76
votes
Accepted
Why do we charge our flashes?
The peak power at work when a flash is being discharged is extreme.
Example: a classic Metz 45CT (a large but still handheld unit) on full manual power delivers around 90 watt-seconds of electrical ...
- 7,017
19
votes
Accepted
What's the best way to light up a subject that's far away?
The idea is I will be down below, looking up at them to take the photo, so a flash would be useless.
Only if you limit yourself to a camera mounted flash.
The key to such a shot is to get the ...
- 168k
17
votes
How do I correct overexposed fill-flash when shooting outdoors on a sunny day?
Maybe the picture is already overexposed because of the sunlight? Then you do to the flash settings what you want, and it won't help you. Verify this first.
1/200 with 2.8 ISO 125 seems to be very ...
- 2,005
16
votes
How to avoid shadows on the background when photographing with flash in darker areas?
Ruined? That's a great photo! (If you were going for a sort of Halloween effect.) The position of the key light – off to the side and elevated – was perfect for this subject, and is ...
- 3,503
16
votes
Why was my Canon Speedlite 600EX triggering other flashes?
The reason you were triggering the other flashes is that the other photographer is a rookie.
She was probably using the flashes as optical slaves... bad decision.
Even if she was using a radio ...
- 20.7k
14
votes
Accepted
Why is the bottom half my picture black when shooting with Cowboy Studio remote triggers?
You're shooting with a shutter speed faster than your sync speed (most likely 1/200 or 1/250). Your camera's shutter consists of two curtains -- the first one opens to begin the exposure, and the ...
- 10.2k
14
votes
Accepted
How do I get my Godox trigger and flash to work close to each other?
Yes. There's a "close" mode you can use on the X1T and XPro transmitters that will help to trigger a flash more reliably when it's close to the transmitter. This mode was added in firmware ...
- 49.1k
12
votes
Accepted
Why did this image turn out darker?
So, what you have here is a mixed lighting situation. The background and star notes are being lit via flash (check out their shadows. Nice and soft and from top to bottom. The main bulb cluster is on ...
- 20.3k
11
votes
Accepted
How to avoid shadows on the background when photographing with flash in darker areas?
Despite the name of your modifier (Profoto White Softlight 20.5" Reflector), this is no soft light at all. The light source is far away and small enough to produce hard light on the subject. The most ...
- 8,334
11
votes
Camera uses double flash which triggers external flash before the camera captures, What are the solutions?
One good solution is to get a Hot Shoe Flash Adapter so you can use your old external flash right on the camera, or get a smaller Manual only flash to trigger your external optical slave flash.
$10 ...
- 11.4k
11
votes
Accepted
My Godox flash won't fire off-camera. What should I check?
Here's a list of common things to check.
Are you using the wrong slave mode?
For your speedlight to be a radio slave, the antenna icon must be showing, and the backlight should be orange, or the ...
- 49.1k
10
votes
How to get beautiful even and soft lighting on face?
Editing out the eyes removes a metric tonne of information that might have been helpful in answering your question — please don't do that if you're asking about studio lighting problems — but there is ...
- 1,226
9
votes
Is a TTL wireless flash trigger something meaningless?
TTL simply means that the camera tells the flash to send out a "preflash" burst of light at a known brightness level that the camera can meter, so it can have a sense of how to set the flash ...
- 49.1k
9
votes
Shooting glass product with embossment
Two things seem apparent to me looking at this setup.
First, the position of the subject appears to be a little further from the camera than the lights. Before you fool with the position of any ...
- 5,405
9
votes
How do I correct overexposed fill-flash when shooting outdoors on a sunny day?
I'm shooting in Manual on bright, sunny day. ... Settings: 1/200 SS, f2.8, ISO 125.
Did you look at your meter? It was likely telling you that you were overexposed. Purely on the ambient. If you ...
- 49.1k
8
votes
Recommendations for Wireless Flash Triggers?
