Flash photography for beginners part 1

Summary

This tutorial delves into the fundamentals of flash photography, comparing various flash units from high-end Canon strobes to budget-friendly Youngnuo models. It emphasizes the importance of understanding how flash interacts with camera settings like shutter speed and aperture to control lighting effects. The video also covers sync speed, the fastest shutter speed for proper flash synchronization, and introduces high-speed sync for faster shutter use. Tips on flash power, duration, and bouncing techniques are provided to enhance lighting quality, with practical demonstrations of different settings' effects on photo outcomes.

Takeaways

• 📸 **Understanding Flash Photography Basics**: The video provides an introduction to using flash in photography, emphasizing the importance of knowing how a single flash affects a photo and how settings change its impact.
• 🔋 **Battery Life Consideration**: Cheaper third-party flashes like Youngnuo may require more frequent battery changes but are suitable for small-scale photography needs.
• 🧳 **Portability**: The presenter uses a portable setup that includes multiple flashes, cameras, stands, and softboxes, all fitting into one bag and a tripod bag for stands.
• 💡 **Flash as a Light Source**: A flash unit, also known as a strobe, is used to add more light to a subject and can help in reducing ISO and increasing shutter speed for cleaner images.
• 🌟 **Flash Speed**: Flashes fire very quickly, which can cause overexposure in parts of a frame if not managed properly, especially in cameras with rolling shutters.
• 📸 **Manual Mode Shooting**: The video recommends shooting in manual mode to understand and control how flash works with shutter speed and aperture for full creative control.
• 🔗 **Sync Speed**: Sync speed is the fastest shutter speed that can be used with flash without causing part of the image to be obscured; it's crucial to know this speed for effective flash photography.
• 🔆 **Flash Power Settings**: Flash power is adjustable in fractions, affecting battery life and recycle time, with each fractional change equating to a one-stop change in brightness.
• 📷 **Flash Duration**: At full power, flash duration is longer, which can cause motion blur in fast-moving subjects; reducing power shortens the duration and can help freeze motion.
• 🌈 **Light Modification**: The video suggests using the flash's zoom function to match the camera lens and bouncing flash off ceilings or walls to create softer light.

Q & A

What are the advantages of using third-party flashes like Youngnuo over more expensive brands?

Third-party flashes like Youngnuo are more affordable and work well for small corporate head shoots. They are portable and can be used with remotes, but they may require more frequent battery changes compared to higher-end brands.

How does a flash unit, or strobe, improve the quality of a photograph?

A flash unit provides additional light on the subject, which can help decrease the ISO and increase the shutter speed, resulting in a cleaner image with less noise.

What is the significance of the flash duration in photography?

The flash duration is crucial as it is much faster than a single frame readout, which can affect how the flash illuminates the subject in relation to the camera's shutter speed.

What is sync speed in relation to flash photography, and why is it important?

Sync speed is the fastest shutter speed at which a camera's sensor is exposed as a whole, allowing for a flash to fire without being obscured by the shutter mechanism. It's important because exceeding this speed can result in part of the image being underexposed.

How can one determine their camera's sync speed?

One can determine their camera's sync speed by either searching online or conducting a series of test shots at varying shutter speeds until the point where the image starts to show black strips, indicating the shutter is moving faster than the flash duration.

What are the basic rules for controlling flash and ambient light in photography?

The basic rules include setting the shutter speed slower than the flash duration to control ambient light, and using ISO and aperture to control both flash and ambient light. The flash power setting is also crucial, as it affects the brightness and battery life of the flash unit.

How does changing the flash power setting affect the brightness of the flash?

Each fractional change in the flash power setting alters the flash brightness by one stop, similar to changing aperture or ISO settings in stops.

Why is it recommended to use a lower ISO when shooting with flash?

Using a lower ISO helps to minimize noise in photographs, and when shooting with flash, there is often sufficient light to maintain a low ISO setting.

What is the effect of flash duration on fast-moving subjects in a frame?

The flash duration can affect the sharpness of fast-moving subjects. At full power, the flash duration is longer, which can cause motion blur. Reducing the flash power shortens the duration, helping to freeze the subject's motion.

How can bouncing the flash off different surfaces improve the quality of light in a photograph?

Bouncing the flash off surfaces like walls or ceilings can create a larger light source, resulting in softer, more diffused light that reduces harsh shadows and improves the overall lighting quality.

