There we go again.

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Michael Willems

On the BBC news front page recently:

You will notice the flash warning. Lobbying in England by an epilepsy group has resulted in this warning being displayed in all media whenever there is flash.

Because a few people react to flash. Only a few, and only when they do not take their meds, and only if the flashing is repeated at a rate of around 25 Hz, of course; but that’s beside the point, apparently.

It is a shame that there is no regard for reasonableness in these knee-jerk reactions. I can see the day that flash is illegal anywhere in a British public space… preposterous. Now if they said “we prohibit repeated strong stroboscopic flash at a rate of 25 Hz, deliberately aimed at large audiences”, it would perhaps be a different matter. Perhaps.

But superstition rules. Flash in news. Cell phones at gas stations. WiFi and Peanut butter in schools. Vaccinations. All of these represent either some danger or some possible but unproven danger or no danger, just superstition. But when there is danger, the question is “how much? ” And it is there that policy makers fail. Obviously we accept danger in life, otherwise we would all live in tents in open fields, ride bicycles limited to 2 km/h, and wear helmets 24/7, and have police officers assigned to every family 24/7. We would not have airplanes either, or electricity or cars. Clearly, that is nonsensical: we accept risk. And the risk involved in flash photography is extremely minimal. So carry on flashing, speedlighters: no fear.

A reader asks

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Michael Willems

A reader asks:

I need your device on buying a secondary speed light . I currently have the canon 430 Ex 3 RT speedlite. I wish to purchase a second speedlite. Should I purchase the Canon flagship or should I buy a secondary 430 ? Are the 430’s more than enough for off camera work? Does it make sense to purchase a speedlite with more power? Any advice would be helpful ?

Well. “It depends”.

If your camera cannot use its pop-up flash to drive other flashes, then buy a 580/600, the flash that can be a “master”. The 430 can only be a “slave”.

Also, the 580/600 are more powerful. And they can rotate a full 360º, which is important when bouncing.

Or… you could do it all in manual mode with all remote flashes. using radio triggers like Pocketwizards. In that case, buy cheap flashes, like 430s or the even cheaper Yongnuo clones.

The choice is yours.

____

The Pro Flash Manual gives you more information: see http://learning.photography.

Drama.

Posted on May 21, 2016 by Michael Willems

On a bright cloudy day today, I looked like this:

Wait. A bright day?

Yes, and that is the point of dramatic flash photos. I taught a workshop today, a hands on workshop, on the three basic modes of flash: “party”, “studio” and “outdoors”. This takes time, and “doing it” is the only way to learn. Today’s two students really learned.

Yes, in a few hours you can master flash. You still, of course, have to practice and refine, but you will do that yourself after the course. Contact me if you are interested in a private “Dutch Masters” course. A few hours and you are master: see http://learning.photography for more details.

In the mean time: one tip to my readers. If you want to be extra dramatic as in the image above, and it is bright, you need a lot of flash to “nuke the sun”. To achieve that, remove the modifiers (e.g. the softbox or umbrella) and use direct flash.

Just one of the things you learn from me, my books, and my courses.

Summer is (almost) here

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Michael Willems

And with that, go outside and bring your flash!

You can learn from me this coming Monday, in Burlington. It promises to be great weather. Or you can learn in Brantford on Sunday, even earlier.

Either way: learn how to use a flash in outside light. To do that, buy my flash book, come to these courses, and in all cases, start here:

Manual
100 ISO
1/250 sec (or 1/200)
f/8

Then check background, and adjust only aperture. If flash is not bright enough, turn up power, remove modifiers, or bring it closer.

And have fun.

Here’s an example of outdoors on a sunny day:

Benefits: You get no annoying sunlight, and you avoid those horrible overexposed backgrounds. And you can direct the light. Control is everything!

Just now in Ajax.

Posted on May 14, 2016 by Michael Willems

So I just taught part three of a flash course in Ajax, Ontario.

In an excellent day, Ajax Photography Club creative Director Ron Pereux had arranged five of these:

Yup, brides!

