The last few years has seen the use of off camera flash grow by an incredible amount.

 What was once a very specialist technique has now grown into a veritable subculture and the word “strobist” has become an everyday word in photographic circles, thanks to a few of our forward thinking American cousins. http://strobist.blogspot.com/

So what equipment do I need?

To start with you’ll only need a flashgun, lightstand and a wireless transmitter and receiver. Some camera systems use their own method of triggering their own speedlights but in this article I’m just going to deal with a more generic approach that covers any camera gear. A quick trip to Ebay will equip you with everything you need and you’ll still have change from £200 and that includes 2 speedlights, the wireless triggers, 2 lightstands and a couple of brollies. With this set-up you’re more than ready for shooting both indoors and out. I’ve recently purchased a pair of Yongnuo YN560 speedlights at around £50 each and they are amazing for the money, simple to use and very good quality. Check them out.

So why use off camera flash?

Firstly it does away with the head on lighting effect that having a flash on camera gives. It gives you the freedom to move, given that your model and light remain at a given distance. I sometimes shoot from 30 metres away yet the light stays put. In essence, it gives me a very portable studio for any occasion.

Personally, for shooting outdoors, I like to keep things as simple as possible. It’s very rare that I use more than two speedlights. This keeps the weight down and makes changing location much easier.

Most of the time I just use one light plus the available light. Here’s an example from a recent shoot.

Just a single speedlight and a shoot through brolly. Look at part 3 of this series for metering information. The light is set quite high and aiming down slightly and about 2 metres from the model. This gives a very soft, flattering light on the model.

The finished result came out like this.

Shooting indoors can be a little more problematic especially in dark rooms. Lack of modelling lights can make focus a problem. This was brought home to me recently at a TFP development day in London. Shooting away from the windows in a dark room meant that most of the time I was only seeing the model as a silhouette and I was really guessing at her facial expressions. With hindsight, having someone pointing a low powered torch at the model’s face would have helped. Luckily a few shots came out fine although studio lights would have been a better option. We live and learn.

The photo above was one of the shots from the day. I used 2 speedlights on this one. The main light was a speedlight fitted to a beauty dish and honeycomb grid. This was placed camera left leaving a quite severe but I think flattering light across the model’s face. The other light was placed camera right and behind the model to add a little detail to the model’s wonderful hair. I hope this shows that with a little thought, an off camera speedlight can produce images just as good as more expensive studio strobes without the need for mains power or expensive battery packs.

Next time, as requested, I’ll be explaining “dragging the shutter” in more depth.

If you have anything you need explaining in more detail, then please leave a comment below and I’ll try my best to help.

See you next time. Steve.

Steve is available for one to one tuition at his studio. 
For more information about Steve and to see more of his work, go to www.stevecheshire.com