I think an updated answer is called for. :)
When integrating studio strobes with speedlights, there are two things to consider. Whether you want more control than manual-only triggers give you for ...
- 49.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Is TTL flash really useful when using off-camera flash?
The same is true when the flash is on the camera, facing away from the subject into empty space with nothing to reflect it back to the subject.
The point of TTL is to adjust flash power automatically ...
- 8,334
8
votes
Why are my flashes not putting out full power in HSS?
That's the nature of HSS. Instead of one full-power firing of the flash at a point when the entire sensor is exposed, it has to fire a series of very fast flashes at different points while different ...
- 5,012
7
votes
Camera uses double flash which triggers external flash before the camera captures, What are the solutions?
The first flash is probably for light metering (Canon call their version e-TTL, Nikon iTTL if you want to read about how it works), but the external flash doesn't know that of course.
You should be ...
- 3,602
7
votes
Accepted
Will I get HSS with my Fuji camera and Godox flash gear?
Fuji HSS
There's an easy way to tell if your Fuji camera does HSS.
Unlike all the other camera brands supported by the Godox X system, Fuji's HSS setting is controlled by the camera, not by the ...
- 49.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Can I use rechargable batteries in an external flash?
Although freshly charged NiMH measure at 1.4 or so volts, they quickly drop to 1.2 under load. However, unlike alkalines, they stay around that 1.2 for a long time (this is called a "relatively flat ...
- 215
7
votes
Are any of the common third-party flash systems with radio-trigger capability inofficially multi-platform?
Yes, there are several systems that work in the way you describe, where the off-camera lights can switch between different TTL systems, and the only thing you need is an on-camera transmitter unit ...
- 49.1k
7
votes
How does using an ND filter compare to using HSS for freezing subject motion in daylight?
Just to get the full understanding: Only to freeze fast moving subjects which need shorter shutter speeds than the flash's burning speed HSS is really required?
Sort of. That is a common reason to ...
- 168k
6
votes
What's the best way to light up a subject that's far away?
In addition to what Michael has already stated, depending on the configuration, you may want to create a composite. Long exposure for the scene only and then add the lights and couple to overlay on ...
- 1,542
6
votes
Accepted
Can an off-camera speedlight work for learning basic off-camera lighting?
Yes, a so-called Strobist setup (a radio controlled off-camera hotshoe flash/speedlight) can be great for learning and experimenting with basic off-camera lighting, even while it won't deliver the ...
- 49.1k
5
votes
Can I trigger multiple Yongnuo manual speedlight with one Nikon camera?
There is no hard limit to how many YN-560III flashes you can set off remotely with the appropriate transmitter device, as long as the flashes can receive the radio signal. Four is well within its ...
- 49.1k
5
votes
What setups work to trigger a Profoto B1 and Canon 600EX-RT Speedlights together from canon body
I can confirm that if you use a Yongnuo YN-622C, you will be able to trigger your canon speedlights. The setup that I have is 1 Profoto TTL Air remote, 2 Yongnuo YN-622C, 1 430EX II flash, 1 B1. One ...
- 51
5
votes
Can I get HSS with off-camera Canon 430EX II speedlites, radio triggers, and a Sony A7?
TL;DR: Yeah, you guessed right. You can't get HSS or TTL cross-brand.
Flash hotshoe protocols are mostly brand-specific
TTL and HSS are hotshoe protocol-specific. That is, you need a Canon camera ...
- 49.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Is CLS system in Nikon able to send the zoom of the lens to the remote flash?
A flash on the camera's hot shoe is in a known location relative to the film plane. From that, it's easy to calculate where to place the zoom head so the light covers the area the camera actually ...
- 5,392
5
votes
Accepted
How do I set a remote flash's power using Nikon CLS system?
You set the power from the custom menu on your camera (menu item e3 on most models). For each channel you can set exposure compensation to dial the power up/down
- 32.8k
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