Yup, agree 100%. Have been trying to tell so many "pro" photographers that I have given up telling them about flash diffusers. Just bounce and if you can't bounce, take it off camera. If you can't do that either, dial down the power and take in more ambient.... if you can't do that either, just shoot available light. 😛
@@stephenspiteri_zunkus occasionally it is done for a reason like with a bounce card and the flash power is too high even at the lowest setting but most of the time its by mistake. I do sometimes forget where I point my flash and have pointed it to towards the sky ;-)
100% Spot on! Clip-on diffusers don't make the light larger, which is the key to softening light, they merely reduce the power of the light, unless you are very close to the subject. So imortant for young shooters to understand their craft. The "natural light" photographers you referenced at 7:30 can improve their images so much with flash. And of course getting it off the hotshoe creates much more directional light. I shot weddings for years handholding a Nikon SB-800 tethered to my D3 with an SC-29 TTL cord.
I 100% agree! When I use on camera flash I set for -2 stops so it then becomes an effective “fill” light rather than a “key” light. In daylight or well ambient lit situations it fills in the shadows and gives a beautiful catch light in the eyes. Most of my portraits using on camera flash you can’t tell that I’m even using a flash but the 1:2 lighting ratios are subtle and very pleasing.
Agreed. Modifiers like these only diffuse the light a little, not soften it. And THANK YOU so much for saying it’s important to learn on-camera flash. So many of the popular UA-cam photography “educators” completely skip it and go straight to off-camera flash. Or if they touch on the subject at all, they take pictures to purposely make on-camera flash look like sh*t to show how much better off-camera flash is. I’m with you that on-camera flash is essential to learn BEFORE going to off-camera flash. It’s sad that so many photographers that beginners look up to totally sh*t on its usage and fill people’s heads with all kinds of negative nonsense about it. Love your vids. Your personality, your no-nonsense, honest and straight to the point content is a joy to take in. Thanks for everything you do, bud. Keep it coming! 🙂👍🏻
Moose Peterson uses that same flash for wildlife photography. I think he says it will. To paraphrase him, he uses it to make the colors and the subject pop, not for exposure.
Great video. You do a great job of explaining things in an accessible way. I'd love more videos on how do deal with indoor lighting. I know manual white balance is probably the smart thing to do, but I don't know what to set it to. Additionally I've found the timing of lights (getting banding) to be difficult too (in some venues). And the dreaded outside sun and indoor lighted mixed together. Anyway, thanks for making this video. Will def. try this!
That’s 💯 key, practice practice practice. Zero excuses. If you have kids, friends, relatives, use them. Also invest in tutorials, books etc if you have to. UA-cam won’t show you everything.
Wow! Where has this video been...all of my Photography Life? I'm guilty as charged but I will start practicing around my house. I have the dome and the bounce card. I will update you in the near future. Keep up the great Vids!
Thank you and have fun in the house. Use everything and add some mirrors in the backgrounds to practice that shit show - you’re going to have them to deal with too
For Nikon, it's fine to leave it on TTL when using Nikon-brand flash and set the exposure (A or M mode) based on ambient light. Nikon's TTL Balanced Fill-Flash (TTL-BL) is reliable and provides the most natural look even if not bounced ...and this mode is this is only available with Nikon's flashes...not the the Godox or even the expensive Profoto...as they only support regular TTL which is not as good unless in a very controlled environment.
As I said in the video, ttl can work just fine, but no matter the manufacturer, brand or combo, environment and clothing will make even the best, most accurate fluctuate - so when doing many photos, it is better to use manual to control these fluctuations to save you a lot of time in post.
@@kaskoPhoto not all camera brand TTLs are created equal. Leica TTL? it sucks big time and your advice of going manual 99% of the time would be applicable...probably to an extent Nikon regular TTL can get dicey depending on situation and manual would also be better...but Nikon TTL-BL (available ONLY with Nikon flashes) is a lot more reliable in my experience and not having to deal with correcting exposures in post.
Thanks for all the great info! Will definitely be wandering around the house practicing! Everything you said makes a lot of sense. Based on another one of your videos, I started using bare flash outdoors to simply fill shadows. Works great when you dial it in! Cheers from 🇨🇦
Is it bad that I go right to thoughts of my time shooting hockey every time I see your flag? I know there is so much more to your beautiful country but damn I loved visiting for games.
@@kaskoPhotoI think he may have made a mistake in the size. He probably meant the Large, which is what I use on camera sometimes and works great. It’s lightweight and works well. That XL isn’t meant for on-camera flash. I have 2 of the soft silver ones. It’s WAY too large and heavy. But like I said, the XL was made with OCF in mind, not on camera flash. Off camera they’re amazing.
Thanks for the tip. I'm taking notes and hope they are corrects: (1) manual exposure (able to see the environment, ensure enough DOF), (2) manual white balance to the environment, (3) manual flash power, just enough to fill in the face.
For the demo at the end here, was the ceiling too high, too dark, or both? I have noticed fall off bouncing from ceilings inside houses but not quite as much as you revealed here. I was taught to think a pool player … if you bounce, where will it go? Behind the subject? Or somewhere helpful?
