Speed Light Magic: Creating Your Own Quality Light

Light in all of its magical colors is what transforms the ordinary photograph into an extraordinary photograph. Without quality light your images will most likely become just a simple photograph of an object, but toss in a light source that enhances the moment with its flavor and strength of character, then what might otherwise turnout ordinary suddenly is transformed into something that captures the imagination. Quality Light then, is the driving force behind all great photographs. Photographers crave it, they seek it out, they live for those events when time, place, moment, and light blend to become something extraordinary. Nature and circumstance, however, do not always cooperate. Sometimes they fail completely to provide the kind of light required to create those special moments. When light failure happens, you can with a little help create your own quality light. You do so by employing the power and creative edge Speed Lights provide.

Not so long ago I avoided using speed lights. My excuse was "I prefer to shoot in natural light." The truth was, I was afraid of using them because I didn't understand how they worked. My understanding of using 'A Flash' had roots going back to the old flash cube days where those little portable pocket cameras used one of those cubes to flood the area with light. Their range was limited to about 8 or 10 feet, and their light was harsh and direct often creating not only washed out features and strong shadows, but unwanted red eyes. Unfortunately, most peoples indoctrination into using 'flash' was similar to mine and as a result we developed incorrect mindsets of how flash photography was suppose to work.

In more recent years I found myself becoming more intrigued by their use because through the magic of the internet the real professionals, who know how to use artificial light, share their knowledge. The more I watched them work, the more I realized just how wrong I had been about speed lights. Used properly they can open up a whole new realm of photographic opportunity. Even so, I still struggled to understand the basic principles of their use. I was stuck, again, with a mindset developed through years of using the exposure triangle: f/stop, shutter speed, ISO believing that all exposures were strictly influenced by these axioms no matter who, what, or where you were shooting. Being trapped inside this exposure bubble mindset stymied my progress to understanding how to use speed lights. Then one day, after watching a Joe Brady video on the basics of using off camera flash, that bubble exploded and it all, for the first time, made sense. Even so, putting this understanding into practice took time along with trial and error, lot's of error. The journey has been extraordinary and I'd like to hopefully burst the exposure bubbles of those who also find themselves trapped inside. Let's take a closer look at the basics of this fascinating form of photography.

A single OCF 

First let's take a quick look at how a flash works with your camera. Simply stated, the flash must fire in sync with the shutter operation. The shutter opens, the flash fires, the shutter closes. In the old days, flash/shutter sync was limited to 1/60th or possibly 1/125th of a second depending on the camera. If you tried to fire the flash using a shutter speed higher or lower than this the flash would most likely not fire at the right time and create a dark line usually along the bottom or top of the image. This is because the flash would fire either before the shutter was fully open, or after it was already partially closed. Fortunately, today's digital cameras are much more versatile and the flash will sync with a variety of shutter speeds usually up to 1/200th or possibly 1/250th of a second. You can even shoot them in what is called a high speed sync flash mode, like 1/1000th of a second or faster, but that is a bit more advanced than we need to cover right now.

You can set your shutter speed just about anywhere up to the maximum flash sync speed and the flash will fire properly. But, that brings up the question of exposure. Now most name brand camera's and flash units will fire in what is known as TTL mode, or Thru The Lens exposure. This varies a great deal depending on the camera and the flash unit being used, but fundamentally this means the camera and the flash talk to each other to the point the flash knows how much light to output to create a correct exposure based on the camera settings and ambient light. We won't go into how they do that, just remember TTL is a flash exposure method that talks to the camera usually by using the popup flash on the camera as the trigger.

Let's talk briefly about the flash power settings. Depending on the unit, the output from the flash can be controlled to allow for full power settings with increments down by factors of two...like 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16....1/128, you get the idea. What this really means is this. The brightness of the light coming off the flash is exactly the same for all power settings, the difference is the length of time the light is allowed to fire. A setting of 1/4 will have a light pulse 4 times faster than a full power setting.

We briefly discussed TTL, so now we will look at shooting the flash in a manual mode. Shooting manually is actually my preferred method of using off camera flash. This gives me full control of the light and exposure. This is where you need to adjust your understanding of the exposure triangle.

When shooting a typical landscape you are setting an exposure based on a single zone of light. The light on the landscape comes from one source, the sun either directly or filtered through clouds or something like that. You use the exposure triangle to achieve the desired exposure, shutter speed, aperture, ISO. Shooting with an Off Camera Flash (OCF) is different and this is an important difference to understand. When using an OCF you are controlling two zones of light at the same time. What this means is your overall exposure is based on the background light or ambient light and the exposure on your main subject is based on the light coming off the flash unit. So...in essence you are setting your exposure to capture different sources of light at the same time.

