While speedlight flash is great for on-camera use, giving you a more powerful flash with bounce capability, speedlights open up even more lighting possibilities when used off-camera. In this article we'll look at some of the different trigger methods speedlights may include that allow you to use them off-camera.
In the fourth part of this series on what to look for when choosing a speedlight flash, we'll cover color temperature, flash duration, and included accessories. We'll look at why these may be very important features you should carefully consider, or why they might not matter at all, depending on the type of photography you practice.
Continuing on from the previous two articles about what to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash, in this article we'll be looking at some more speedlight features. Some speedlights may include all the features discussed in this article, others may not include any of them. Hopefully by the end of this article you'll know whether these features will be important for your photography, and so be able to make an informed decision when deciding which model of speedlight to buy.
A monopod is designed to be used as a way to help keep your camera steady. It takes most of the weight of your camera off your arms, while being easier to carry and move about with than a tripod. It's very good at what it's designed to do, but the humble monopod can also be pressed into a variety of other photographic uses.
When considering setting up a home studio for photography, whether it be for portrait, product, or food photography, the most important decision is typically regarding the lighting. Should you go for continuous lighting or strobes? And if going for strobes, should you go for speedlight flashguns or studio strobes?
I've covered the differences between continuous lighting and flash in the article LED Light panel vs. Flash. So in today's article I want to look at the choice between speedlight flashguns and studio strobes. We'll look at the benefits and disadvantages of each system, to help you make the decision as to which will work best for your purposes.
Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite Flash and Elinchrom D-Lite RX 4 Studio Strobe
Highlighting a small part of a photo with flash can be used to help draw the viewer's attention to that part of the image. When this technique is combined with an overall lack of light over the rest of the image, this can create a very dramatic photo, with the highlighted area really standing out.
However, with a standard speedlight flash this technique can be difficult to achieve as the light from the flash spreads out too much, covering most of the frame. You can reduce the coverage of the flash by moving it closer to the subject, but depending on how small an area you want highlighted, this could result in the flash having to be so close that it appears in the frame.
A cheap and simple solution to this problem is a grid. A grid attaches in front of your flash, and creates a narrow, focused beam of light. This allows you to have your flash positioned further away from your subject, while highlighting just a small area with the flash. In this article we'll look particularly at how to create your own DIY grid for your speedlight flash, and how different variations affect the light.
When thinking about new purchases to help capture better photos most people will probably think of filters or a new lens if they own an interchangeable lens camera. But a speedlight flash can have a great impact on your photography, and should not be overlooked.
In this article we'll look at why you would want to use a speedlight flash, what advantages it has over the pop-up flash built into most cameras, and what the disadvantages are as well.
Using off camera flash can be a great way to add dynamic lighting to your photos. It is particularly useful for portrait and product photography. But speedlight flashes are quite expensive. And if you have a compact camera with no hot-shoe you might think you can't use off camera flash at all.