What are some advanced techniques for using flash in photography?

Advanced techniques include using soft boxes, umbrellas, large soft boxes, off-camera flash angling, and multiple flash heads in a single shot to create more complex and creative lighting setups.

Outlines

00:00

📸 Introduction to Flash Photography

The speaker introduces the basics of flash photography, discussing their experience with various flash units from high-end Canon strobes to more affordable third-party options like Youngnuo. They mention the practicality of these flashes for small corporate headshots and the importance of understanding how a single flash affects a photo. The video aims to teach manual mode shooting to gain control over the shot's lighting, mentioning the quick firing speed of flashes compared to camera frame readouts. The concept of sync speed is introduced, explaining its impact on photography when the shutter speed is faster than the flash's ability to synchronize with the camera's sensor.

05:01

🔍 Understanding Flash Settings and Sync Speed

The speaker delves into the technical aspects of flash photography, focusing on sync speed and how it affects image exposure. They explain that sync speed is the maximum shutter speed that allows the entire sensor to be exposed at once, which is crucial for avoiding dark bands in photos taken with flash. The tutorial suggests methods to determine a camera's sync speed through online research or by conducting test shots at various shutter speeds. The speaker also shares personal rules for using flash, emphasizing the control over ambient and flash light through settings like shutter speed, ISO, and aperture.

10:04

🎥 Flash Photography Techniques and Experimentation

The speaker provides practical advice on flash photography, discussing how to manipulate flash power and shutter speed to balance ambient and flash light. They explain the impact of flash duration on moving subjects and how adjusting flash power can help freeze motion. The tutorial includes tips on using the flash's zoom function and bouncing light off ceilings or walls for softer illumination. The speaker shares their starting settings for flash photography and encourages experimentation with different light ratios and power settings to achieve desired results.

15:07

📷 Advanced Flash Photography and Future Tutorials

The speaker concludes the tutorial by emphasizing the importance of practice and experimentation with flash photography. They discuss advanced techniques such as bouncing light off various surfaces, using modifiers like softboxes and umbrellas, and the creative potential of off-camera flash. The speaker also hints at future tutorials that will explore these topics in more depth, inviting viewers to engage with the content by leaving comments and subscribing for updates.

Keywords

💡Flash Photography

Flash photography refers to the use of artificial light sources, typically flash units or strobes, to illuminate a scene. In the video, the presenter discusses the basics of flash photography, including the use of different flash units and how they can enhance a photograph by providing additional light. The video emphasizes the importance of understanding how flash interacts with camera settings to achieve desired lighting effects.

💡Sync Speed

Sync speed is the fastest shutter speed that can be used while still allowing the entire sensor to be exposed to light from a flash at the same time. The video explains that exceeding the sync speed can result in partially dark images due to the way the camera's shutter mechanism works. The presenter illustrates this concept by taking test shots at different shutter speeds to demonstrate the effects of sync speed on flash photography.

💡Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is the length of time that the camera's shutter remains open during an exposure. In the context of the video, the presenter discusses how shutter speed affects the amount of ambient light captured in a photograph when using flash. Shutter speed is crucial for balancing the light from the flash with the available ambient light, as slower speeds allow more ambient light to enter the camera.

💡Aperture

Aperture refers to the size of the opening in a camera lens through which light passes to enter the camera. The video explains that aperture controls both the amount of flash and ambient light that reaches the camera sensor. By adjusting the aperture, one can control the overall exposure and the depth of field in a photograph, which is particularly important when using flash to ensure proper illumination of the subject.

💡ISO

ISO is a setting on a camera that determines the sensitivity of the camera's sensor to light. In the video, the presenter mentions that ISO affects both flash and ambient light, and by adjusting it, one can control the overall exposure of the photograph. A lower ISO setting results in less noise but requires more light, while a higher ISO setting makes the sensor more sensitive to light but can introduce noise.

💡Flash Power

Flash power refers to the intensity of the light emitted by a flash unit. The video discusses how adjusting the flash power setting can change the brightness of the flash, with lower power settings resulting in less intense light and longer battery life. The presenter explains that each change in flash power fraction corresponds to a change in brightness by one stop, similar to adjustments in aperture or ISO.

💡High-Speed Sync

High-speed sync (HSS) is a feature that allows photographers to use faster shutter speeds than the camera's normal sync speed, thus overcoming the limitations of traditional flash synchronization. The video briefly mentions HSS as a way to shoot with much faster shutter speeds, but it is noted that this topic will be covered in more detail in a future video.

