Hello, my name is Martin Bissig.
I am an action and outdoor photographer based in Switzerland,
and I am a Canon Ambassador.
In the last episode,
I gave you four tips on how you can improve your action photography skills around your house.
Tip number 4 was to use flash for creative photography.
So here's the reveal of how I got that shot.
As most of you were guessing right, of course,
that kids were never in danger or not even close to fire.
So how did I get that effect off the burning flames behind their back?
There's this nice little device.
What it does.
You can upload images on that stick,
and when you push the button it will like the stick and it will actually paint the
image you uploaded,
so you need to walk behind the subject,
and with a long exposure,
it will paint that picture you uploaded on their backs, so this is
how I got that nice little effect.
But that was only the first part of the image.
The second part was, I needed to get a proper exposure on myself checked.
Therefore, I used remote controlled flash.
I set my camera on self-timer for 10 seconds, I released the camera, which gave me
enough time to actually walk behind the subject. And as soon as the shutter opens, the flash fires,
which actually lights my subjects.
And by that I could walk behind them to draw the image off the flames.
You see, when I started with photography almost 30 years back,
I was very limited when it came to flash photography with shooting actions because
the fastest speed I could use on my camera to use the flash,
was 1/250.
Why? I'll show you now.
Up to 1/250,
the film or the sensor is fully visible before the second curtain closes.
The faster the shutter speed,
the faster closes the second curtain at the smaller the area where light can get to the sensor.
If we add flash,
it looks like the following when shooting with a 1/250 or slower.
The complete sensor or film is visible, the flash fires and we get a fully lit shot.
But with a faster shutter speed, the second curtain already closes
but only then the flash fires.
We will get a photo where only
the upper part is correctly exposed.
Where as the lower part is too dark.
Now, thanks to modern technology and these two little devices,
I am capable now off shooting high-speed sync.
What does it mean?
I can shoot up to 1/8000.
So all I need is this transmitter and this flash as a receiver,
and I'm completely free to choose my shutter speed as fast as I want.
And still, I am able to use flash for my action shots.
How to start work? Here it goes.
When shooting with high-speed sync,
the light that is coming out of the flash is burning for a longer time.
It's like turning on a torch during the whole process of the exposure.
The result is a perfectly exposed image with a fast shutter speed.
One of the most important things to me when it comes to equipment is the size and the weight.
And with this tiny little setup,
I'm completely free to travel around the world wherever I want and use flash
photography with high-speed sync.
But why do you need to have a remote flash to use in your actual photography?
So here's a couple of reasons:
Reason number 1)
I can freeze the action when I'm using a long shot.
Reason number 2) to use remote flash.
It gives a three dimensional look when the additional light source comes from a different angle.
Reason number 3)
My athletes usually wear helmets when riding,
so I use my flash as a fill-light to lighten up the riders.
Reason number 4)
A remote flash allows me to shoot straight against the sun and still have myself checked properly in light.
So the main advantages of using this setup here is that I'm completely free to
choose the shutter speed.
As I said,
I could go up to 1/8000 and still use flash in my actual photography
but it does have any downsides when it comes to high-speed single flash photography?
Yes, it does.
The amount of light I get out of this device is much less than I would use
in a regular setup.
So, for example,
when I'm using this device with an aperture of 4.0,
the light travels up to 15 meters. When I use it in high-speed sync,
the light only travels 2.5 meters,
which means Ie need to get much closer to the object.
Well, maybe you're asking yourself: why go through the hassle and use remote-controlled flash when you can actually
put the flash straight on your camera?
If you put the flash on your camera,
light is being reflected in the same direction as you shoot,
which gives kind of a boring and flat light.
Therefore, if you place your flash in another direction,
it's being reflected from the object from another angle,
which makes the picture look much more interesting.
So the cool thing is,
if you already own one of the latest flashlights,
which ones, you can see down in the description.
All you need is this transmitter that sends the signal from the camera directly to the flash.
So why not get one of these transmitters and try out new ways to
shoot action shots with high-speed sync.
Until then, have fun taking pictures and stay safe.