An Extensive Guide to Producing an Off-Camera Flash Shot

When you’re first starting out, off-camera flash might be a little intimidating, especially when you’re trying to mix it with ambient light. This excellent and educational video examines how to construct a shot like that from the ground up.

Coming to you from Francisco Joel Hernandez Photography, this helpful video will show you his thought process and the challenges he faced in creating an outdoor portrait that balanced flash and ambient light. As Hernandez discusses in the video, using a flash with high-speed sync can make your life a lot simpler and enables much more creative control without having to resort to solutions like ND filters. As you’ll notice, it can take a bit of trial and error to get the light on your subject and the background at the levels you’d like, and in particular, if you’re shooting something like a sunset scene, you’ll need to constantly keep an eye on how the ambient light is evolving; you might be surprised at how quickly it can change at such times of day. If you’ve not tried this sort of photo before, it’s great practice in off-camera lighting and can really expand your repertoire; I recommend giving it your best shot!