💡Bouncing Flash

Bouncing flash is a technique where the light from a flash is directed onto a surface, such as a ceiling or wall, to soften and diffuse the light before it reaches the subject. The video demonstrates how bouncing the flash off different surfaces can create a more pleasing and softer light, which is less harsh than direct flash. This technique is shown to be effective even when the flash is mounted on the camera.

💡Manual Mode

Manual mode on a camera allows the photographer to have full control over the camera settings, including aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The video emphasizes the importance of shooting in manual mode when using flash, as it enables the photographer to understand and control how the flash interacts with these settings to achieve the desired lighting effects.

💡TTL Mode

TTL (Through The Lens) mode is an automatic setting on many cameras that measures the light passing through the lens and adjusts the flash output accordingly. While the video does not go into detail about TTL mode, it is mentioned in contrast to manual mode, suggesting that manual mode provides more control and understanding of how flash affects the final image.

Highlights

Introduction to flash photography basics

Experience with various flash units from Canon to Profoto and Youngnuo

Advantages of using third-party flashes like Youngnuo for corporate headshots

Portability of flash photography setup with all equipment fitting into one bag

Understanding how a single flash affects a photo and its settings

Benefits of using flash units: lower ISO, higher shutter speed, cleaner image

Explanation of flash speed and its impact on image exposure

Difference between global shutter and rolling shutter cameras in flash photography

Manual mode for flash photography to gain control over light settings

Sync speed concept and its importance in flash photography

Demonstration of sync speed effects through test shots

Methods to find your camera's sync speed

Rules for using flash: shutter speed for ambient light, ISO and aperture for flash and ambient

Flash power settings and their impact on battery life and recycle time

Understanding flash duration and its effect on fast-moving subjects

Techniques for dispersing flash light using the flash head

Practical tips for bouncing flash off ceilings and walls for softer light

Setting up initial flash photography with recommended camera and flash settings

Adjusting shutter speed and flash power to balance ambient and flash light

Using flash to overpower ambient light for a controlled look

Balancing ambient and flash light for a natural look

Final thoughts on mastering flash photography through practice and experimentation

Transcripts

This week I'll show you the basics of flash photography.

I've owned and used many faster units over the years from the really expensive

Canon strobes right through to the Profoto units I now use the cheaper

third-party Youngnuo flashes I have three of them

I have remotes for them and they work really well one thing I've found is with

these cheaper third-party units I do have to change the batteries a little

bit more often but for doing small corporate head shoots they work

perfectly I can fit all of the flashes and cameras into one bag and the stands

and soft boxes into a tripod bag giving me a very portable flash photography

setup but in saying all this you do need to know how a single flash will affect

your photo and how changing the settings will affect the flash in that photo a

flash unit also known as a strobe helps to put more light on your subject when

done properly you can decrease your ISO increase your shutter speed giving you a

much cleaner image a flash fires quickly and I mean really quickly and when you

see flashes filmed sometimes you'll see part of the frame as normal and then

part of the frame overexposed with that flash this just shows that the flash is

faster than a readout of a single frame this doesn't happen on cameras with

global shutters but I'm talking about videos that read from top to bottom even

though there are TTL or through the lens modes on your flash or some automatic

mode I'm going to show you how to shoot in manual mode when you understand how

the flash works in conjunction with shutter speed and aperture you can gain

control of everything and you can control the shot and make it look

exactly how you want now there are a few things that you need to understand when

shooting with flash units and the first one is sync speed sync speed refers to

the fastest shutter speed you can have in your camera when the sensor is

exposed as a whole in one go so basically the way a shutter works is

that you have one shutter that exposes the sensor to light and the nother one

that covers it up these may be mechanical or electronic at certain

shutter speeds the rear shutter will start to close before the front curtain

has finished opening and this is why if you go over a certain shutter speed your

start to get part of the shot really dark and the other part exposed for the

flash in these examples I took this first one below the sink speed the

second one at the sink speed and the third one over the sink speed I did take

a fourth one as well that was twice the sink speed so you can see the faster

your shutter is than the sink speed the more of the shot that will be obscured

by the shutter from the flash when you start to see these black strips in your

shots the flash is basically fired and only been exposed to part of the sensor

as the shutter mechanism is covering the darker part of the shot so the shutter

sync speed just means the fastest shutter speed that the camera has the

hole of the sensor exposed in one moment enough for a flash to be fired and not

to be obscured now it does seem a little bit counterintuitive because you think

that the faster the shutter speed the more likely the flash is to fill that

shorter exposure time but due to the way that the shutter works it limits the

fastest shutter speed that you can use which then is actually a lot slower than

the duration of the flash and there is a function called high speed sync and this

