In this video
I'll show you how to freeze fast-moving
subjects when combining flash and ambient light.
Hello I'm Gavin Hoey
and you're watching AdoramaTV
brought to you by Adorama
the camera store
that's got everything for us photographers
and with this video,
I'm going to show you how to use
High-Speed Sync flash to freeze action.
Now High-Speed Sync flash
has a couple of uses;
the first one is for a shallower depth of field.
I covered that in a previous video
and 'll find that on the Adorama Learning Center
and the other one is for freezing fast-moving subjects
and for that I need something really
fast moving, so I've come here to skatter room
and we've got Jack who's an amazing
BMX rider, as our subject today.
When I'm using flash normally
at my camera's flash sync speed
which is 1/250th of a second,
in my case, your mileage may vary,
I can get a good picture
if I want to get rid of the ambient light
but the minute I want to bring some of the ambient light
into the picture that's going to be recorded
along with the flash.
Now the flash will freeze action
but some of the light from the room
will also be recorded
and that can add a bit of smudging.
Well that's the theory.
To test it we need something really fast-moving.
We need a Jack,
so Jack are you ready?
Okay come on in.
Now that shows really dramatically
how both ambient light
and flash is being recorded
and the effect is quite impressive
and if that's the look you want to go for
perfect but in this case
I want to freeze the action.
Now the only way to do that is to get my shutter
speed higher than 1/250th of a second
but that's a limit of normal flash operation.
Unless you turn on high-speed sync.
Now luckily with my eVolv 400
and my R2 Pro trigger
all I have to do
is press the high-speed sync button
and now I can go beyond my flash sync speed.
How far should I go?
Well that's the first question
I got to figure out.
What shutter speed do I need
to freeze Jack in action?
I can make my life easier by trying to capture
Jack at the top of his wall ride
where he's moving the slowest
but with a best guess,
I reckon maybe 1/2000th two of a second
is my shutter speed of choice.
I'll do this without flash
just to show you how it looks,
without flash using the same settings
but a faster shutter speed.
Okay Jack are you ready?
Okay away you go!
Now these pictures are really dark
as I would expect because remember
I'm going to light Jack with the flash,
all I wanted to know was can I freeze him
at 1/2000th of a second
and the answer is yes,
so I know my shutter speed.
I know my aperture
because I'm going to use
the same one as before
and I'm left with the ISO.
Now the ISO is going to allow me
to drag more of the ambient light
in or reduce it down depending on your taste.
So at the moment
I'm on a reasonable ISO 400
I'm going to take my ISO
up a lot maybe 3200
and see how that looks
but before Jack does his run
let's just take a picture
of where he's going to be
and then I can assess the ambient light
that I'm recording
and at 3200
that's pretty good. I reckon
I can actually take it down a little bit
from there just personal taste,
let's maybe take it down
to 2000 ISO
That's a nice round number 2000 ISO,
1/2000th of a second,
that just makes sense to my simple mind,
so turn the flash on.
Remember Jack's being lit
by the flash,
high-speed sync flash,
but I can't meter this.
I couldn't get a flash meter out
and working out that way.
I need to do trial and error
and just by experience,
I reckon this is going to be a low flash power
maybe 1/128th power so right down at the bottom end
of the power range. Let's give that a try.
Jack are you ready?
Okay here we go.
Ooh nice one!
And there we go, so now we've got a great shot
with Jack frozen in air
lit by the flash
and some of the ambient light in as well.
Once I got my basic settings
I can jiggle them around slightly
but the most important thing is
to take more pictures,
so let's have another bash at that,
Jacky are you ready?
Okay I'm going to come a little bit closer
be a little bit more daring,
away we go.
So that worked really well.
We've got some great photos
if you want to find out more about Jack
check out his Instagram feed @jack.pike
and of course if you've enjoyed this video
leave me a comment below,
click on that Bell icon
to never miss one of our videos
and most importantly click on the subscribe button.
I'm Gavin Hoey,
thanks for watching.