Bare Speedlight Tips... LIVE!
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- Опубліковано 17 чер 2024
- A basic "bare" speedlight is a great place to start your portrait photography adventures or perfect the skills you've learned without the safety blanket of a softbox. Spend a little time with a bare speedlight, and you'll learn a lot more about lighting and discover a few tricks that bigger, more expensive studio flashes just can't do.
In this back-to-basics session, I'll talk about how to get your speedlight off of the camera's hot shoe. I'll look at the differences between round and rectangular speedlight heads, and with the help of the amazing Poly (my always willing studio test model), I'll show you some quick tips to improve your speedlight photography.
Join the conversation and ask your flash related questions in this live post-processing demo.
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Another info packed session! Thanks Gavin and the awesome non-paid employees 😂
Thanks Gavin and your staff and Adorama for these fun and very educational videos. I think I have watched most of your videos. Love your style! 😆
Gav ,i've watched your vids and tutorials for years.Always so enthusiastic and informative.Thanks Gavin and the crew :)😄
Just came across this video and learned more about flash than everything from other videos combined. And real world tests so I can actually see the difference instead of just trying to explain how it would hypothetically look. Subbed. I wish I had found this channel sooner.
Thank you and welcome along to our little community :)
Thanks Gavin another great workshop. As a tip for fellow shooters, most speedlights can also be used as a slave unit. This can be handy if your camera has a built in flash that you can use to trigger your off camera flash if you dont have a dedicated trigger.
Very true Ian 👍
My Pentax lets me turn the pop-up flash into a wireless transmitter for a flash unit, and I've used that a few times in the field to get some nice off-camera flash shots.
I worked with Monte Zucker in the early 1970s. He introduced the idea of using dual flash shooting weddings to solve the problem of getting detail in black suits and white dress on the short range of color prints which wedding photographers had just started using.
When I started in 1972 he was using single power Graflex bare reflector flashes which where power with large 410V batteries One was placed 16” directly over the lens of the camera, the other placed on a rolling stand which was actually a modified medical IV pole placed either 45° from the center line of the nose and above subject head for ‘candid’ portraits , or behind at a 45° angle and behind action shots duplicating the look of backlighting of the sun with the flash on the bracket creating the downward frontal modeling. The off camera flash was triggered by the one on the camera with a simple photo cell trigger.
What I learned using that key over fill arrangement was that the perception of Hard or Soft is a combination of how light the fill made the shadows and the fact it fell off intensity from front of face to back of head creating a contrast gradient. As long as the key light was placed to prevent the nose shadow from hanging out sideways the lighting, while un-diffused and very much like the lighting in movies which used fresnel lights.
Big modifiers came into use for studio photography when color separations for printing started to be made from transparency film (Ektachome) which had a very short dynamic range compared to color prints.
Very helpful Gavin. Thanks for sharing! 📷🙏
Gavin, thank you for the best comedy camera show on't'internet! 😅
It's supposed to be a serious show with actual useful information Mike, but somehow it never quite works out that way 🤣
I caught the program live, and I've added it to my tutorial playlist, which you are currently dominating.
Yay, glad I've been of help Donald 😁
great video - best display of the impact of zoom on flashes I have seen and also great to compare the rectangular and round speedlights.
Thank you 👍
Thanks Gav love the information don't often comment but you are my Go to for photography information and tips keep up the great work 👍
Thanks for taking the time to comment and stay tuned for more 😁
Picked up a Godox AD-200Pro last week, ran light tests. Bottom line, the Fresnel head had the WORST light pattern/look. Best was bare head with 4” reflector w/ dbl diffusion disks. 2nd was bare+diffuser dome. And if using same model kit- get the extension cable head AND Round head.
The bare AD200 Speedlights head is hilariously bad but in a softbox it's perfectly fine. The bare bulb is the way to go 👍
The transmitter controls the flash as slave, all the logic is in the transmitter.
But if you use the flash directly on camera, then you need to have it matching the camera maker to be able to communicate correctly with the camera.
Thank you very much 🙏
With the Godox/Flashpoint units, although the speedlight units may be specific to the hot shoe of each camera brand, when you pull the speed light off of the camera, and then use a brand specific remote controller in the camera hot shoe, you can control an off-camera Godox/Flashpoint speed light. Godox also makes a base unit that allows you to take an old speed light and control it from the camera remote unit. You need to leave the speed lights TTL function active if it has it. I routinely mix Godox/Flashpoint units (both Canon and Nikon) with older Nikon SB900/910 units. I have retired my Pocket Wizard gear with the exception of the PW +3 units that I use to fire the cameras.
Thanks for the insights 👍
They're called S brackets because they accept Bowens S Mount softboxes/accessories. A few years ago you could get Elinchrom compatible ones too... Elinchrom still use their own mount style on their lights, but they sell different adapter speedrings for their modern softboxes.
It's so obvious when you say it 🤦♂ thank you 👍
Great show as always, Gavin. Sorry I missed it live.
The Sony flash works with the Olympus transmitter in the same way as an AD200 / AD300 etc. would. They all communicate using a standard Godox radio protocol.
Hi Gavin, Sam and Freya from one of the recorded people 👋
On the Sekonic, you may see some different numbers depending on whether you have it set up for 1/3rd stops or 1/10 stops. I find the thing is to not get hung up on the f stop too much. As long as the light is consistent, and you meter effectively, you will get nice reproducible results.