enables you to shoot with much faster shutter speeds but this is a subject for

another video now there are a couple of ways you can find the sync speed for

your camera one is to Google it and the other one is to take the same test shots

as I just have so you'd fire it maybe at one one hundredth of a second one one

fiftieth of a second one one 80th of a second when two hundredth of a second

and one 250th of a second and maybe 1/3 20th of a second once you start seeing

the black strip you know that you've gone over the sync speed for your camera

so then just take it back to the shutter speed where you don't see any of this

black strip just make a note of this shutter speed and then don't ever take

the shutter speed faster than this so I have a few rules I stick to when using a

flash and if you think of your settings like this you'll be able to really

control the flash and ambient light in your camera and in your photographs you

basically break your light into ambient light and flash light now you may want

to cut out most of the ambient light you may want a mixture of the two or you may

just want to use the flat just to fill the shadows slightly for

any of these scenarios I always think of my settings in the following way your

shutter speed is much slower than the duration of the flash so think of it as

just controlling your ambient light this is because no matter how slow or fast

the shutter speed is up to the sync speed of course it won't be as fast as

the flash so whenever the shutter is open

it'll take in all of the flash light but the longer you leave your exposure the

more ambient light you'll let into the camera your ISO and aperture controlled

both flash and ambient light this is because with aperture you're increasing

or decreasing the size of the hole that the light can get through and with ISO

you're changing the application of the signal from the sensor so these control

the overall exposure of your photograph and then we have the flash power setting

this comes in fractions one over one being full power one over two being half

power one over for being quarter power and so on and so forth right down to one

128th the lower the power the longer the batteries will last in your flash and

also the quicker the recycle time one other thing to take into

consideration is that for each fraction change that you make in the power on the

flash this changes the flash brightness by one stop so one quarter to one half

would be the same as f five point six to f4 or ISO 100 to ISO 200 and one quarter

to one eight on the flash would be the same as f five point six to f8 or ISO

100 to ISO fifty might be wondering why I haven't included shutter speed and the

reason for this is that really short duration of the flash no matter how long

or short the shutter speed is as long as you're below the sync speed it'll take

in all of the power of the flash so it doesn't matter what shutter speed you're

at the flash power will be exactly the same and for now this is all you need to

know about your flash you can have it in manual mode and you're gonna change the

fraction of power that you're going to use so as long as you understand stops

of light and you know how app shutter speed and ISO work together this

fractional change should seem quite familiar if you want to learn more about

aperture shutter speed or ISO click on the eye in the corner this will take you

to another of my tutorials one other thing to take into

consideration is the flash duration especially if you have things moving

fast through your frame the closer to full power that you are on your flash

unit the longer the duration of the flash so if something's moving fast

through your shot it's more likely to blur in this highly sophisticated test I

take the first shot at full power and the second at 1/64 of the power the

first is blurred and the second isn't so the lower the power the shorter the

duration of the flash don't worry too much about this for now

just know that if your subject starts blurring due to motion when you're using

a flash you may have to reduce the power which will reduce the duration of the

flash more likely freezing your subject and do remember to increase your

aperture or ISO to compensate for this decrease in flash power those flashes do

you have a zoom function they tend to go from about 24 millimetres right through

to around about 100 to 105 millimeters all this is doing is widening or

focusing that light with the Frenette built on to the front you don't have to

worry too much about this for now just make sure that the zoom follows what

zoom you're using on your camera so say if you're shooting with a 24 millimeter

lens make sure it's at 24 millimetres if you're shooting at 70 make sure the zoom

on the flash is at 70 so in knowing this I start off with the following settings

I put the shutter speed at around about 1/100 of a second my iso at 100 aperture

at f 5.6 and i set the flash to manual and 1/4 of the power I set my white

balance to flash if you're using a mirrorless camera you'll have to turn

live view display off to see what you're shooting once you've done this take a

test shot one quick tip to get much better light from your Flash instantly

is to tip the head of the light up towards the ceiling as long as you've

got a white ceiling it'll give you

a really nice light this will bounce the flash off the ceiling making the flash a

