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Common Flash Myths

Lesson 4 from: Lighting 101

SLR Lounge, Pye Jirsa

Common Flash Myths

Lesson 4 from: Lighting 101

SLR Lounge, Pye Jirsa

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Lesson Info

4. Common Flash Myths

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Chapter 1 Introduction

01:26
2

Why Just One On-Camera Flash

04:22
3

5 Reasons to Use Flash

10:37
4

Common Flash Myths

06:51
5

What Makes Flash Challenging?

04:56
6

Chapter 2 Introduction

01:36
7

Flash-Strobe vs. Ambient-Constant Light

08:19
8

Flash vs. Ambient Light Exposure

03:07
9

Flash vs. Ambient Demo

06:42
10

Flash and Ambient Balancing for Natural Effect

07:11
11

Flash and Ambient Balancing for Dramatic Effect

04:19
12

Flash and Ambient Balancing for Creative Effect

07:10
13

Understanding Flash Duration

08:37
14

Chapter 3 Introduction

01:34
15

5 Common Key Light Patterns

08:38
16

5 Common Key Light Patterns w/ Diffusion & Fill

07:42
17

5 Common Secondary Light Patterns

08:28
18

3 Primary Subject Patterns

05:27
19

Light Qualities

09:56
20

The Inverse Square Law

07:50
21

Inverse Square Law in Practice

08:21
22

Corrective White Balance

10:02
23

Creative White Balance

05:47
24

Chapter 4 Introduction

01:58
25

On Board vs. Hot Shoe Flash

05:57
26

Full Feature vs. Manual Flashes

08:59
27

TTL vs. Manual Control

08:12
28

TTL vs. Manual Recycle Times

04:43
29

Flash Power & Zoom

09:18
30

HHS vs. ND Filters

12:29
31

FCS vs. RCS

07:11
32

Chapter 5 Introduction

01:38
33

4 Tips When You Must Use Direct Flash

06:00
34

Bare Bulbing Done Right

11:42
35

Grid Snoot + Direct Flash

06:43
36

Mini Beauty + Direct Flash

06:08
37

Ring + Direct Flash

07:52
38

Understanding Modifiers

09:24
39

Direct Flash + Shutter Flash

09:07
40

Chapter 6 Introduction

01:55
41

Ambient vs. Direct Flash vs. Bounce Flash

14:27
42

Silver Bounce

14:27
43

More Light Silver

11:02
44

Soft White Bounce

15:41
45

Overhead Bounce

11:39
46

Overhead Bounce + Fill

09:42
47

Event Bounce

12:42
48

Chapter 7 Introduction

01:38
49

Natural vs. Dramatic Light

17:43
50

Filling and Refining Existing Light

08:44
51

Coloring Light for Corrective Effect

13:33
52

Coloring Light for Creative Effect

10:27
53

Chapter 8 Introduction

00:43
54

Case Study 1 - Dramatic Sunset

09:45
55

Case Study 2 - Desert Sunset

10:04
56

Case Study 3 - Sinister Headshot

09:40
57

Case Study 4 - Family Portrait

08:21
58

Case Study 5 - Athlete Portraits

11:19
59

Case Study 6 - Working Angles

07:22
60

Case Study 7 - Drag + Composite

08:09
61

Case Study 8 - Less is More

07:16
62

The Good Karma Jar

01:41
63

Favorite Feature Flashes

05:52
64

Favorite Manual Flashes

21:35
65

Favorite On Camera Flash Modifiers

21:21

Lesson Info

Common Flash Myths

in this video, I want to debunk four common myths about Flash Phil. We're gonna tuck in my thumb like go 44 common myths about Flash. And those myths are that Number one flash is complicated. And I have displayed a calculator here because I hate math. Absolutely. This is coming from a former accountant and c p a. The climate Dogra now hate number two Flash can't look natural. Your images are always gonna look like they have been flashed, completed faults number three Flashman degrees expensive and requires too much gear. It's true that Flashman degree does require more gear. I mean, it's more geared to use but doesn't require tons of year. And the gear isn't necessarily expensive either. So that's completely we're gonna talk about each of these in detail. Number four flashes only needed in dark or when dealing with subjects in shadows. That's completely false as well. All right, so let's start from the top with flash is complicated. Okay, We have e t t l. We have t TL. We have manual f...

