Lessons
Chapter 1 Introduction
01:26 2Why Just One On-Camera Flash
04:22 35 Reasons to Use Flash
10:37 4Common Flash Myths
06:51 5What Makes Flash Challenging?
04:56 6Chapter 2 Introduction
01:36 7Flash-Strobe vs. Ambient-Constant Light
08:19 8Flash vs. Ambient Light Exposure
03:07Flash vs. Ambient Demo
06:42 10Flash and Ambient Balancing for Natural Effect
07:11 11Flash and Ambient Balancing for Dramatic Effect
04:19 12Flash and Ambient Balancing for Creative Effect
07:10 13Understanding Flash Duration
08:37 14Chapter 3 Introduction
01:34 155 Common Key Light Patterns
08:38 165 Common Key Light Patterns w/ Diffusion & Fill
07:42 175 Common Secondary Light Patterns
08:28 183 Primary Subject Patterns
05:27 19Light Qualities
09:56 20The Inverse Square Law
07:50 21Inverse Square Law in Practice
08:21 22Corrective White Balance
10:02 23Creative White Balance
05:47 24Chapter 4 Introduction
01:58 25On Board vs. Hot Shoe Flash
05:57 26Full Feature vs. Manual Flashes
08:59 27TTL vs. Manual Control
08:12 28TTL vs. Manual Recycle Times
04:43 29Flash Power & Zoom
09:18 30HHS vs. ND Filters
12:29 31FCS vs. RCS
07:11 32Chapter 5 Introduction
01:38 334 Tips When You Must Use Direct Flash
06:00 34Bare Bulbing Done Right
11:42 35Grid Snoot + Direct Flash
06:43 36Mini Beauty + Direct Flash
06:08 37Ring + Direct Flash
07:52 38Understanding Modifiers
09:24 39Direct Flash + Shutter Flash
09:07 40Chapter 6 Introduction
01:55 41Ambient vs. Direct Flash vs. Bounce Flash
14:27 42Silver Bounce
14:27 43More Light Silver
11:02 44Soft White Bounce
15:41 45Overhead Bounce
11:39 46Overhead Bounce + Fill
09:42 47Event Bounce
12:42 48Chapter 7 Introduction
01:38 49Natural vs. Dramatic Light
17:43 50Filling and Refining Existing Light
08:44 51Coloring Light for Corrective Effect
13:33 52Coloring Light for Creative Effect
10:27 53Chapter 8 Introduction
00:43 54Case Study 1 - Dramatic Sunset
09:45 55Case Study 2 - Desert Sunset
10:04 56Case Study 3 - Sinister Headshot
09:40 57Case Study 4 - Family Portrait
08:21 58Case Study 5 - Athlete Portraits
11:19 59Case Study 6 - Working Angles
07:22 60Case Study 7 - Drag + Composite
08:09 61Case Study 8 - Less is More
07:16 62The Good Karma Jar
01:41 63Favorite Feature Flashes
05:52 64Favorite Manual Flashes
21:35 65Favorite On Camera Flash Modifiers
21:21Lesson Info
4 Tips When You Must Use Direct Flash
Four tips when you must use direct flash now what I mean here I mean that you're not using direct flash for stylistic purposes you're using it simply because you need a light I'm going to give you some tips here for when you have no other choice other than to use direct flash and here is tip number one don't use direct flash don't use it in most situations you honestly don't need direct flash you can modify it and we're going to show you tips and techniques even when you think you have no bounces you think you have nothing to use you do you can use tons of things we're gonna give you lots of small modifiers to help you to understand that even in a pinch you don't have to use direct flash you can bounce off something and get a much softer and much better look but for that one percent of the time we're honestly you have nothing with you that you can modify with you have no other choice he maybe have your onboard flash or you have a hot flash but you have no way to change anything well he...