Controlling two zones of light

The OCF can be a single flash or multiple flashes from different angles and power settings. The ambient light is the light that naturally exists around you. It can be light from nature or from other sources such as indoor lighting, or street lights, a large window, or anything that is not coming from the flash. Call it background light if you like, it is simply the light that is already there that influences the exposure setting.

Now, this is important to understand and is the crux of most of the confusion of how to shoot with OCF. When shooting with an OCF you control the background ambient light exposure using the Shutter speed. You control the light off the flash using the Aperture. To simplify the concept just think of the OCF light as fill light used to illuminate your main subject and the ambient light is what illuminates the area around and/or behind your subject. To control both the easiest way is to set your background exposure based on the ambient light, then adjust your OCF power settings to provide the proper amount of fill light. By doing this, you are then controlling both zones of light at the same time. Let's say your background exposure is 1/125th at f/8.0 and ISO 200. In order to use an OCF to illuminate you main subject, it needs to be set to provide a light pulse that is equivalent to f/8.0. This may require some guess work, or you can use a light meter to see exactly how much light is coming off the flash.

If you change your shutter speed, lets say to 1/200th after making your OCF lighting adjustments, it will not affect the light and exposure coming off the flash. The background ambient light will be darker, but your subject will still receive the same amount of light off the flash. Think about that for a moment. Why is that? Well, the reason is this. When the flash fires, it generates a given amount of light for a specified amount of time based on the power setting. Generally speaking, the duration of the flash is usually very short, something like 1/2000th of a second or faster depending on the power setting. If you change the shutter speed say from 1/125th to 1/200th and retain the same aperture setting, the flash duration is still considerably faster than either of the shutter speeds and the same amount of light will be captured from the flash unit regardless of which shutter setting you select. The faster shutter speed will affect the ambient light making it appear to be darker or more underexposed, but does not affect the OCF light, so your subject will still remain properly lit. In fact, you could in theory eliminate all of the ambient light to create a total black background with the proper settings. However, should you adjust the aperture say from f/8.0 to f/11, then you will affect the OCF light exposure because now your flash is still outputting light at f/8.0, but your aperture is set to allow a full stop less light into the camera. To keep the same OCF exposure, you would need to increase the power output from the flash unit to equal the f/11 setting.

Picture taken outdoors before dusk
All Ambient Light removed by exposure
settings so background is black.
Used two OCF Strip Lights and one
Octobox light overhead

So, the next question is, how do you trigger a OCF? Well, there are multiple ways to do so. Actually, your flash unit will most likely have three basic settings; Wireless TTL, Manual, and Slave. Some flash units can have variations on these settings, but those are the fundamental three. Wireless TTL is most easily triggered by the popup flash on your camera. Once the camera and flash unit are set in wireless mode, the camera and flash talk to each other through a series of light pulses just before the main exposure flash fires. It all looks like a single pulse to the unaided eye, but in reality several short bursts of light fire off before the final exposure is made. A separate Commander flash unit sitting on top of your camera will accomplish the same thing. Another way to trigger your OCF is to use an electronic transmitter/receiver setup. The transmitter sits on top of your camera on the flash boot. The OCF flash is connected to a receiver unit that receives the signal from the transmitter. When the shutter release is fired, the transmitter fires sending a signal to the receiver to fire the flash. Depending on the kind of transmitter/receiver unit used, you can also make adjustments to the flash from the transmitter, things like changing the power settings. Some simply act as a trigger. The Slave mode is a flash setting that allows the flash unit to be triggered by any other flash. When any flash fires, the sensor in the Slave units detect the change in light and causes it to fire at the same time. This can be useful when combining different brand name flash units, or when only one transmitter/receiver is available. The Slave mode will ensure all flash units work together.

Using Multiple flash units

Okay, I know it sounds confusing...but it really is not all that complicated once you begin to apply those principles to your photography. It does take some practice to learn how to shoot with OCF and make it more instinctive, but once you begin to experience the results, you will begin to grasp what is happening. More importantly, you will also begin to see how you can use this knowledge to your advantage and start applying it to different situations. All we've done in this article is to introduce the basics and encourage you to give it a try. The best way to learn how to use OCF is to do it, so don't be afraid to give it a try. Even with a single OCF flash unit, you will open up a whole new world of photographic opportunity. The key is to use it creatively and in such a way it appears to look natural.


p.s.

There are numerous third party speed lights (flash units) available at very reasonable prices that work very well. With a little shopping around, you can get started for well under $200.

