Lessons
Class Introduction
03:05 2On Camera vs Off Camera Flash
08:39 3Camera Based Settings
13:58 4Sync Settings
10:00 5Flash Based Settings
08:33 65 Step Plan For Using Flash
05:55 7Wireless Flash System
11:54 8Conquering The Master System
06:54Lesson Info
5 Step Plan For Using Flash
So we've gone through our camera settings we've gone through the flash settings and I know I went through this fairly rapidly, so I want to simplify it for you over the years on and in my book that I wrote I tried to find a way to just simplify this whole process and just make it so you can five fingers figure out what you're supposed to do, so I had this five step plan and when you see it, you'll be like, oh, come on like that's so simple but you know what? Most of the best things are really simple, so I'm going to tell you my five step plan for great flash photos say that five times fast five step plan for great flash photos if you do these things well, you'll be almost guaranteed great photographs so the first thing is we need to set the synchronization mode that's a decision that you need to make every time okay sync mode so let's review so we're in the studio today do I want the ambient or do I want to exclude the evidence? What do you guys think? Exclude the ambien ok therefore m...
y sink most should be normal sink right that's going to be a faster shutter speed it's going to get rid of all the ambient light next flash mode again that's a decision you need to make it what do I want my flash to be media ring off of and how do I wanted to meet her you know tt l guide number manual mode repeating flash all of those so we're in the studio today I'm going to be showing mostly t t l yeah exactly so I'm going to be using tl most of today sometime during the day though I'll try to remember to go back to manual mode and show you what it looks like when we do emanuel exposure and how we can control manually all right so that's the second thing sink ah flash mode third thing flash output flash power we saw earlier today two examples one where the flash power was set up zero point zero and then the second series of photos they looked a little bit bright didn't they they looked a little bit too hot too bright and one of the reasons why is because I was zoomed in a little tighter and you were wearing a black shirt you are wearing a black shirt and so it tended to make your face look a little bit too bright and I was a plus like plus one on my remote flash anyways the point I'm making is that you need to decide what your flash power is and if it's not right when you go back and change it you know so that's step for take a picture it's digital doesn't cost anything you know to take a picture before class today I was taking some test shots with the production crew here I'm just testing and trying it out doesn't cost you any money so take a shot take a look look at it on your camera is it too bright if so then modify so those five steps I go through those five steps all the time when I'm taking flash photography when I'm doing flash photography sink mode flash mode power sync mode flash mode power okay thank mode flash mode power three times you should get it that's the five step plan my friends all right great well already people are loving how simply you are breaking these things down because I see not sending in the studio audience which is always rand acid but let's take a couple of questions for for some additional things so tim our athens asked do you have to worry about the head zoom so when you're setting the settings for the flash yeah head zoom matters on lee when you're set up like this so you know when you've got when your camera and your lenses I'm sorry when your camera your flashers kind of a line here you know the focal length of your limbs may change so maybe twenty four millimeter lens well then your flash zoom needs to cover that area of coverage if you've got a two hundred millimeter lens then your flash head needs to zoom in so it only covers that two hundred millimeter range so most often we care about flash zoom here on camera in the soft boxes I'll walk over here real quick in fact I'm going to turn this soft box towards the camera just to see the front of it what we care about is whether or not the flash fills the entire surface of the modifier so here I might actually change the zoom so that it fills mohr of the soft box great question great and we also to question from nyack clyde who says what about using a light meter with flash and manual do use light meters ok great I actually brought a light meter left it in my bag over there you know I did it here's the light meter and you can't use light meters in the nikon wireless flash system you can't it won't give you any important information here's why the system operates through pulses of light pulses of light even in manual mode it operates two pulses of light it tells the remote flash hey flash for you there and then the remote flash pulses back does yeah I'm here okay remote flash do your pre flesh and then the remote flash does is pre flash okay remote flash fire for the real photo and then it fires for the real photo so you know there's a minimum of six pre flashes before the rial flash happens and so your light meter how does it know which one to meet her and does it sum up all of them it is just it doesn't work so it won't work and whenever using the nikon wireless system
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
James Stone
This class is an excellent primer on Nikon's Creative Lighting System. Mike does an excellent job simplifying what can seem like a complicated system. I enjoyed it and saved it to watch again as a refresher.
Fred Morton
So, here's the deal. If you can't get to a Mike Hagan course in person this is the best next thing. I have know Mike for 6 years and he never disappoints. I took this course through Nikonians about four years ago and found this to be not only a great review but a significant update from what I l learned in the previous class. Mike is one who never rests on his laurels and as a teacher he is constantly updating and improving his work. Speed lights are so much more complex then most people understand and Mike use his knowledge to take that complexity and reduce it to a set of clear and understandable methods. So glad to see that Creative Live has included him in their line up of instructors.
Marlon Ornek
Mike is a great easy to follow instructor who you can tell knows his subject. Thank you. A great course that I would recommend to anyone with Nikon gear.
Student Work
Related Classes
Lighting