CameraCrazy

In the world of photography, getting the flash off the camera is nothing novel. The benefits of this technique come through in images by eliminating harsh shadows, flat looking images, and the dreaded red eye.

Often times you will see a wedding photographer or portrait photographer with an elevated flash bracket raising their strobe, tethered to a sync cable. This allows them to lift the flash higher than the lens while holding the strobe in their hands off to the side, with the sync cable attached. With the flash coming from camera left or camera right and at a downward angle, it creates more three-dimensional images while reducing red eye.

With the advent of modern digital cameras and accessories, you can now control strobes with radio frequency, infrared, or flash pulses by your main on board flash or module and sync your strobe wirelessly. There is no longer a need for tethered systems when doing basic off camera flash usage. This has tremendous advantages as you can carry the flash in a lens holster when not being used and simply take it out when you need it, adding flexibility. In addition, this wireless freedom comes with some exciting creative opportunities. For example, you can place a wirelessly triggered flash behind a subject to add hair or rim light. You can place a strobe in a doorway or window you want lit up, and shoot from around the corner. In addition, these wireless systems afford you the ability to control numerous strobes at once, while varying their output in various groups.

Nikon offers this capability for free in most of their newer DSLR’s and SB-600 or SB-800 strobes, while allowing you to control the output from the camera’s LCD monitor. Using this CLS (creative lighting system) by Nikon, you can place strobes on stands, and shoot through umbrellas or other light modifiers. This simple studio setup can all be controlled right from your camera. As a wedding or portrait photographer, this can offer you superb portability and flexibility. If you don’t own a Nikon, you can easily purchase separate radio triggers and receivers. One popular brand is Pocket Wizard. These are more costly, and allow you to trigger strobes from great distances without pre-flash pulses. For more information and tutorials on using wireless strobes with your DSLR, check out the Strobist.

Now that you have your flash off of the camera, you will want to think about exposure a bit differently, especially when doing portraits. The easiest way to get professional looking portraits is to think of your camera as exposing for the background (the ambient or fill light), and the flash as exposing your subject. If you are hand holding your flash near your camera you can leave the flash unit in TTL mode as it should be pretty close to the on camera distance and power settings. It should be easy enough to adjust the compensation right on the flash or from your camera body if needed. If your strobes are on stands or placed in various locations, you will want to put them in manual mode, take test shots and change output as needed. Once the lighting is to your liking, you can focus on shooting. As for the camera, it is easiest to put it in manual mode for the background exposure. Expose for the background using matrix metering (with the subject not in the frame).

The following settings are a good place to begin: Start with your maximum flash sync shutter speed (typically around 1/250th of a second) and set your desired aperture for depth of field and sharpness of your lens. Then underexpose the background by around one to two stops (your meter in the viewfinder should display when that is). If you need more light, decrease your shutter speed to no less than 1/60th of a second. Anything slower will start to produce ghosting if your subject moves. If you still need more light, increase your aperture or ISO as you see fit. The result will be a perfectly exposed subject and slightly darker background, emphasizing your subject and having a nice three dimensional appearance.