What does this mean? Well for starters this encompasses any situation where you are lighting a situation with something else than the flash "on" you camera. Because as you may have realized that isn't always the best lighting choice. So sure you could say that using ambient light or the sun or just a reflective surface.
But today we will focus on a controlled light, and to keep it simple we will be talking about small strobes (flashes).
Honestly you do need some gear:
- a Hot shoe flash
- a triggering system
The triggers:
As you can imagine you can find several types of triggers and flashes. The triggers can range from 30 bucks to several hundred. If you want to get professional level results, never missed pictures you probably should invest in a pocket wizard they are expensive but a must if you want to get serious.
So basically the triggers are a two element set. On one hand you have a transmitter, that is connected to your camera. The easiest is to set it on your camera hot shoe. Most of the more expensive DSR cameras will have another way or connection.
The second element is the receiver. This is connected to your flash. The simpler triggers like the phottix actually just have a hot shoe connector and you just slip the flash onto it. The pocket wizards require flashes that have a pc connector.
The flash:
This is where it can get interesting. You can go with a very effective and simple flash like the Vivitar.
These Flashes are very simple to use and the value is great. I would easily recommend buying two Vivitar at 90 bucks versus one Canon 580EXii at 400 bucks. Now don't get me wrong the Canon is feature rich and a great flash. But you can have a lot of fun with the simpler Vivitar! If you want to start this you can get into it for under 120 bucks. Seeing how much nicer your pictures will be and just the flexibility that will be available to you you might just be thank full when you do make the leap to off camera flashes.
Ok SO now you have made the leap... you bought every thing you need... you picked up a flash and a trigger. Set it all up... the best way to start it to set your flash to Auto exposure... your flash will "see" how far your subject is and adjust it's power to expose it right. The best thing is to set your camera to the same aperture as your flash. Set them both to say f4. Set your camera to manual, and set the aperture. Now look into it and adjust your shutter speed to expose your background. Then fire a shot... you might have to adjust your shutter speed to get the best result. Try this with something that is not moving... not an action shot. You will wonder why just set your aperture. You have to disconnect from your regular views now. Think of it thiis way: the pulse of light is at a set duration, so even if you set your shutter speed to 1 second the flash won't affect that, you are just delaying the available light.
Now you have to try and see... this is a new concept so you need to play with it... have fun experimenting... faster shutter speeds will blacken the background... add the sun in the back and you will separate your subject from your background.
Like I said have fun with it!
But today we will focus on a controlled light, and to keep it simple we will be talking about small strobes (flashes).
Honestly you do need some gear:
- a Hot shoe flash
- a triggering system
The triggers:
As you can imagine you can find several types of triggers and flashes. The triggers can range from 30 bucks to several hundred. If you want to get professional level results, never missed pictures you probably should invest in a pocket wizard they are expensive but a must if you want to get serious.
So basically the triggers are a two element set. On one hand you have a transmitter, that is connected to your camera. The easiest is to set it on your camera hot shoe. Most of the more expensive DSR cameras will have another way or connection.
The second element is the receiver. This is connected to your flash. The simpler triggers like the phottix actually just have a hot shoe connector and you just slip the flash onto it. The pocket wizards require flashes that have a pc connector.
The flash:
This is where it can get interesting. You can go with a very effective and simple flash like the Vivitar.
These Flashes are very simple to use and the value is great. I would easily recommend buying two Vivitar at 90 bucks versus one Canon 580EXii at 400 bucks. Now don't get me wrong the Canon is feature rich and a great flash. But you can have a lot of fun with the simpler Vivitar! If you want to start this you can get into it for under 120 bucks. Seeing how much nicer your pictures will be and just the flexibility that will be available to you you might just be thank full when you do make the leap to off camera flashes.
Ok SO now you have made the leap... you bought every thing you need... you picked up a flash and a trigger. Set it all up... the best way to start it to set your flash to Auto exposure... your flash will "see" how far your subject is and adjust it's power to expose it right. The best thing is to set your camera to the same aperture as your flash. Set them both to say f4. Set your camera to manual, and set the aperture. Now look into it and adjust your shutter speed to expose your background. Then fire a shot... you might have to adjust your shutter speed to get the best result. Try this with something that is not moving... not an action shot. You will wonder why just set your aperture. You have to disconnect from your regular views now. Think of it thiis way: the pulse of light is at a set duration, so even if you set your shutter speed to 1 second the flash won't affect that, you are just delaying the available light.
Now you have to try and see... this is a new concept so you need to play with it... have fun experimenting... faster shutter speeds will blacken the background... add the sun in the back and you will separate your subject from your background.
Like I said have fun with it!
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