T-33/F-80 Shooting Star - Capturing a Classic Fighter

The art of using light as the main ingredient of a photograph sometimes requires that we step away from the accepted cliche to build something from the imagination. I have for many years been fascinated with the history of aviation and the amazing aircraft that majestically sail across the sky. Capturing these airplanes photographically, like sunsets, has been done in just about every conceivable way one can imagine. So when attempting to generate a truly unique look, as a photographer, I must look beyond the ordinary, beyond what has already been attempted, and build upon techniques pioneered by others.

Currently on display at the Bowling Green Aviation Heritage Park are five historically significant military aircraft, with room for more to come. As part of the Beyond the Campfire Adventure Photography series, I am attempting to capture not only the aesthetic beauty of these aircraft, but their legacy as well. One of the most intriguing aircraft on display is the T-33A Trainer derivative of the F-80 Shooting Star fighter, the first operational jet fighter for the United States Air Force.

Using a series of four speed lights combined with some creative lighting techniques, the essence of this beautiful aircraft was recently captured. Please enjoy this video as I demonstrate how this image was created.

Night Shoot at the Aviation Park: Photographing the Northrop T-38 Talon Jet Trainer

I have for most of my life been fascinated with aviation. No, I am not a pilot…wish I was…but, too many other obligations over the years prevented me from pursuing this life-long desire. However, as a photographer I do have opportunities from time to time to photograph some of the historical aircraft that have appeared through the years. Here in Bowling Green we are fortunate to have a nicely conceived and constructed aviation park with several amazing aircraft on display. One of them happens to be the Northrop T-38 Talon Supersonic Jet Trainer. It looks like it is going fast even while sitting on the ground and is a beautiful example of an important development in jet powered aviation.

Our night photography group spent a couple of hours this week photographing this beautiful aircraft. What we wanted to do was to capture its sleek design elements in a unique way and avoid the cliché and obligatory snapshot of an airplane sitting on the tarmac. The purpose of this shoot was to allow our night photography team to gain some experience shooting with speed lights and to see firsthand just how creatively powerful and versatile they are.

 Creating the shot required more thought and effort than most typical photographs. The idea was to photographically eliminate most of the ambient light thru the exposure settings, then bracket the T-38 with speed lights, allowing the resulting light to display its form. What we wanted to accomplish was to capture a single final photograph with a unique and powerful look.

Eliminating the ambient light was not difficult as it was already dark except for some residual light bleeding into the area. We started with an ISO of 200 and a shutter speed of 1/15^th to 1/20^th of a second. We used various lenses between us, I used an 18mm to 50mm f/2.8 lens settling on a 35mm setting at f/5.0 for the final shooting configuration. The idea behind these settings was simple: By eliminating photographically the ambient light, all you had to do then was to use camera settings that would capture the light from the speed lights. So, in essence you were exposing for the speed lights and not the background light. By doing so, you then gain full control of the light. Using slight exposure adjustments and/or speed light adjustments, you can affect the final look of the image to achieve what you are wanting to create.

Setting up the shot:  The idea then was to bracket the T-38 with light, but use the tarmac as part of the light source by bouncing the light off it, and also to create a frame of light surrounding the aircraft. We used seven speed lights fired remotely from the camera. Two lights were clamped to the back edge of each wing, both with a warming gel attached. These were pointed straight down to bang against the tarmac.

One light was placed inside the front wheel well and pointed down and back to act as a flood light against the tarmac. This spread the light in an even arch around the front part of the airplane.

On either side just outside and slightly in front of the wing tips we used two more lights. These were held by two of our crew. These were pointed at an angle toward the front edges of both wings to provide a ribbon of light across the front and top of the wings.

One light was place behind the T-38 and held high on a pole to shoot some backlight and rim light across the aircraft. A final light was placed on a tall stand just off camera to one side and pointed toward the front of the airplane to provide a slight kiss of light across its bow so it would not revert to total black.

After that it was a matter of getting all the lights to sync up and fire at the same time. Because we had combined two transmitters to fire the two different sets of lights, we had a bit of difficulty getting all the lights to behave properly on each shot. We ended up setting my four lights, the wing lights, tail light, and wheel well light, to be triggered as slave units and fire optically from Jason’s light which worked very well indeed. Each of us then in turn took our photographs using the transmitter attached to our respective camera. We shot from a ladder to provide us a higher up perspective so our vantage point could be looking slightly down on the aircraft. This also made a bit more of the thin wing visible and gave us an eye to eye level view looking into the cockpit.

In the end I believe we achieved what we set out to accomplish. Some of the team with previous limited exposure to using speed lights received their first real quality instruction on the possibilities of this photographic tool. We also introduced the idea of creating a single look shot and how trial and error come into play when setting up a shot like this one. Most importantly, we got the shot, and that ultimately was why we were there.