I use this half bounce even with higher ceilings if I need to soften the light a little more than direct flash. To be honest, I don’t think i have a single venue I shoot at with ceilings that I can use bounce in.
When you say that you put on-camera flash in manual and dial it down, I’m assuming that you have a prime lens so the distance to your subject is fixed, thus you get a constant exposure assuming all your subjects remain at the same distance. If you change your distance from your subject, say you were taking headshots and now you want to switch to whole body, how do you address that?
One of two ways depending on the subject / depth I need. I love when I can simply adjust aperture to control the light, but if I still need the depth I will just boost the output of the flash.
Great video 👌 I’ve used all kinds of diffusers and I’m using magmod pro kit 2 n my Godox v1 flash and it’s works great with ttl at events but those led disco lights and the smoke really messes up my white balance sometimes and I have to keep adjusting the white balance and also at some events I have to do a lot of white balance editing in post to get the right balance correct
There are a few wedding officials (priests, clergy.. etc) that restrict flash here as well. It a challenge for sure but that’s a happy problem for me. Love the challenge
Yup, agree 100%. Have been trying to tell so many "pro" photographers that I have given up telling them about flash diffusers. Just bounce and if you can't bounce, take it off camera. If you can't do that either, dial down the power and take in more ambient.... if you can't do that either, just shoot available light. 😛
Well you would think just by looking at it… it’s got to be better than… 😂😂
What I don’t understand is photographers who point the flash to the sky when they’re outside! Bouncing off clouds?
@@stephenspiteri_zunkus occasionally it is done for a reason like with a bounce card and the flash power is too high even at the lowest setting but most of the time its by mistake. I do sometimes forget where I point my flash and have pointed it to towards the sky ;-)
100% Spot on! Clip-on diffusers don't make the light larger, which is the key to softening light, they merely reduce the power of the light, unless you are very close to the subject. So imortant for young shooters to understand their craft. The "natural light" photographers you referenced at 7:30 can improve their images so much with flash. And of course getting it off the hotshoe creates much more directional light. I shot weddings for years handholding a Nikon SB-800 tethered to my D3 with an SC-29 TTL cord.
Still one of my favorite cameras of all time (D3) just great memories with that camera
I 100% agree! When I use on camera flash I set for -2 stops so it then becomes an effective “fill” light rather than a “key” light. In daylight or well ambient lit situations it fills in the shadows and gives a beautiful catch light in the eyes. Most of my portraits using on camera flash you can’t tell that I’m even using a flash but the 1:2 lighting ratios are subtle and very pleasing.
The way flash should be!
Agreed. Modifiers like these only diffuse the light a little, not soften it.
And THANK YOU so much for saying it’s important to learn on-camera flash. So many of the popular UA-cam photography “educators” completely skip it and go straight to off-camera flash. Or if they touch on the subject at all, they take pictures to purposely make on-camera flash look like sh*t to show how much better off-camera flash is. I’m with you that on-camera flash is essential to learn BEFORE going to off-camera flash. It’s sad that so many photographers that beginners look up to totally sh*t on its usage and fill people’s heads with all kinds of negative nonsense about it.
Love your vids. Your personality, your no-nonsense, honest and straight to the point content is a joy to take in. Thanks for everything you do, bud. Keep it coming! 🙂👍🏻
Thank you! You just made my day!!
Glad I watched this, it confirms a few ideas I was thinking.
I appreciate you watching.
The use of rear curtain sync is a great idea and makes total sense during low light event work. I'll definitely be trying that next time 👍
It makes a big difference in many situations
I do understand the technique of using rear curtain but sometimes I miss an expression or action when i do that.
Moose Peterson uses that same flash for wildlife photography. I think he says it will. To paraphrase him, he uses it to make the colors and the subject pop, not for exposure.
I use the little white card that comes built in to the square shaped flashes. Bouncing off a white wall or ceiling is underrated
Try the index card!
Great video. You do a great job of explaining things in an accessible way.
I'd love more videos on how do deal with indoor lighting. I know manual white balance is probably the smart thing to do, but I don't know what to set it to. Additionally I've found the timing of lights (getting banding) to be difficult too (in some venues). And the dreaded outside sun and indoor lighted mixed together.
Anyway, thanks for making this video. Will def. try this!
Thank you. I will def work on those topics for the near future
Great Video!
Thank you.
I alway get great tips here. Thank you...
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching.
Excellent 👌
Thank you for taking the time to watch
Good stuff, as usual. Thanks for sharing.
Glad to share and thanks for watching!
great tips!
Thank you and appreciate you watching.
valuable first hand experience! thank you
You’re very welcome.
That’s 💯 key, practice practice practice. Zero excuses. If you have kids, friends, relatives, use them.
Also invest in tutorials, books etc if you have to. UA-cam won’t show you everything.
It’s the journey that makes this stuff fun! And practice is fun- kids and family can’t say no 😂
nice review!
