How To Use External Flash
Today I will be teaching you how to use an external flash, also known as a speedlite. I bought my first speedlite in Feb 2020 and now I am upgrading by speedlite for a bad reason I’ll tell u later. Since I’m a an intermediate speedlite user, I think I can comfortably teach you how to use a speedlite without bombarding you with too much technical jargon.
That being said, let’s get started with why you should use a flash. The camera flash adds light to your scene. You can use this temporarily use this temporary light source, u know, a flash of light, as a key light, fill light, a back light or all 3 at the same time. You can use a video light as a light source but don’t. The flash has a better form factor to aim your light and your subjects will not find the flash as annoying as a continuous light.
Here are some tips on using camera flash.
1) Never use the built-in camera flash
A soon as you decide you want to photograph people, just get an external flash
2) Expose for the ambient surroundings then flash
Put your camera in manual mode, adjust your ISO, aperture and shutter speed to expose for the background. When you do this, your subject will be dark so you will compensate with the flash. You can either adjust your flash power manually or use the TTL mode (auto mode). Flash power is described as a fraction. 1/1 is full power, ½ is half power and so on.
3) Never use direct flash*
By direct flash I mean pointing the flash at your subject. If you can’t point the flash directly at your subject, what gives? Use the bounce card included with the flash and the diffusion plate and point your flash upward get soft light coming from the flash. You can also swivel the flash head behind you to bounce the flash off a wall, without the diffusion plate or bounce card, but I have never personally used this technique.
Now let me explain the asterixis. You can use direct flash… Outdoors and in a soft box. Keep in mind you have to adjust the flash power accordingly.
Accessory products
Using the flash off camera works a lot better than having it on camera. The advantages of using your flash off camera are, you can use longer lens, be farther away from your subject, use the flash as a backlight and when you use the flash as a key light off camera, you can control the direction of the light.
When using your flash off camera, you can just use the included feet, but for more off camera flexibility for the flash there are some accessories I recommend you get. I will talk about these accessories in order of importance.
A light stand can be used to adjust the height of your flash. There is a screw hole at the bottom of the speedlite’s feet, there you can attach the flash to the light stand. If you want to use your tripod instead of using a light stand, you can do that, but I recommend u get extra quick release plates (assuming u have a tripod with quick release plates). You can keep the quick release plate permanently attached to the bottom to the speedlite’s feet.
Wanna make your flash photography look better? Get yourself a speedlite softbox. A softboox further diffuses the light coming from the flash and effectively gives you a larger light source. Just remember, when you are using the soft box, use the diffusion skrim. Having a larger light source is nice but u know what isn’t? Having hard light. If u have 2 flashes, you can use one with a gel. The more you use off camera flash, the more you realize that it’s a hassle to lower your flash to adjust the settings. That’s why I upgraded to this flash. With this Altura flash and trigger set I can adjust the flash power without touching the flash. I also upgraded because I lost the wireless transmitter for my Powerextra flash and the Powerextra doesn’t sell the transmitter separately nor do they sell a transmitter that you can control the power with.
You need to power your flash and with rechargeable AA batteries you can stop throwing out batteries when they run dead. You can also top up the AAs if they didn’t totally die during your shoot.
I have affiliate links to all the products I’ve mentioned in the description below. These links give me a small commission at no cost to you so using the links are not necessary but it would be greatly appreciated.
Last tip is to practice.
Accessories
Beginner Flash https://amzn.to/3AJ2Z5t
Intermediate Flash https://amzn.to/3aHmYXz
Light stand 2pack https://amzn.to/3BJXx3w
Speedlite Softbox https://amzn.to/3nbXurh
Quick Release Plate https://amzn.to/3mTde26
Flash gels https://amzn.to/3j5NDBR
Rechargeable AA batteries https://amzn.to/3lGwOz2
