set-up\u00a0from a recent 1-2-1\u00a0training\u00a0session in Leeds.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Exposure set for a dark space –\u00a0low ambient light – so higher ISO, wide aperture etc.<\/li>\n
  2. One light was “high to the left”, the other was “low to the right”<\/li>\n
  3. Power was low as the scene was dark and didn’t need much power output<\/li>\n
  4. Mixed light colour – Warm (CTO) to the left, cool to the right (CTB)<\/li>\n
  5. Hard light all around – adds drama, the hard shadow under her nose shows this<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Example 2<\/h1>\n
      \n
    1. Used a very wide aperture, F1.8, so needed ND filter to lessen the light flowing into the camera – need to keep the shutter speed to 1\/200th to synch with the camera<\/li>\n
    2. Simple single light at head height<\/li>\n
    3. Power was extremely low as using F1.8 – 1\/64th power.<\/li>\n
    4. No colour added<\/li>\n
    5. Soft light from a shoot-through umbrella<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Off Camera Flash Essentials Off camera flash is a popular technique at the moment, taking speedlite flashes off the camera, onto light stands and using radio transmitters to trigger them. It’s getting easier and cheaper – with budget brands bringing flash to the masses Technically, there and awful lot to understand to get fantastic results […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_22977785_22977785":"","facebook_10157410341118549_123005067715685":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,17,7,9,18,14,30,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discussion","category-musings","category-people","category-photography","category-strobist","category-tips","category-training","category-workshop"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/MG_0748.jpg",1000,667,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/MG_0748-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/MG_0748-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/MG_0748.jpg",1000,667,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/MG_0748.jpg",1000,667,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/MG_0748.jpg",1000,667,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/MG_0748.jpg",1000,667,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"McFade","author_link":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":3,"uagb_excerpt":"Off Camera Flash Essentials Off camera flash is a popular technique at the moment, taking speedlite flashes off the camera, onto light stands and using radio transmitters to trigger them. It’s getting easier and cheaper – with budget brands bringing flash to the masses Technically, there and awful lot to understand to get fantastic results…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1983"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128794,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983\/revisions\/128794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}