Off Camera Flash for Complete Beginners

Thank you for listening to The Photo Flunky Show. This episode is for anyone who wants to begin working with off camera flash. We discuss some basic concepts and differences between flash and strobe.

Off camera flash doesn't have to be expensive, complicated or hard. Yet, you can make it all of those things if you dive in without some basic concepts that we discuss here.

My advice is to take it easy and slow. I'll share tips that I've learned from other photographers and my own experience with lighting my subjects.

Related Links

Here are some of the products I mentioned on this episode. Please bear in mind that the Yongnuo flash products below are geared toward Nikon shooters. There are other versions for Canon, etc. Before you buy, please verify that you have the right version of the product for your camera equipment.

 

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Transcript

 

THE PHOTO FLUNKY SHOW:  Episode 36

 

Hi, welcome to the Photo Flunky Show, Episode thirty-six.

 

On this show we’re going to start a series of shows about off camera lighting tips.  This is part one.  Welcome!

 

William:   Hi, thanks for being here.  We really appreciate you. My name is William Beem.

 

Lee:         Hi, I’m Lee Beem.

 

William:   And like I said we are going be talking about off camera lighting tips and this is really going to be a fundamental show. It’s going to be for beginners. If you’ve never done off camera lighting before, we’re going to go over some of the basic concepts and things that you need and why you actually want to do it in the first place.  Show notes are going to be available at williambeem.com/episode36

 

You can find a transcript of the show there for free, and of course there are links to subscribe at photoflunky.com if you want to subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play Music or Stitcher Radio.  We would really love to have you!

 

Alright Lee, are you ready? Because I know this is one of your favorite topics.

 

Lee:         Yeah I know. It shows up my ignorance.

 

William:   You don’t use any off camera lighting.

 

Lee:         No.

 

William:   Why is that?

 

Lee:         It just seems like more hassle than it’s worth. I think learning how light works – available light – and how to control that kind of made sense to me. There was nothing really expensive about learning that.

 

I have got a flash. I think it’s broken now! It’s something equivalent of an SB600, maybe? I don’t recall.  I enjoyed using that, but I found I never liked to use it without a huge diffuser on it, otherwise it was just always too harsh.

 

I just found that it gets very complex and complicated.