Hi Katie. Yeah 1/10th stops is a bit to much for me so I keep my Sekonic meters set to 1/3 stops but for some reason all the L-858D units I've ever used show f/12.7 rather than f/13 🤷♂
@@GavinHoey Yeah, I checked on that with the Sekonic manual. I am not sure I can post the graphic here. The latest version of the 858 shows that you can do full-stops, third-stops, and tenth-stops. See page 209 of the 858 manual. You will see the 12.7 located there. I would not worry if it is 12.7 or 13. You set your f/stop and shoot. I look back on your videos back when you had the streetlights and the 308, and those were so foundational for me. Just adjust the power level you need, re-meter if necessary, and enjoy. The one thing I did find out with the 858 is that you have to be watchful you do not hit the HSS option for measurement, or accidentally leave your control unit on HSS.
@@KatieF307 Thanks for the research (you email did find me) confirming that. It's so rare I ever aim for F13 (or F12.7) that it always makes me smile but doesn't slow me down in the real world. As for HSS, yeah, accidents happen :)
@@GavinHoey Well, from a practical stance, I usually just crank down the power just as you demonstrated with the old Streak Light videos. The newer speed lights seem to be pretty amazing to me in that with the Flashpoint/Godox flash units, the lithium ion battery packs last an amazingly long time when you are using 1/16th power. The ISO performance of the newer cameras really make going to 400-800 no problem whatsoever.
What I think is lost on folks is that light is light. With continuous light (using the sun or manufactured lighting), the shutter speed still rules, but I look at all of the compositions that you demonstrate with the use of flash, and I am amazed. I hope you keep doing the take and make short videos.
Greetings from Germany.
Brisbane Australia, morning all
10:47 that's what the screw plate near the thread on the bracket is for, to tighten up on so you can place the cold shoe in the correct orientation
But they never work as intended. Every one I've owned will tighten up as designed but in the real world, with a bit of use it quickly loosens off again ☹️
Greetings from Belgium. Raining
ey up Chloe watch out , gavin the super model is taking yr spot lol
I use I believe godox S2 bracket bouwens mount
Michigan
How do I get notifications when Gavin goes Live! Is there a calendar or a schedule some where that I may view? Oxox
Usually hitting that subscribe button and bell icon works. I'm live on Tuesdays 5pm UK time two or three times a month. I usually post the live link to my IG story too 👍
@@GavinHoey got it, thank you!
Good evening from rainy A Coruña (Spain)
Round vs rectangle.... some things to consider.... shape of image frame, many times rectangular. Shape of a person, full length or half length, rectangular. Shape of group shot, many times rectangular. If your wanting to fill a softbox or umbrella with bare head, round is most likely better... but you can put a diffusion dome on rectangular head and it will fill those modifiers more than round head.
Just got to the part where you were discussing building without 13th floors - there are cruise ships that don't have 13th floors
Good to know I wasn't loosing the plot!
my Canon flash will work with my Olympus transmitter
Gosh Poly is awesome
Poly is super patient, just what you need when testing and learning light 😉
S-Bracket or "speed light" Bracket.... :) Rectangle = more versatile situations, especially for bounce in larger rooms and of course, can go into my S-Bracket along with my AD200's. A simple solution. Best Part... 2 pieces and not extra stuff to buy for the round head.
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the only differences between the OM transmitter and the Sony flash or Canon Flash or Nikon transmitter is because the specificity of the transmitter is so the camera will talk to the transmitter. the transmitter and flash use the same programming protocols. the reason the flash has camera specific functions is for those times youre using it on camera. the Sony flash is all same same with every other Godox/Flashpoint/Pixapro flash, with just proprietary pin layout
The wall is the light source when you bounce it
Gavin. It’s called an ‘s’ bracket because it’s for speedlites.
If I haven`t missunderstood, the zoom of the flash is also affected by the crop of the m4/3 sensor, so that a 100 mm zoom in the speddlight is equivalent to 200 mm when dealing with Olympus/OmSystem cameras. But I don't get to understand why. May you explain it in more detail?
The zoom of the flash isn't changed by the sensor size, it's all down to crop factor. It's really complicated to describe why in words (I've just tried and failed) so perhaps that's something I'll circle back to in a live stream once day.
@@GavinHoey Ok. I'll wait for that attempt 😃 Thanks a lot, Gavin
I missed it :(
You were soooo close!
It's an S bracket because it takes the Bowen's S mount modifiers.
Which leads to the question... What does the "S" stand for in Bowens 🤔
8:38 reason why C stands are not specific photography stands... most (not all) photography stands will have a 1/4 inch thread spigot top to screw the cold shoe onto... just fyi
Rectangle
Hello
29:56 spoiler alert, as soon as speedlight is off camera, and communication through a trigger, is doesn't matter what brand it is assigned too... the brand only matters for hot shoe use. Its why for AD100, AD 200, AD400, AD600 they are not brand specific... only what connects to hotshoe has to be pin/brand specific
alwasy great videos.. i would prefer to have the camera for the ladys to be on eye level with them looking into their face rather than the downward facing one.. just my one cent thought.
Lovely idea, not physically possible in my small home studio.
We are still waiting to have sun
Some of these new canon rebels have no center pin. Just to annoy photographers like you and me into buying a nicer model. They did actual engineering to make the camera less capable.
I am a recorded person saying hi
Hello recorded Joe 👋
S1 bracket - ratchet steps, S2 bracket - no steps... IMO I like steps, don't have to tighten handle as much, putting far less strain on tighten handle... especially useful for large heavy modifiers
I will be more than happy to take that Sony speed light off your hands.
Thanks super kind of you but after 31:05 I think I'll keep it for now 🤣
S Bracket..... Speedlight Bracket 🤔🤔
Just waisting time playing around
I am an oldie. So my question is: Is it live, or is it Memorex?
Wow, that takes me back to Re-Record not fade away 👴