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Something I always recommend to photographers wondering what gear to buy is a small flash. Even if it's only used on camera, one flash unit can be an incredible help in many kinds of situations. However an area that I notice people are often hesitant to get into, is using their flash off-camera.

One common misconception is that you need more than one flash unit to get any decent light with off-camera flash. While having additional flash units does help, there are an incredible amount of things you can do with only one. Using some simple workarounds you can often make it look like there are more then one.

Here's a list the 5 ways that I would most often use my flash back in the days when I only had one. but first you need to get your flash to fire (uh, flash) off the camera. Any relatively new Nikon speedlight and dslr combo will have the ability to fire without any additional hardware. For more information on how to get your flash to work off camera, go here or here or Google it. Also, keep in mind that many of these setups can be done with any type of light source, and aren't strictly limited to small flashes. If you've got some extremely powerful normal lights lying around, you can use those as well. Feel free to send me an email or hit me up on Skype if you've got questions.

1. Backlight

One flash behind and/or slightly to the side of your subject can do wonders. The high contrast, the flare, the halos, I love it all. If I've only got one flash with me and I want to spice up an photo a little, this is my go-to. Just spock (put) a flash behind your subject, experiment with power settings, and watch the magic happen.

2. Fill

It's possible do this with on-camera flash as well, but I prefer it off camera for more consistency. I use this often, but its probably the most noticeable at concerts when all the lights are wonky colors and I want the subject to be in a normal colored light. Direct or bounced depending on if I want it soft or hard.

3. Background light + Key (Your main light)

The photo ad below was lit with one flash, an sb-27. I didn't have a special background, its just pieces of white paper laid out on a table with a piece of desk top glass laid over the paper, and a white wall. Originally I had the flash hitting the background only to make it pure white, and used the ambient light to expose the foreground. However I didn't like the quality of the light I was getting from the foreground, so I added a reflector in front, to reflect the light that was coming from the background onto the foreground.

If that went over your head I'll be doing an entire post on achieving this look (with people too, not just products) with only one flash.

4. Black Background.

Essentially the opposite of the light setup above, this time you try to light the background as little as possible. Bounce the flash off a wall, and keep the subject close to the light source. I would recommend using a reflector for some fill if you want a little more of a humane look.

5. Emphasis on something

Pretty self explanatory, you light one element with the flash to draw attention to it. The power of the flash in relation to the ambient light will determine how powerful the effect is.

All done

So there you go, five ways to use one flash to achieve dramatically different effects. I hope to go into a little more detail on each of them in future posts so stay tuned. If you, like many people, already have a flash unit, I would encourage you to find a way to fire it off camera, and start experimenting. You will be surprised at how much of a difference a little well planned use of light can make. Like mister McNally says, "light is the language of photography, and we need to know how to speak eloquently."

If don't have an external flash, and you're looking to buy something that will hugely affect the quality of your photos, then that is what I would recommend. You don't need a high end flash like an sb-900 or 580ex if you're just starting with off-camera flash. For Nikon users I would definitely recommend the Nikon SB-600 Speedlight. If you own a Nikon d-slr then it will work right away, with no extra hardware needed, off camera.

I will leave you to ponder.

For this article with example images and much more visit my blog. Dan-McNair.com - Webdesign and Photography

Flash Photography Techniques – Ambient Light Plus Flash

With careful use of flash, you can make your photo looks natural as though no flash had been used, instate it will enhance the photo further reducing contrast and yet looking very natural.

It has been a dream of all photographers to look for the balance in lighting whenever they photograph a subject and most of the time the quality of available light isn’t always perfect. I will share my experience in making use of flash wisely I am able to enhance my photo rather than by just using the available ambient light.

Before we get started let me clarify a few things with regards to my flash photography techniques that I will be sharing with you.

• Let me define the term flash in this article - it is what some people call “Speedlight” which is the add on flash mounted on the camera hot - shoe type and not either the studio strobe type of flash or the pop–up flash build in the camera..

 

• The flash photography techniques I’m writing in this article are mostly applicable for “on the field” or “on the move” photography and not studio photography.

 

• I’m a user of Nikon D-SLR and Speedlight, some example of my photography work shown here are not a standard recipe as each camera system may have a slide different reading hence require some slide adjustment.

 

Ambient Light plus Flash

I use flash most of the time but using flash does not mean you will spoil the ambient light thus making the photo looking unnatural. Why just use available light alone if your photograph turns out to be horrible. I will show you by understanding some essential techniques, mixing ambient light with flash you can make a better image.

By using the flash I will be able to highlight the shadow areas and avoid shadows under the subject’s eyebrows thus making it a better photo than it would have been without flash. But this does not mean that the image will turn up flat. Make sure you get your reading right.

Let’s try two examples:

1. A wedding couple on a beach and under a tent as the sun is going down:-

• Shoot in manual mode because you need to be in control of your exposure metering for accuracy and consistency.

 

• Meter for the ambient light, get your exposure right, turn off your flash and take a test shot. With the correct exposure you will get a perfect natural surroundings but the wedding couple will be little under exposed or with some shadows around their faces.
• Now turn on your flash and adjust your flash to TTL-BL mode which balance flash automatically with ambient light (as I’m using Nikon). Adjust your flash compensation. Start from 0 EV compensation and slowly go up until plus 1.7 EV. How much is enough? There is no one correct answer to that as it depends how much flash you need to use as a fill in flash. In this example you surely need a stronger fill-flash to match the sunlit background.

 

Flash was turn off. I took the reading of the ambient light and took a test shoot. Satisfied with the overall exposure and then on my flash light and took the photograph below with my flash light firring direct and dial up the my flash up to +1.7 EV. See the photographt below for comparison.

2. Portrait of a couple against a wall

• Again always shoot on manual mode.

 

• Meter correctly for the available light.

 

• Adjust your flash to TTL-BL mode. As for out door, I usually start from -1.3 EV because Nikon Speedlights on TTL-BL mode balance flash automatically with ambient light and I will always shoot with flash firing straight on. The real idea is to use the flash as a fill-light only and to lift the shadows.

 

- Notice with a fill flash I manage to eliminate shadows under the couple eyebrows without overexposing the wall and the couples’ clothing’s.

Photograph 2 - Shoot using flash

The above two examples clearly tells you by just adding flash with the correct exposure set by reading the ambient light together with the right amount of flash value to be fired you will have a perfect and balance natural looking image. Who says by using flash it will look unnatural and spoil the ambient light?

I will be following up with an article entitle Flash Photography Techniques – Bouncing the Flash next to share my photography experience with you. By bouncing the flash you are able to soften the light and reduce or eliminating flash shadow.

For more photography techniques and tips visit my photography blog: Langkawi Photographer Blog

To view my photography portfolio visit: AFFENDY.COM

About the Author

Affendy Ahmad is a professional photographer specialized in weddings, corpoarate or private events, special occasions and family holiday photography.
Borned 1963 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he has now based in this beautiful island of Langkawi located northwest of Malaysia.
Affendy has a photo studio located in down town kuah.

What cable do i need so i can hold my Speedlight SB-400 nikon flash in my hand and have it fire like normal?

Yeah, so basically i want my flash on a cable so i can hold it and point it at different angles when taking pictures. I have a Speedlight SB-400 and a nikon D200.

SC-28 or SC-29. But I'm not sure if these cables work fine with the SB-400. They work fine with the SB-600/SB-800/SB-900.

Worldwide Submission Period Announced for the 33rd Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011
Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce that entries for the prestigious Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011 will be accepted between September 1 and November 30, 2010. Â

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