And with very simple equipment we did some fun, creative shots using gels, snoots, softboxes (the excellent Honlphoto gear – use checkout code “Willems” for 10% off), umbrellas, and grids.

Some of the work needs some post-finishing when conditions are not right. Look at the backdrop:

And look at the finished product. Yup, a slightly more traditional photo:

And a more edgy photo, the type young brides are more likely to love, full of feeling:

Or even edgier:

Shooting brides is fun, and today I was able to help the Ajax club with a lot of very practical easy to put into practice tips and techniques. Flash photography is so easy once you know it, and so rewarding once you know how to do it well. Take a course – if not from me (http://learning.photography), then from someone else who knows his or her business!

Workshop and then some

Posted on May 5, 2016 by Michael Willems

So tonight I did a great workshop in North Toronto. Great because the six participants were very enthusiastic and they really, really got it. That’s how it goes when you:

Hear it a second or third time
Practice it yourself rather than just listen.

And that is what tonight was about.

You can have a lot of fun with one flash. In this case, one flash with a grid. Off-camera and fired with Pocketwizards.

Two flashes, one with an umbrella on me, and one with a chocolate Honlphoto gel on the background, gives us yours sincerely:

You like that? Then learn some flash techniques from me, any time. It’s all just technique, as Peter West once told me. True say!

Learning Flash: Two New Opportunities

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Michael Willems

A good knowledge of flash lighting is the key to artistic and other professional photography. Good news: I have two new opportunities for Flash learning!

Outdoors flash: essential for artistic photos

Both of these hands-on courses will be held in (or as the case may be, outside of) my Brantford studio.

Sunday May 1, 11AM: Studio Shooting

Sunday May 22, 11AM: Mastering Outdoors Flash

Both have limited availability: 4 and 7 students maximum, respectively. So sign up, and meet you in Brantford, 20 minutes west of Hamilton.

Raw facts

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Michael Willems

..and another reason to shoot RAW: several functions in Adobe Lightroom do not work, or do not work consistently, when you shoot JPG pictures.

These include

Generating the XML files that optionally copy the information separately for each picture in the catalog;
Profile corrections in Lens Corrections.

There’s probably more. So if you needed more reasons to shoot RAW, there you go.

On another note: how many flashes do you need for creative flash photos?

One. Like here. A speedlight with a Honlphoto honeycomb grid attached to it.

Or two:

And there you go!

Don’t Fear High ISO’s

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Michael Willems

Last night I shot a kickboxing tournament in Vaughan, Ontario. So the food was all Italian, and I must say, rather good. As was the wine. I used a flash of course; bounced behind me, as usual. A few samples:

But I chose to set my camera to 3200 ISO. For three reasons:

The first thought when doing flash is about the non-flash, ambient part of your photo. That means 1/250 sec, 3200 ISO, f/2.8 on a 70-200mm lens.
The flash was bouncing against a very high ballroom ceiling. That works fine but needs a high ISO.
I needed a fairly fast shutter speed to freeze motion a little.

That’s why. You see the logic? And as you look at those shots, I hope you realize that high ISOs are nothing to be afraid of.

A well exposed photo at high ISO is always better than an underexposed shot at low ISO, remember that!

POSTSCRIPT: I shot these from my seat at the dinner table. Not wanting to get in the way of the hired pros. And wanting to enjoy my dinner.

Tip: I am available for private training, as most of you know, whether local or worldwide using Google Hangouts. And if you want to start by doing it yourself, get my e-books from http://learning.photography.

Flash…

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Michael Willems

…I ran a Flash workshop today. All seven participants had a good time, and more, they all learned how to make a professional headshot like this:

That’s a standard headshot. Join me in my studio any time to learn how to do this, and much more!

And after you learn a standard portrait, you do more. And that includes things like this:

A portrait does not always have to include the subject’s entire head.

Zoom in (click on the picture) and see how much more personal that looks. See?

And the desaturated sharp look? A modern look that goes well for men. My “checklists” book (see http://learning.photography) contains the details of this Lightroom preset.

SPEEDLIGHTER.CA

The "Go-To" Instructional Photography Blog, by Michael Willems

Category Archives: Light