Photography Blog DigitalPixels.net

Using manual flash with your DSLR. Part one Hardware. Radio triggers, flashes, optical triggers, sync voltage, hot shoe adapters, and more.

Consider if the subject in the foreground was holding a piece of the white background seamless paper next to their face with only the key and fill lights on. When the exposure for the face was correct the paper would be reproduced as white wouldn't it? Not 255.255.255 blown out white, but something in the range of 240s which makes it look like what it is, a piece of paper not the blazing sun.

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I got a 001B Manfrotto Light Stand - This is one of the lightest light stands around and it folds really small - perfect for travel. It is also tall enough to do well in most indoor situations. For outdoors, however this is not my initial choice, I'll be using VALs (Voice Activated Lightstands) in case I need to use a flash outdoors. I also leave the umbrella adapter on the stand.

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Freezing fast motion (AKA High Speed Photography), can give some pretty special photographic effects. High Speed Photography is used in physics, health research, sports and more. This guide describes how to capture super fast movements using ordinary camera gear and a little home made electronics. I will describes the setup I used the problems I encountered and what I did to solve or work around them.

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How to use lighting grids for professional studio photography

Using strip lighting in the studio

This is a clip from a full length video that will show you how to set up and begin to use your studio lighting

The swivel (or umbrella holder) is designed in a way that the umbrella does not go exactly 90 degrees into the shaft. It is tilted upwards a bit - this is done since the flash mounted on the swivel is not 100% aligned with the center of the umbrella. If the insert was angled at 90 degrees, light from the flash would hit only the top of part of the umbrella, creating uneven light.

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This video explains how the flash works on your camera and how it is controlled in photography to make correct exposures

Following the idea on Strobist, I add a sync port to my 580. I took some pictures during the process, hope it can provide some visual images for someone want to try it.

It's a pretty simple mod: get a 1/8 mono phone jack from Radio Shack, unscrew 4 screws at the bottom of the 580, unplug the only one cable, drill a hole at the side and stick the phone jack through, solder 2 wires to the center and side pin, and finally tighten the nut outside the flash.

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Here are a few lighting diagrams from recent studio shots :

Bare monobloc studio flash positioned behind model, camera left.

Monobloc via shoot-through umbrella close to model , camera right.

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This snoot making article has one of the best effort to result ratio. You usually use a snoot when you want only a small part of a scenario lighten, while keeping the rest of the scenario light free see the picture at the end of this article.

In this article Leann Wrightsman will show you how to make a "Snoot" for your speedlight flash with easy to find items you may even have around the house!

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