Off camera flash.

An off-camera flash allows interesting possibilities.
The above photo was taken of my friend, Dell (to see a blog in this image, click here), some 38 years ago using a Minolta XG-M camera with a Metz-402 off-camera automatic flash.  Although the technology is ancient by today's standards, it was really all that was needed to create some amazing effects.  The key was to have a flash that was physically independent of the camera's position but hooked up to it electronically.  In this case I used a pc-cord.  Most cameras and flashes don't use this system anymore, but you can achieve the same result by other methods.

There are two options for accessing an off-camera flash.  You can use a tethered connection, which usually involves a camera compatible hot-shoe device with a wire connected to the flash allowing full TTL operations.  A second method involves a wireless connection which means using a camera with built-in flash wireless connectivity (mid to high-end models) and a flash that will link with said camera.  I have used numerous methods for achieving an off-camera flash link and can say that they all work fairly well.  The trick is to set it up correctly.

I photographed this image by placing the flash below the camera near the subject on a sharp angle.  The bright part on the shirt shows you the point closest to the flash.  There was no other source of light affecting the image (low ISO and high aperture made nonilluminated areas black).  This resulted in harsh shadows with dark eyes and sharp facial features.  Not a setup I would use to photograph people normally, but a useful one for some situations.

The great thing about off-camera flash is all the wonderful things you can do with it.  You can modify the light by using diffusers or soft boxes or even umbrellas, the angle can be changed and its intensity varied.  Add a couple of other flashes and you have the beginnings of a studio.  The thing to keep in mind is that regular flashes don not have a tremendous amount of power and recycle times are slow so higher ISOs, lower apertures, and close distances are more likely to ensure success.  In such a situation I would suggest keeping the number of people down to a low value and keep them in focus by having them light up parallel to the camera's focal plane.

I wrote a book on advanced photo techniques that spends a lot of time discussing flash.  Go to this website and scroll down if you are interested.

Thanks for reading.   www.ericspix.com   Eric Svendsen

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