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I have been shooting with flash for over 9 years now and it’s a style of photography which I absolutely adore! Recently I had some interest in a video where I break down some helpful tips and tricks to help you take better flash photos, I hope these tips help you out and get you using more flash in your work, it can be such a powerful tool for creating amazing portrait photos!
Here is a great flash bracket
And use this cable to connect the flash to your camera
I made the kitchen portraits video too! Check it out here
Glimmerglass 1 filter:
Lightpix flash:
Godox V1:
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00:01: Intro
00:58: Small Flashes
01:36: Speedlite Flashes
02:16: What Camera Settings to Use!
03:57: Secret Ingredient for amazing flash photos!
05:18: How I Took These White Wall Flash Photos.
08:21: Kitchen Portraits?
09:26: Why Use A Flash In Broad Daylight.
10:11: How To Edit Flash Photos.
11:07: Bouncing flash!
Gear I Use!
Main Video/Photo Camera:
Photo Camera:
Main Video Lens:
One Of My Favourite Lenses:
Beast Telephoto Lens:
Amazing Portrait Lens:
First Microphone:
Second Microphone:
Audio Recorder:
ND Filter:
Secret Sauce Filter:
Action Camera:
Flash:
Smaller flash:
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Comments
44 responses to “How To Take Really Good Flash Photos”
Interesting video, but pls calm down; you haven’t “becam famous” for this style, you didn’t “develop” this either. You haven’t 30k followers and I wish you to do reall well, but you are not Terry Richardson, so calm down. Not even he developed this style, he popularized it tho and became famous for it.
I like the straightforward approach of your tutorials👍
I use flash in my photos and I think this was a really helpful explanation for direct flash with the Godox
have you tried the IM30 ?
Thanks for the vid; there's some great info in here! However, I feel inclined to offer some peer-to-peer constructive criticism: While people can slow down the video speed, it is best for you to learn to speak slower so you can reach a wider audience, and not put the onus on the viewer.
I'd also work on how you're lighting body skin, and put the effort into editing it in post-production. While everyone's faces look great, some of your shots see the upper shoulders, arms, and lower half of the subject's body looking terribly mottled, some showing every stretch mark and/or bruise (discoloration in general) thus not matching the smooth, creamy facial skin at all.
Particularly the shots of the girl with the horse—her thighs and legs look like she's got a skin disease—her arm facing the camera also has some dark spots—elbow-pit area, notably. The neck and upper shoulder & chest area of the woman with the orange sweater also needed some editing attention to match her beautiful, smooth face. The arms and lower leg areas of the girl in the white lingerie with the blood and knife have the same issue with mottling/discoloration—these are the shots where this issue stuck out to me the most.
A lot of this is simply down to where our primary blood veins live—inner crook of arm, groin, etc., as well as the temperature of the location of the shoot and obviously what clothes they're wearing for it.
As a middle-aged woman who professionally shoots and edits portraits of children, women, and men of all ages, I can confidently say that every single person, no matter their age or state of health/fitness, or how warm or cold the location is, will need some editing attention paid to both their faces and any body skin showing no matter how well they've been lit. Women in particular will notice the lines on their necks, and every little wrinkle, blemish or discoloring of their body skin—for that reason, I spend the time to adjust lighting, then really inspect the photos afterwards and make sure to post-process edit in the most flattering way, while also keeping it looking as natural as possible.
Hope this didn't come across as too harsh as I sincerely just mean to offer help. Thanks again for putting yourself out there and offering your hard-earned, flash photography knowledge!
(newbie question) instead of the flash mount, what if you hold the flash directly next to the lens? i guess you can sort of sync the trigger of the shutter button to the flash triggering, right? why not do that?
i started making flash portraits when i remembered those iconic American Apparel advertisements with girls in nylon tights. they're just iconic. it's an era, it's a vibe, it's a look, and it's very intentionally imperfect. indie sleaze is making a big comeback and so are pics that are seemingly taken on a shitty digicam
8:12 there’s a new official Flash for the GR4
Rule #1 photograph really hot people
You nuked the video during the edit
I used to think that flashes were crutches.
That "real" photographers would either dance with the available light in their environment or would set up continuous (studio) lighting.
I'm just now beginning to make peace with flash photography.
this guy's so full of himself really
I just bought Godox V1Pro, subbed!
My first time using a speedlite EVER was bouncing flash off the low white walls and ceiling at my best mate's wedding. I loved the images that came out of it so much that I'm kinda terrified to use a direct flash at a subject haha. Understanding physics is the best helper for bouncing for sure.
flash is so underrated. flash=bangers. youre photos are sick! thank you for the tips
Many thanks for the great tutorial. By no means I am a flash specialist like you, but I like using it a lot, especially bounced. Having an extra source of light, completely in my own control, is such a huge advantage than being dependent on whatever lighting situation you encounter. My next step is to fiddle with (Rogue?) gels, to match colour temperatures, e.g. indoors or during golden hour. Also, I have a wireless trigger for my Godox, and I want to practice handheld off-camera flash, either direct at the subject or bounced. So much to try and to practice!