re's some tips for you the first shot was shot relatively bright but you can see their faces just a tiny bit in the shadows this is just natural light with no flash and I have a little check mark by it why did I say that this was okay because stylistically that's totally fine as you look too if you want to kind of exposed to be brighter and you could brighten up a little bit for skin and leave the background blown out stylistically that's totally okay if that's what you're going for if you want laden area great you got it but what we definitely don't want to do is we don't want to go with this heavy flash look okay so as soon as the ambient exposure assumes that back an exploder starts to drop down and darkened down and use direct flash to brighten them up significantly you end up with this heavy flash look and it looks it looks terrible it looks like a point and shoot it looks it just does not look good so ten number two is to start by exposing the image for the desired level of ambien light brighter the better okay so the brighter the background the better because it's going I have a more natural look more natural feel to it when we want to do is when we have to use flash we want to be extremely subtle in these types of situations this so this was heavy flash this was medium flash you can see that there's an improvement here so this the background has brightened up a little bit in this third shot but not quite to the level of the first shot but it is better than this heavy flash shot but still, you can tell that there's quite a bit of flash being added here, this is what I would call medium flash, okay, so we brought in the background a bit, but it still is a little bit too dark, and the flash is a little bit too high, so ten number three is to use the lowest flash power possible when you're using it to fill light or when you're using it, even as a main light. This now the reason why I haven't put up camera settings here is because this applies, regardless of whatever senior shooting in whether it's daytime, whether it's, night time, whether using as a fill light, whether using it as a main light, you want that flash card to be very, very subtle. So for example, if I'm at night, remember that your flash has freezing capabilities, right? You don't need to worry about your shutter speed as much. Okay, so what I would do at nighttime is slow the shutter speed down, I would slow down to say one fiftieth of a second, one thirtieth of a second, and you start getting even slower. Just make sure to turn on the rear curtains sink, so at one thirty second, howard down my eyes, oh, up to, say, sixteen hundred. Shooting at f two eight so I'm allowing a lot of ambient light in and then I'm allowing the flash to shoot at a very low power setting so that way our background is nice and bright and the flash power is very subtle during the day I'm doing the exact same thing I'm dialing it in so my background is very bright I'm getting my exposure first and this is why we always say use manual control for everything well, with the exception of this when you're doing direct flash like this it's actually okay to be using tl because it's going to do a great job of exposing when you're just doing direct flash so what I might do is just leave my ambien settings in manual saw dial and everything manually from my shutter speed my ap turn my higher so and on my camera I might use just exposure compensation like tl comment shin and dalit downnegative one or negative to to get to a lighter look and what we end up with is with a super light filled flash the temperament for it to soften that direct flash if possible with a bit of modification know what I mean is if you've got a napkin, put a napkin in front of this okay, if you've got a larger napkin, have someone hold a napkin off the side and you can bounce her and that's what I mean where we're gonna teach you ways that you can balance and create a light regardless, but let's say you have nothing except for just a tiny little piece of cloth. If you put that in front, it will soften that flash is a little bit so great if you could soften up a little bit fantastic if not, then that's super light filled flash is going to create this look and this was done with just a bare bulb. Okay, so you guys can get an idea. So here we have that ambient exposure of roughly what we had in this first shot on lee here we're adding just a small kiss of phil flash and what you can see is it brightens her up just a little bit and it gives us a nice it almost looks like we had a reflector to modify you don't see any harsh flash shadows it's just subtly brighter than the first shot. Now why is this not the best type of technique? Well, particularly and during the daytime like this, if I if I can't bounce that, I'd probably just use a reflector to modify because this is so subtle anyway, a reflector would do the same thing if I'm at nighttime than most likely confined something to bounce off like like I said, a napkin, a t shirt, whatever you have, you can bounce off that so if you're in a bind and you're in a pinch, you have, you're on board direct flash, which can't be turned or modified. You can't. You can't change the direction of light. Then this will work out. It'll give you at least a better direct flash shot that being said let's, go on to the next videos. Let's, start talking about all the different techniques that we could be using, starting with direct flash done right, let's, go to the next video now.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
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 :)