Jared Polin, FroKnowsPhoto.com.
Are you new to flash photography, have you just picked up your first flash or have you
had one for a while, but you're not sure how to use it, well with the help of a professional
photographer Adam Lerner we have created a three hour comprehensive video guide that
is gonna finally unlock the mystery of flash photography.
With our combined years a flash experience, we're gonna cut down the learning curve understanding
the fundamentals of flash photography to days, not months or years.
So, what are we gonna cover in this guide?
We're gonna cover everything from how to set up a basic flash kit to how to trigger your
flash, as well as help you fully understand how shutter speed, ISO and aperture all affect
your flash exposure.
For the detail table of contents please see below as we'll be covering a ton of stuff.
This guide is gonna give you the confidence to take out your flash in any situation and
quickly build the proper exposure using the fundamentals and tricks that we use every
day.
We don't just sit here and tell you how to do things, we demonstrate, you get to join
us on real-world photo shoots, both in the studio and out on location where we take you
through the process from the first test exposure to the proper exposure.
We're gonna demonstrate some amazing things that you can do with flash photography.
You're just gonna have to see it to believe it.
So, if you'd like to purchase this guide you can do so down below as a digital download
or DVD and if you decide to pick it up today, I'm gonna include a free copy of the flash
photography field guide, so let's take a sneak peek inside.
So let's look at something again that's very basic, it's the flash to subject distance
and what do we have set up.
Well, what we've done is we've put the camera on the tripod.
We're gonna put you, our subject, on a stool over here and we've got our light on a stick
and the whole purpose of this, is that the subject and the camera are not gonna change
position.
And the exposure's, all gonna stay the same.
Exactly, all we're gonna do is we're gonna change the flash to subject distance by moving
our Light source either farther or closer to our subject.
Alright, so what we've done we've already locked in our settings.
This is just to show you what's gonna happen when I sit here, the camera stays there and
then the flash moves.
So, let's see it.
All right, let's do it.
So let's start off with that perfect exposure here, perfect.
Alright, that's a really nice exposure, so let's see what happens when we move our light
around and I'm gonna put it right on top of you practically.
And pretty much we know that it's going to be more powerful, because it's closer.
Let's see what happens, wow, so what's happened now is that all the highlights are blown out
on your face.
So now, let's go something really extreme.
We'll take this thing, we'll just put it on back here and we'll make sure is facing you,
there we go okay and same type of deal.
Alright, so we've got a dark expose.
Now I want to demonstrate something that's pretty - pretty cool.
We want to take a white background and show you what's gonna happen as we move just the
subject and the flash at the same intervals from the background.
We want to try to get it from white too grey to almost totally dark.
This is something that you guys will be able to do with any type of background at home,
if you have that type of distance.
So we're gonna do this, we have our settings locked in, we're gonna go over how we arrived
at those after we take the sample shot, because right now we're focused on how to get that
background to change from white to dark.
So Adam let's go and do this.
Okay and like Jared said, the cool thing about this is that our exposure is gonna remain
constant throughout this entire shoot.
Okay, great, look at that we've got almost a pure white background.
Alright, so it's white and that's -- that's gonna come in handy for taking portraits,
it's clean, you want to find something like that's great for a model, but what's gonna
happen when we move and we want to get something maybe not so white, we want it off white,
what do we need to change and if we're not changing anything other than our distance
what's gonna happen.
So keeping the exposure the same why don't we move away from our background.
Alright, so let's move this we already have what we think we're gonna do.
Okay, right here at the camera, great and look at that.
We've got what appears to be kind of a medium gray background.
As we continue with the very basics of flash exposure, we're at aperture.
Trying to figure out what aperture is gonna to control in terms of flash photography and
just figuring all this out.
Adam, what we have for us?
Well aperture is gonna to control the amount a light coming into the camera and right now
we've got this huge light source behind us over here.
We're going to be shooting into that light source and we're gonna see what we can do
with aperture to try to control that light source.
So in most situations they tell us never to shoot into the light like the Sun never have
the Sun at the subjects back and shoot into it.
In this case, the flash is gonna save?
Absolutely, because we're gonna stop down that sunlight and then we're gonna throw some
flash on the subject to light them real nice.
All just by changing the aperture?
All just by changing the aperture.
Alright, I believe you, let's try and make it happen.
Okay, here we go.
So the Sun is behind me.
Yep, in essence.
Exactly take a small step to your left, perfect and we're going to start this off at F/4,
alright, here we go.
Well, so here we have an incredibly overexposed image.
So, it's really really bright, not just because of the background, but because of the flash.
So, the light is - the Sun's there, but the flash is there we can see, well it's not closed,
but it's not that far off.
But what's happening is the sun is just burning all the highlights, there's no detail over
there and I want the detail of that incredible mane of hair that you have there, so what
am I gonna do, I want to limit the amount of light coming to my camera and in order
to do that I'm going to close down my aperture.
So, you go from F/4 to what we going to F/8 next?
Let's try in F/8.
So we're going to going to F/8 that's gonna let less light in.
Wow, that's a really cool exposure.
Adam what a fantastic day we had here at STEAM shooting, we recovered so many different options
that you can do with just a simple flash, an umbrella and a stand, what do you think
of today?
I think we got so much accomplished.
I feel really good about it.
We went from all different kinds of portraits from headshots, environmental portraits and
we mixed it all up, really cool.
And even throughout as a monkey wrench.
We didn't know what we're going to do.
It was a little tough to figure out, but we made it happen.
We blew out that background and made those photos great, it was a lot of fun and I think
that everybody watching this is really going to get into the mentality of what they need
to do with flash photography.
Absolutely, there is much as you want to know your settings all set to be flexible, you
have to roll with it, you have to be patient, take your time and most importantly, have
fun.
That's right, shoot, have fun, move on and that's what it's all about.
ADAM let's get out of here.
Exactly, if I wanted to shoot that light, let's say, across the room to do a hair light
on somebody.
I would zoom it all the way out, but when I want to shoot it into a big modifier like
this, I want this to be a nice widespread.
Very cool, so why don't we start shooting and see how it looks.
Okay.
Alright and so we just changed the light, we flipped it around, we didn't like how it
was bouncing in there, so let's get some sample shots to see how this works.
Alright, this far one off.
So Marie, if you don't mind, get back into position, there you go.
You're excited?
Perfect, you're looking right at us.
You're looking right at us, so make contact with us.
Okay and right at camera, great.
I see there's a major difference.
Now that you flipped it around, it looks so much softer, so much better, but the one thing
I noticed is that when she's reaching in we kinda cut her wrist of.
I didn't actually - I can't say we, it was kinda you, you are the one shooting it, but
you cut her wrist off, so there's no context there.
Right, you know one thing I want to do, right before we even get into the whole context
I am noticing noting that there's some ambience still mixing into our frame, that's probably
the last piece of this puzzle to get our exposure right.
So, what I'm gonna do here is, I'm in a fortieth of a second, I'm just gonna bum my shutter
speed up eightieth of a second.
I'm thinking about that speed, we're gonna kill that ambience.
I hope you enjoyed that sneak peek inside this flash guide.
I'm really looking forward to getting this information into your hands.
So, don't forget that you can purchase it down below as a digital download or DVD and
if you buy today, I'm going to include a free copy of the Flash Photography Field Guide.
So thank you guys very much for your time.
Jared Poland, FroKnowsPhoto.com.
See you.