The #1 piece of gear that I notice new photographers not owning is a flash (speedlite). Since many new photographers don’t own a flash, they rarely know how to use a flash. Yes, there is a learning curve to using flash properly (watch the video), but new photographers should not say they are a natural light photographer simply because they are afraid of flash photography.

I’ll admit that flash photography is not right for every scenerio and sometimes shots come out better with natural light. However, there are times in both very low light and outdoors with fill light that flash photography can save the day. One of my favorite outside shots is shooting with the bright sun behind the subject and using flash to fill the front of the subject. I also do a lot of low light candid event photography that is just not the same without the use of a flash.

Since I’m a Canon shooter, I will give some examples of flash models below. However, Nikon, Sony and other brands also have their own flash brands and there are also 3rd party brands available. But before I dive in, let me share 3 basic things to look for in a flash:

1) HSS – High Speed Sync (HSS) allows for shooting outside at a higher speed than the camera sync speed for a flash.

2) TTL – This allows the flash and camera to communicate with each other saving time fumbling with manual settings.

3) Tilt Head – This is nice because it allows for bouncing light from the flash and not being forced to shoot straight on.

Flash ( Speedlite ) for Canon Users:

High End: Currently the Canon brand 600EX-RT is the top of the line Canon flash which sells for around $500. As a full time professional photographer, this is my flash of choice.

Low End: Yongnuo basically copied Canon’s system above and came out with a YN600EX-RT for $125. So depending on whether $500 for the Canon 600 is in the budget, it may be best on a tighter budget to get TWO Yongnuo 600’s for $250 and save $250. Buying two provides a backup flash.

There are several other brands available like Metz, Nissin, Vivitar, Flashpoint and many more.

I highly recommend getting a Collapsible Lightsphere as seen below which sells for about $60:

The post New Photographers: A Flash ( Speedlite ) Should Definitely Be Part Of Your Gear first appeared on .

The top image above was taken by my equipment assistant, John, who is listed on the team page. The bottom image is one of several final images that I shot during this setup.

In the first image, you’ll see my primary assistant, Lindsay, who is also listed on the team page, holding a Canon 600 EX-RT Speedlite. Lindsay is pointing the speedlite at the subject to provide fill flash outside. I was standing about 25 feet away with my Canon 5D Mark III with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and the Canon ST-E3-RT mounted on the hotshoe. The Canon ST-E3-RT communicates wirelessly with the Canon 600 EX-RT Speedlite. I was using TTL High Speed Sync mode rather than manual mode on the speedlite.

Shooting out in the open like this scenario can be difficult when using studio strobes because of the sync speed issue. Even when the ISO is set to 100, the shutter speed will likely not get to 1/200th or less when the lens is set to f/5.6. That’s the beauty of High Speed Sync: I was able to set the camera to AV mode which means that I set the f/stop like I wanted it and the camera chose the shutter speed. With High Speed Sync, I don’t have to worry about the shutter speed being greater than 1/200th of a second when using flash outside.

Yes, there are other ways to do the shot above like using a reflector or reflectors, but I like the simplicity of the way that I did this shot. I simply placed my assistant with one speedlite in her hands close to the subject and I set the camera to AV mode with the flash to High Speed Sync. It’s that easy and it’s not complicated.

If you are a photographer and don’t own a speedlite with TTL and High Speed Sync options, you may want to do some research into the best speedlite for your budget that offers both TTL and High Speed Sync. Currently, Canon’s top speedlite is the Canon 600 EX-RT and Nikon’s is the SB-910. Both are between $500-$550 each as of this writing.

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The image on the left has no edits and no flash. The image on the right has “VERY MINOR” edits and fill flash.

Images from CanonUSA.com

The images above are from a multi-location full day commercial photoshoot in North Carolina. The images are 2 of 1,400+ images taken that day. In this particular situation, the client wanted part of the outside of the fire truck with the fireman inside the fire truck using the radio equipment. As you can see from the image above on the left, the fireman cannot be seen clearly with the available light.

The two pieces of gear pictured on the left were used to create the interior light that you see above on the right. The speedlite is the Canon 600-EX-RT and the item below it is the Canon ST-E3-RT. As of this post both items combined cost is approximately $750 to $800.

I used a Canon 5DMarkIII with a 70-200mm F/2.8 lens and the Canon ST-E3-RT mounted to the camera hotshoe. One of my assistants sat inside the fire truck with the Canon 600EX-RT pointed toward the fireman. Because the two pieces of gear allows for high speed sync, I didn’t have to worry about my shutter speed. The ST-E3-RT simply triggers the 600EX-RT speedlite wirelessly.

This is a great example of how portability, high speed sync and wireless communication can all work together to pull of the shot that you need.

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Canon 600 Speedlite With Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 Set At f/3.2 And 200mm

The image above was shot outside at 100ISO with the lens nearly wide open at f/3.2 to create the really blurred background. I used a 24 x 24 softbox on a light stand with a Canon 600 Flash set on TTL and High Speed Sync. I had the speedlite (aka: flash) output set a little over exposed in camera because that’s a personal preference of mine. I used the Canon ST-E3-RT on the camera’s hotshoe to trigger the speedlite off camera.

Using a speedlite (aka: flash) outside can make a difference in the results of your outdoor images and I’m not referring to the little popup flash on the camera if you have one. To get the best results with outdoor flash photography, you should consider a TTL hotshoe mountable speedlite that will allow high speed sync. This type of speedlite will make it easy to balance the daylight and the flash outside so the lighting doesn’t look odd. A TTL speedlite communicates with the camera in a way that makes it all work together well.

The high speed sync mode allows you to shoot at faster shutter speeds than normal sync mode will allow. This is important because even outside at 100ISO it’s easy for the shutter speed to far exceed the sync mode of the camera especially when shooting at an f/stop of 3.2 like the image at the top of this post.

By no means is this post meant to be a complete understanding of TTL and High Speed Sync. If it were that type of post, it would be far longer. However, I do recommend that you use YOUTUBE to look up TTL Speedlite, Flash Outdoors, High Speed Sync and other relevant terms from this post to help you better understand what has been mentioned above. Watching videos on this subject can help you have a deeper understanding than reading a short blog post.

Don’t be afraid to use a speedlite (aka: flash) outside. If you learn how to do it right, you will likely enjoy many of your portrait related images even more.

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