The GOAT over here xxox thanks
Lets see the kitchen portraits
On my Godox V1 I use a combination of the bounce card and round diffuser from the Godox akr1 modifier kit for events. The angle the flash head 45 degrees.
Worst lighting for a video about flash, to the point your head is blending with the colour of the wall.
Great video, thank you! I just have one question. You've said that you like to keep the aperature around f5.6-f8, but the pictures you showed have a lower aperature in the description. Or is this number just a lens specification – not actual aperature used?
VERY WELL MADE – so much value! Thank you
Thank you Matthew for the informative video on using direct flash! Best of luck!
Just occurred to me, can asked you make you make a tutorial version with a model and explaining everything from this video. I’m a visual learner. Keep making great videos and sharing #Londonlovesyou
Excellent video Matthew, great pointers rushing away to practice now. Brilliant images, video and presentation. #Londonlovesyou
Oh my that was a very informative video! So much so that I even took notes. Thank you so much Matthew for taking the time to create this video, I know how much goes into it and I appreciate you sharing your talents! 🙂
this was way helpful thank you
Great breakdown bro
I have a canon 580ex ii and still can't figure it out for 2 years just practicing at home i'm a enthusiast photographer maybe one day become pro.
12:55 Собор Василия блаженного
you are god!!!!!!! one of the best videos about flash ever!!!!!!!!
I see more ego than good photos. Another GWC preoccupied with female subjects. Sad guy. And why is the video's white balance so horribly off?
The rubber magmod diffuser fits over the top of the v1 like the glove. I use it like that all the time.
Since you mentioned using an ND filter, do you recommend using an ND filter only or ND with CPL filter?
New subscriber. Nice video. Thanks for the inspiration. I just purchased a Godox iT30 Pro. So far I really like it on my Fuji bodies.
I really love how much detail and how easy you make it to understand. You hit on a lot of key points that others don't really. Thank you for this video.
Hey Matthew, Thanks for the amazing instructional video. I was wondering what I should do in a situation where im shooting portraits of people at a large music event or a nightclub where theres lots of flashing lights and variable exposures every second, how do i consistently get good results?
Your photography (and models) are simply spectacular 🌟✨
i found a bunch of videos on old point&shoot cameras flash photography, a bunch on external big flashes, not a single video on a cam like sony a6400 with a built in flash for such photography. do you think such flash would be useless for similar photos most of the time? would appreciate if anyone could share their experience
Badly used flash has given flash a bad reputation with beginners or those who never learned it. If an image looks flash I usually delete it because it is not what I intended, Speed lights are a bargain now with very good models from 3rd parties from Asia. and just as useful in bright conditions as ones that are needing augmented light to get the image at all. Most of my work for hire is in the studio because renting one of the hundreds of studio rooms where I live now is $10-15/hr and include make-up and dressing rooms and 3-4 large studio strobes, and some even have infinity walls Cyclorama )so the is no corners floor, just white background with no corners so the subject appears to be floating in white space, usually often in catalog clothing or product ads, for only a few dollars more. This make adding any background desired in post editing. My personal studio is small but large enough for a group of 10 people. I shoot alot of clubs, rock and jazz clubs but those are free because I am a regular patron. Direct flash works best when exposure before flast is 1 stop down so the ambient light. I usually isolate subjects with fast aperture 1.2 or 1.4to make the scene tupic standout from the busy scene. For saving money the really good 1.8 lenses for mirrorless like rgw 50 or 85 1,8 for Nikon are actually better corner to corner DSLR versions.
My style focuses on not having the hot spots of flash
Back before digital I made at least a million from licensing a snap shot taken during breaks between takes in my studio complex of 3 studies where we recorded 197 gold and platinum albums from 1971 to 1994. Record companies did not buy them but charged them to the acts share after sales paid for itself. But we only took one name project. So I was paid from the recording plus any photos that ended up on record jackets. Some single shots earned $50,000 each back when a good 3 bedroom house was $23,000 in California. I am long retired from the music production and moved 25 years ago to beautiful St Petersburg Russia and love it here,
Ah man, loved this video SUPER helpful for my event stuff !
Thank you for the great tips. You made me think back to the time I was afraid to use a flash.
Now that Profoto has the A series flashes and the B10 series, I always use a flash. This Profoto system has made flash photography so much easier.
I now always have punchier portraits using the Profoto flashes. A costly business but worth every penny.
That's my opinion about Profoto equipment after starting portrait photography as natural light photographer😜
Really enjoyed the video !! So when going full manual with the flash and camera, what ISO do you usually swear by and also when using the V1 do you prefer to uses a wide zoom on the flash and compose further back then crop in, in post. I find even with the v1 on a 35mm lens composing for say half body portraits even on a low power it can blow the face out white…
Kitchen portraits kitchens portraits 🍳🥘⏲️🧑🍳🔪🍴🍽️📸