lat power am universes, flash exposure, power setting zoom, inverse square. What the heck is that? Sync speed, High speed sink. I mean, there's a ton toe. Learn about flash, but it's only complicated when you try to approach it all in one sitting. When you try and approach it all of the same time where you're doing off camera flash, an on camera flash and studio strobes and pocket strokes and you're trying to get that whole thing just swallowed in one gulp, it's just not gonna happen. But when we break it out and that's the reason again, why we're using one single on camera flash cause we can focus on just on camera flash and break down each one of these principles. It's gonna create an incredibly intuitive foundation for your lighting going forward where basically, after this workshop, whether you're using a studio strobe, a pocket strobe, whether using off camera or on camera flash, these principles are gonna become simple and easy to understand. And basically all you have to do is learn where the buttons are on whatever piece of gear that you're using. That's it. Okay, so flashes only complicate when we try to approach everything all at once. It's true that there's a little bit more toe learn because now you're learning lighting in a different type of technique versus natural light, but it's gonna be well worth it. It's not nearly as complicated as you think. Myth Flash can't look natural, that is complete. Flash can look completely natural. It also could look super dramatic and unnatural, if you will. It's really just a matter of balance. I mean, over here we have six different portrait all of these air designed to have a very natural and subtle use of flash basically in them. So that really in looking at them, you wouldn't think that they're anything other than either natural light or simply reflector modified natural light. But in actuality, they all have been flashed so flash can look as naturally wanted to. It could look as dramatic as he wanted. Teoh, we're talking about that as we go through the workshop. But don't think that it can't look natural. Myth number three is that flash is too expensive and, you know, I kind of get that because most workshops, as we talked about, start from that bottom up year approach where they say they tell you to buy all this gear and all the lighting modifiers and everything that you possibly might need for studio in, off camera and on camera and all that kind of stuff. If you did that, you're spending $10,000 that is expensive. And that's saying that you don't go out and buy the best stuff you wouldn't buy. Brown colored your spending 20 $30,000. But it doesn't have to be that way. And what this workshop is designed to do is to teach you flash with an on camera flash and just simple light modification, inexpensive reflectors. That way, it's accessible and approachable to everybody. I mean, most of you should already have an on camera flash. If not, please buy one, because it is quite necessary to have home chamber flash. Everything else, though, is gonna be around anywhere between 10 bucks for D. I. Y. Solutions that we'll be showing you 20 bucks 30 bucks. Most all of the light modifies that we're using here are under bucks or well under 50 bucks, with the exception of one thing, and that is a neutral density filter, and there's gonna be different levels of quality that will give you those can range between 103 $100. But again, one great neutral density filter is something that's fantastic to invest in its going something used quite a bit in your flash career. And it's useful for a whole bunch of purposes as well, just in general to slow down your shutter speed. But we'll talk about that more later on. But that item there is the only piece that's gonna be basically more than you know, 50 bucks. Everything else extremely inexpensive, very accessible, and flash does not need to be expensive to get great results. Myth and before is that flash is Onley meant for the dark. Now it's true that if you want to, you can go out at night time and can use Flash to brighten up your subjects. You can shoot in the dark and use flash to brighten up your subject. Great flash come using the dark, but it's not just for that. Okay, hopefully you've already seen by now that we're using flash in the middle of day toe, overpower the sun to create really dramatic shots with great color Behind them were also using flash the middle today like, for example, in this shot where we have a beautiful natural light portrait. We just use a little bit of flash toe, add some light direction and change the light quality a tiny bit. We use flash in our studio to create the right type of light to accent different features. As you might see in these athletic portrait's here, we're basically I want to show off muscle definition. I love this shot where we shop is absent that crazy abs, I not so much. I have, like one AB he has, like eight. That's crazy. Okay, here we're using it in. It's kind of a darker scene, but this is still in the middle of the day. It's under a bridge, and we could shoot there with natural light. It's still bright enough to shoot with natural. I were just simply using flash toe, overpower the existing light under the bridge and create a very dramatic effect. Hopefully, this video helps to kind of debunk some of the myths out there of what flash can and can't be or what it is. It's too expensive. It's too complicated and so forth. It's simply not true. Most the time I found that these kind of reasons and myths that exist around flash their created because photographers are oftentimes they don't want to learn flash because maybe there a little bit lazy. They don't want to get out there and actually practice and study it and so forth, or they might be intimidated by they find it very challenging, and so they'd rather stick with what they know. Either way, I want you guys to expand your vision of what flash can be. And it's just one of those additional kind of tools in your tool kit that's going to give you more control, more flexibility, regardless of what senior working within. But we're gonna talk about some of those challenges in the next video, so let's go into that now.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Lighting 101 Slides

Ratings and Reviews

Sid
 

The best class for understanding light and lighting there is bar none. Pye is an excellent teacher and the quality of the material provides for a rich and very informative experience. Pye breaks down the fundamentals in easy to digest packets and then elaborates as needed. If there is one class that you watch this is it! Worth purchasing and saving for future use. I would also HIGHLY recommend downloading the saving the PDF of slides that accompany the videos. Again, and can't say it enough, this is THE BEST video to lighting on Creative Live. A must watch for the novice and the expert.

Petra
 

Great course, I highly recommend it if you want to become a more confident flash user. Pye is a wonderful instructor and just such a nice guy, it's a pleasure to listen to him

Simon Metselaar
 

This is the best thing that happened to me since I've been into photography. What a lifesaver. Unfortunately I already payed for some courses that are not Pye, but Pye just nails it. Amazing, and kind of a life hack. Thanks again :)

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