much bigger light source and making the light a lot softer it will dissipate the

intensity so you may have to increase the flash power if needed then you want

to play around with your shutter speed and flash power to get the right ratio

between the two sources of light once you've got this you can adjust your

aperture to get a good overall exposure and this is where personal taste comes

into play you might like more flash or you may prefer more ambient light but

knowing how to change each light source is critical to get what you want if I

want more ambient light I'll lower my shutter speed if I want less ambient

light I'll increase my shutter speed you just need to make sure when increasing

your shutter speed you don't go faster than the sync speed if I want just the

flash to be brighter I'll increase the flash power if I want the flash to be

darker I'll decrease its power so very quickly you can dial in your settings by

just thinking of shutter speed for ambient lights and flash power for flash

so I've taken a sequence of self-portraits changing the settings so

you can see what I mean when I change the shutter speed the flash amount

doesn't change as it fires off much faster than the shutter speed I've set

so whether I'm shooting at 125th of a second or 1/2 hundredth of a second it

doesn't matter the flash power stays the same when I change the aperture you can

see it changes the intensity of the flash this just changes the size of the

aperture which changes the amount of that flash coming into your camera now

if I do the same shot but with some ambient light in the frame look how the

ambient light reduces as the shutter speed increases but the flash intensity

stays the same when I change just the aperture you can see the flash changes

as well as the ambient light next I keep the aperture and the shutter speed the

same and then change the power intensity of the flash obviously the closer to

full power that you get the more overexposed the shot will become I tried

to keep my ISO to 100 and when you're using a

this is pretty easy to do because there's lots of lights about and

obviously the lower the ISO the less noise in your photographs

so when dialing in my settings if I want there to be very little ambient light

and all flashlights I'll have my shutter speed said at the max sync speed which

on the a7 three is one two hundredth of a second and then I'll increase the

power of the flash and then control the overall exposure with aperture you can

see in this shot the lamp on the left side has been completely overpowered by

the flash and it looks quite dark outside if I want to blend ambient and

flash light what I'll do is I'll decrease my shutter speed and then play

around with both shutter speed and aperture if I then need to increase or

decrease the flash compared to the ambient light what I'll do is change the

power on the flash now you can see the light from the lamp on the left-hand

side and the sunlight is more balanced with the flash light all I need to do

now is change my aperture to change my overall exposure because I've balanced

the ambient light outside and the flashlight inside together to where I

want them to be it does take a while to get your head around this but once you

do you'll be able to dial in those settings really quickly and then you'll

have ultimate control over your flash and ambient light you'll also be able to

get really consistent results that you wouldn't do in maybe an auto mode or TTL

mode now this is just an introduction to flash photography

but if you understand these basic principles you'll be well on your way to

getting good photos with flashes the next thing to think about is how you use

the flash head to disperse that light if you have it pointing directly at your

subject it'll be a really harsh hard light because that light source is

really small if you have one of these flash units with a moveable head what

you want to try and do is bounce it off different surfaces in the room that

you're in as long as the surfaces aren't black they will bounce that light back

and they'll normally create a much bigger light source so in using the

basic principles that I've just taught you try tilting the head of the flash

towards a big wall or a big ceiling just to see how the light changes you can

grab a remember and use them as a subject or if

you have a remote shutter you can take photos of yourself this is direct

flashlight this is bounced off the ceiling this is bounced off the left

wall and this is bounced off the right-hand wall so you can see even with

the flash on the camera you can find big white surfaces or big surfaces that you

can bounce the flash off and get much better softer light now these are just

the basics but there are many more aspects to flash photography for

instance you can bounce the lights like I've just shown you you can used soft

boxes you can use umbrellas you can use really big soft boxes then if you have a

remote system of firing the flash off camera you can start angling the flash

compared to the angle that you're shooting at and as well as all of this

you can start using multiple flash heads in a single shot so there is so much to

learn and that's about it like I always say you just need to go out and take

photographs with your camera and with your flash to really understand the

basic principles of it if you have to re-watch the video to really understand

these basic fundamentals and before long you'll be using your flash in really

creative ways so over the next few months I'm going to make more tutorials

on flash photography as it's such a big subject if you are into flash

photography or there's something I missed leave a comment below it'll be

great to hear your thoughts and it'll be great to hear how you get on with

Flash's in your photography as always if you like what you see give me a thumbs

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