The off camera flash han.., p.1
The Off-Camera Flash Handbook, page 1
VANESSA JOY
The OFF-CAMERA FLASH Handbook
32 Scenarios for Creating
Beautiful Light and
Stunning Photographs
The Off-Camera Flash Handbook
32 Scenarios for Creating Beautiful Light and Stunning Photographs
Vanessa Joy
Project editor: Maggie Yates
Project manager: Lisa Brazieal
Marketing manager: Mercedes Murray
Copyeditor: Maggie Yates
Design and type: Aren Straiger
Layout: Petra Strauch
Cover design: Aren Straiger
Indexer: Maggie Yates
ISBN: 978-1-68198-557-2
1st Edition (1st printing, February 2020)
© 2020 Vanessa Joy
All images © Vanessa Joy unless otherwise noted
Rocky Nook, Inc.
1010 B Street, Suite 350
San Rafael, CA 94901
U.S.A.
www.rockynook.com
Distributed in the UK and Europe by Publishers Group UK
Distributed in the U.S. and all other territories by Ingram Publisher Services
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019950811
All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.
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While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein or from the use of the discs or programs that may accompany it.
Printed in Korea
Vanessa Joy is a Canon Explorer of light and has been an influential speaker in the community for over a decade. Starting her photographic journey in 1998, she has since branched into public speaking, earned five college degrees, received a PPA Photographic Craftsman degree, been named a WeddingWire Education Expert, and been sponsored by Canon, Profoto, and Animoto to name a few. Vanessa has spoken at almost every major convention and platform in the event industry such as CreativeLIVE, The Wedding School, Clickin’ Moms, WPPI, ShutterFest, Imaging USA, Wedding MBA, WeddingWire World, MobileBeat, in addition to hosting personal workshops and numerous small business and photography conventions around the globe. Recognized for her talent and business sense, her clients love working with her and industry peers love to learn from her tangible, informative and open-book style of teaching. Find her at www.VanessaJoy.com.
Instagram: @VanessaJoy
Twitter: @Vanessa__Joy
Facebook: www.facebook.com/vjoyphoto
YouTube: www.youtube.com/vanessajoy
Dedication
For my mom, who gave me an eye for photography,
for John Heyn, who showed me how to use it,
and for my dad, who taught me how to work for it.
Acknowledgements
As I started thinking about this section of the book and all of the people I knew I’d put in it, I realized I could and wanted to say the same thing about every single person. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”
It’s true. Everyone in here, and probably some more, made it possible for this book to happen. And if any one of them wasn’t a part of my life, I doubt this would’ve come to fruition.
First, thanks to George Varanakis and Profoto (Mark Rezzonico and Sara Strid). They had faith in me to work with off-camera flash while I was still boasting my “natural light photographer” status (because I didn’t know how to properly use flash). Without George recommending me to Profoto and then Profoto’s guidance through learning the B1s, I would still be cursing at my lights and missing all the beauty of creating my own light.
Thanks to my mom, Marjorie Scavone, who technically had me using off-camera flash in her studio set up when I was young. I remembering reading off light meter settings to her and assisting during her shoots like it was yesterday. Thanks for being patient with me all of the years and for cracking that smile on your face when I “broke the news” to you and dad that I didn’t want to go to the dental school I had just been accepted to, and I wanted to go for photography instead.
Thanks to my dad for teaching me what running a business and providing for a family looks like, and for giving me my natural stage presence that makes teaching and speaking easy for me. Very few people have a dad that’s a real-life rock star (he was the lead singer of Ram Jam, who had the hit song “Black Betty,” and now tours with the Yardbirds), a wildly successful entrepreneur, and hands-down the best dad a girl could ask for. And to my brother Luke: Thanks for posing for me plenty of times for photo assignments, especially when I had no clue what I was doing and likely made you look like crap.
Rob, this book and my entire career aren’t possible without you. You selflessly watch our kids while I chase my dreams, and tell me to get up when I’m whining in the fetal position on the floor and I feel like I can’t do this anymore. You cheer me on when things are going great, and still manage to love me when I’m doing my best to remind you of how truly imperfect I am (even though I’m obviously a work of art under museum glass—Bill Burr joke guys, watch his 2019 Netflix special). And of course thanks for being my on-demand video production house, and for posing with a model for the chapter on couples portraits. I promise I’ll (most likely) never tell you to smell another woman’s hair again. Maybe.
Jaye, my life manager. I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t survive without you. From reminding me I need to eat and scheduling days off for me, while dealing with all of my clients (some crazy ones too! They exist!) and managing your own photography business and life all while continually being upbeat—I literally do not know how you do it. You are the most hard-working, compassionate, supportive, and strong person I know. I’d say I’m lucky to have you but I know it’s not luck that brought us together.
