Off Camera Flash Techniques for Better Photos
Using Your Flash Off Camera Opens Up Lots of Creative Options
Nov 15, 2009
There are a variety of possibilities depending on how many strobes the photographer has to work with. Even one off-camera flash can make for better photos. Directional light can reveal detail, while a carefully placed bounced flash can provide a nice, even lighting that properly exposes the whole scene. It's even possible to use one off-camera flash and the sun to create an effective two-light portrait. An added benefit from this is that the off camera flash will usually help avoid red eye and harsh shadows.
Light Modifiers Can Help
Off-camera flash can become even more creative when light modifiers are brought into play. Grids, snoots and gobos can be used to restrict and shape light while reflectors, umbrellas and soft boxes can soften and diffuse it. At one time these tools were almost exclusively the domain of the studio photographer but these days a wide range of small, portable and effective light modifiers are available for users of small strobes.
Use Monopods or Portable Light Stands
Some examples of potential uses include placing a strobe on a monopod to get it up high and to the side to avoid red-eye and direct shadows out of the image area, placing an off-camera strobe on a light stand and using a grid or snoot to create a spot light effect, or side lighting a model to create a moody, romantic lighting. Use a flash fired into or through an umbrella for a softer light.
Multiple Off-camera Flashes Can Give a Professional Look
For a more advanced look, go with multiple flashes and recreate studio lighting wherever it's needed. Keep in mind that while they're versatile, small strobes lack the power and fast recycling times of studio lights. One way to get the most of your strobes is to get them as close as is reasonable to the subject. This maximizes the power of the flash and because it makes the strobe bigger in relation to the subject, helping soften the light.
For best results get the flashes higher than the subject and directed downward to direct the shadows out of the frame. Portable light stands offer one way of getting the flash where the photographer wants it, super clamps and ball bungee cords are other options.
Off-camera Flash is Great for Macro Photography Too
Using flash off camera is a real boon to macro photography too since the flash can be placed much closer to the subject. This does two things. It makes the light source much bigger in relation to the subject (producing a softer, more diffuse light) and it also makes the flash's output more powerful since the inverse square law of light comes into play. (The inverse square law says that every time you halve the distance from the light source to the subject, the intensity of the light quadruples).
When the flash is positioned only a few inches away from the subject, it's easy to get f-stops of 16, 22 or greater maximizing depth of field (which is inherently shallow in macro photography).
Using flash off camera can be a major help to your photography. There are multiple ways of doing this as are discussed in this article on off-camera flash
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