Wow! Where has this video been...all of my Photography Life? I'm guilty as charged but I will start practicing around my house. I have the dome and the bounce card. I will update you in the near future. Keep up the great Vids!
Thank you and have fun in the house. Use everything and add some mirrors in the backgrounds to practice that shit show - you’re going to have them to deal with too
I really needed to hear this. My first step with flash is going to be on camera. Using for events and some street photography portraits
It’s a lot of fun (and sometimes frustrating) learning this skill.
For Nikon, it's fine to leave it on TTL when using Nikon-brand flash and set the exposure (A or M mode) based on ambient light. Nikon's TTL Balanced Fill-Flash (TTL-BL) is reliable and provides the most natural look even if not bounced ...and this mode is this is only available with Nikon's flashes...not the the Godox or even the expensive Profoto...as they only support regular TTL which is not as good unless in a very controlled environment.
As I said in the video, ttl can work just fine, but no matter the manufacturer, brand or combo, environment and clothing will make even the best, most accurate fluctuate - so when doing many photos, it is better to use manual to control these fluctuations to save you a lot of time in post.
@@kaskoPhoto not all camera brand TTLs are created equal. Leica TTL? it sucks big time and your advice of going manual 99% of the time would be applicable...probably to an extent Nikon regular TTL can get dicey depending on situation and manual would also be better...but Nikon TTL-BL (available ONLY with Nikon flashes) is a lot more reliable in my experience and not having to deal with correcting exposures in post.
Thanks for all the great info! Will definitely be wandering around the house practicing! Everything you said makes a lot of sense. Based on another one of your videos, I started using bare flash outdoors to simply fill shadows. Works great when you dial it in! Cheers from 🇨🇦
Is it bad that I go right to thoughts of my time shooting hockey every time I see your flag? I know there is so much more to your beautiful country but damn I loved visiting for games.
Come to think of it- I bought my very first camera there when I was only 16 years old!
@@kaskoPhoto In Canada? Toronto?
The xl Flashbender works wonders. Light is so much better for on camera flash
I love flash bender but I can’t see myself using the XL on camera.
@@kaskoPhotoI think he may have made a mistake in the size. He probably meant the Large, which is what I use on camera sometimes and works great. It’s lightweight and works well. That XL isn’t meant for on-camera flash. I have 2 of the soft silver ones. It’s WAY too large and heavy. But like I said, the XL was made with OCF in mind, not on camera flash. Off camera they’re amazing.
Thanks for the tip. I'm taking notes and hope they are corrects: (1) manual exposure (able to see the environment, ensure enough DOF), (2) manual white balance to the environment, (3) manual flash power, just enough to fill in the face.
You got it.
hehe yeah I am slowly getting the hang of on camera flash on Q3 with the Fuji X EF20 something, so much fun! Thanks to you, you made me :D
That is the best combo
Great advice !
Thank you for watching
Very helpful, thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to watch.
"Because you are doing it wrong!" :)
I think dome makes a little bit of difference on A2, but I will have to test it now.
Well from the images I displayed here… not so much
For the demo at the end here, was the ceiling too high, too dark, or both?
I have noticed fall off bouncing from ceilings inside houses but not quite as much as you revealed here.
I was taught to think a pool player … if you bounce, where will it go? Behind the subject? Or somewhere helpful?
I use this half bounce even with higher ceilings if I need to soften the light a little more than direct flash. To be honest, I don’t think i have a single venue I shoot at with ceilings that I can use bounce in.
When you say that you put on-camera flash in manual and dial it down, I’m assuming that you have a prime lens so the distance to your subject is fixed, thus you get a constant exposure assuming all your subjects remain at the same distance. If you change your distance from your subject, say you were taking headshots and now you want to switch to whole body, how do you address that?
One of two ways depending on the subject / depth I need. I love when I can simply adjust aperture to control the light, but if I still need the depth I will just boost the output of the flash.
Great video 👌 I’ve used all kinds of diffusers and I’m using magmod pro kit 2 n my Godox v1 flash and it’s works great with ttl at events but those led disco lights and the smoke really messes up my white balance sometimes and I have to keep adjusting the white balance and also at some events I have to do a lot of white balance editing in post to get the right balance correct
I use a pocket grey card a few times a night (shoot it for post later)
I'm a church photographer and sadly we're not allowed to use flash at any of our events
There are a few wedding officials (priests, clergy.. etc) that restrict flash here as well. It a challenge for sure but that’s a happy problem for me. Love the challenge
What are your thoughts on the Profoto A1 Soft Bounce diffuser?
I have it and used it once. Maybe for studio or off camera in a pinch. But for on camera not good at all.
@@kaskoPhoto thank you for the reply 👍
Do you usually use 35mm for studio ? I just got 35z 1.8 nikon...
Mostly 50 in studio and 35 on location.
@@kaskoPhoto thanks..
@@kaskoPhoto I have the 85 mm 1.8 z lens, but I want to experience something wider just be more creative..
@@HaimGreen well Nikons 50 1.8 is one of my favorite lenses. It’s a gem.