Seth, thanks for not letting me McFish this up. You have been so gracious in showing me where my knowledge gaps were and without you I’d still be thinking those retouched faces and over-edited scenes were straight-out-of-camera images. You have taken so many of my lighting-knowledge puzzle pieces and showed me how they fit together to open my eyes to light theory in a whole new way. You gave me the confidence to tackle this book.
Amie, thank you for all the behind-the-scenes photos throughout this entire book. All of the lighting setup photos are hers, unless taken by drone (those are Rob’s), unless otherwise noted. Thanks so much for all you’ve done to boost my social media presence and get the word out about this book.
Thanks to my two main models for this book, Nikki and Claire. You guys are such a joy to photograph and always make me feel like I’m doing a good job. Thanks to all of my brides and grooms and their wedding guests that made an appearance here. You’re all part of my journey in writing this book.
Thanks to everyone at Rocky Nook. Ted, thanks for entrusting me with this project and helping me define the vision of what it should be. Thanks so much to Maggie for turning my words into art!
And finally, to all of you that have been following me on YouTube and social media, your support (and heck even your hate) is what has pushed me along the entire time. I truly treasure the kind words that you send—even the not-so-nice-words, thanks for those too. Hey, sometimes you need a not-so-nice YouTuber troll to kick you where it hurts to make you better yourself. Whatever pushes us along is something to be thankful for, and that is all of you.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
PART 1
Getting Started with Off-Camera Flash (OCF)
CHAPTER 1
You Already Know This
CHAPTER 2
Getting the Flash Off Your Camera
CHAPTER 3
Getting the Exposure
CHAPTER 4
Light Positions and Modifiers
CHAPTER 5
How to Add More Lights
PART 2
Off-Camera Flash Techniques
SCENARIO 1
Creating Gold Haze
SCENARIO 2
Creating Golden Hour
SCENARIO 3
Creating Twilight
SCENARIO 4
Photographing a Sunset
SCENARIO 5
Making a Magenta Sunset
SCENARIO 6
Group Shots with One Light
SCENARIO 7
Individual Portraits
SCENARIO 8
Portraits of Couples
SCENARIO 9
Epic Rain or Snow
SCENARIO 10
Enhancing Natural Light
SCENARIO 11
Making Indoors Look Like Outdoors
SCENARIO 12
Super Soft Portrait Light
SCENARIO 13
& nbsp; Warming Up the Sky
SCENARIO 14
Keeping a Blue Sky
SCENARIO 15
Light Like It’s Coming Through a Window
SCENARIO 16
Creating a Silhouette
SCENARIO 17
Turn Day into Night
SCENARIO 18
Tiny Little Details
SCENARIO 19
Table Details
SCENARIO 20
Event Speeches
SCENARIO 21
In Harsh Sunlight
SCENARIO 22
Shooting with Reflectors
SCENARIO 23
Event Bounce Flash
SCENARIO 24
Using Gels for Fun Color Effects
SCENARIO 25
Using Gels to Color Correct
SCENARIO 26
Lighting a Dark Room
SCENARIO 27
Making a Rainy Day Sunny
SCENARIO 28
Lighting to Look Like Window Light
SCENARIO 29
Making Front Bokeh
SCENARIO 30
Filling in Shadows
SCENARIO 31
Wow, This Indoor Light Sucks
SCENARIO 32
Rim Lighting
PART 3
Features, Troubleshooting, and FAQs
CHAPTER 6
WTF Are You Talking About?
CHAPTER 7
But Light Doesn’t Do That
CHAPTER 8
FAQs About OCF
PART 1
Getting Started with Off-Camera Flash (OCF)
CHAPTER 1
You Already Know This
This is for my fellow natural light photographers.
OFF-CAMERA FLASH SUCKS
I remember the first time I tried off-camera flash (OCF) on the job. I was posing a family group of about 30 people. I tested my light about 39,485,787 times before I started posing everyone; it worked fine all 39,485,787 times. I got all 30 people into position, made everyone look at me, and snapped the shot.
Nothing.
And everyone knew it. I heard a riveting chorus of “Your flash didn’t fire!” from the perfectly posed peanut gallery judging me. Thank you Captain Obvious, I’m quite aware that it didn’t #$*%&!@ fire!
That’s the thing about OCF: It’s one of the only ways your clients will think you have no idea what you’re doing. They can see that things are going wrong and conclude, like mine did, that you’re an idiot.
It could be because I threw it into the truck of my car and gave it the finger, but I never got my flash to work again that day. It wasn’t until about 10 years later that I mustered up the courage to give off-camera-flash another shot.
When I did try to learn off-camera flash again, I quickly discovered that almost every tutorial and workshop I came across teaching about off-camera flash sucked. It really did. Flash was almost always taught in a way that was impossible for a beginner to learn. It was like listening to someone speak to me in some foreign language before they bothered to find out if I understood that language. And worse, if I admitted I didn’t understand the language of flash—shame, shame, shame you fake photographer, who doesn’t know flash like a “real” photographer should.
No more.
This book is going to give you exactly what you need to feel confident in your lighting abilities. By the end, I’ll bet you’ll find off-camera flash so easy and inspiring that it will become one of your favorite ways to take photographs.
Togs—I don’t know if you know this, but OCF takes the imaging process away from molding the available lighting circumstances to your will, and puts full creative control back into your hands. You get to be a photographer that creates whatever you envision—not just alter what you see. Want it to be nighttime? Easy peasy. Need a golden hour glow? No problem. Craving light and airy when it’s dark and gloomy? Sure thing. Want to make all of that look completely natural and in line with your brand? You’ve got it. You can make whatever you want to happen, happen in your photos.
REASONS TO START USING OCF
If I haven’t convinced you yet, here are some things to consider.
Everyone else shoots natural light. So many photographers complain about the saturated industry. Guess what? They’re right. There are a million (or more) of us. And they are all shooting in natural light, praying to God that it’s a good quality that day. What if you could promise your clients the sun even when it isn’t there? What if you didn’t have to worry about an overcast day? Shooting with flash differentiates you from other shooters photographically, and your clients will be impressed that you can deliver the shots they want regardless of the weather.
FIGURES 1.1 AND 1.2
CHECK OUT THIS CRAZY COMPARISON! LOOK HOW MUCH MORE THE OCF IMAGE (ON THE RIGHT) POPS!
BOTH IMAGES: CANON 1DX, CANON 85MM 1.2, ISO 200, F/2.2, 1/200
CANON 580EXII SPEEDLIGHT WITH CTO GEL
Annoy Uncle Bob. This is one of my favorite things to do. You know Uncle Bob? The one with the awesome, brand-new camera that he’s testing out at his niece’s wedding; the one with no regard to getting in your way or stealing your perfectly posed shots. Yeah, that guy. Well, shooting with flash lets you put your subject in heinous natural light. His photos will be crap, but your photos will be out of this world.
Be a better photographer. Learning to use a flash has been one of the best things I’ve done for my knowledge of natural-light photography. Learning about flash filled the gaps in my photographic knowledge like crazy. Do your craft a service and keep growing into it.
Make more money. There is a direct correlation to how many big, printed images I’ve sold and my use of OCF. If you’re taking epic, gorgeous images, do you think your clients will be satisfied printing them as a 3x5 for an album? No way! These images will hang as 24x36 canvases on their walls!
It’s not hard anymore. With the help of this book and the wonderful lighting and imaging technology that we have today, it’s not nearly as difficult to master OCF as it used to be. So let’s get going!
YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS
Attempting to learn off-camera flash was crazy difficult for me. When I looked at the flash, I felt like I was looking at a foreign object that defied all physical laws as I knew them. Not to mention that I’m seeing an almost-too-fast-to-see light flash, and somehow I’m supposed to know what it’s going to do, or what it did after the fact.
Guess what? There’s no crazy magic happening with a flash. The light that comes out of a flash follows the same rules as light from the sun. “Light is light” as they say. The only difference is that the flash light comes out in a quick burst versus sunlight, which lives in the sky all day. The light that comes out of any flash or piece of continuous-light-producing equipment follows the same rules that govern all light. Just think of it as your own portable mini-sun.
You’re likely a natural-light photographer. Most of us started taking photos on our phones or point-and-shoot cameras before we ever thought of taking photography a step further. For many, it’s more cost effective to buy just a camera, not a camera and a light.
As natural-light photographers, we’re used to seeing light as it is and molding what is already there to work for our images. We see it, photograph it, and sometimes manipulate it with a window, reflector, or shade. Because of this, we often don’t think about why and how the light from the sun is behaving and being altered.
To get started on the right foot, here are some things you already know, but haven’t necessarily thought about before.
Light travels in straight lines. Every. Single. Time. No secret voodoo happening here.
Light reflects at equal angles. It’s back to high school geometry class for this lesson! The angle of incidence of the light equals its angle of reflection. It’s just like playing pool. When a ball hits the wall of the table at an angle, it bounces off at the same (but reverse) angle. Practically speaking, this means you can use a reflector with an off-camera flash just like you’d reflect the sun. Pretty cool.
The smaller the light is in relation to your subject, the harder the light will be. Think of the sun here. In relation to where we are in the universe, the sun is actually a super small light source (you can cover it by squinting one eye shut, or hiding it behind your pinky finger) in relation to us, even though it’s a huge object. For an example of the quality of light this creates, think about the sun shining directly through slits in the blinds. You can see the lines of the blinds casting strong shadows into the room or onto your subject.
