Original subtitles

Welcome to our first practical lesson, the manual

flash control.

Manual flash control should be pretty straightforward.

You can add or take out the amount

of power out of your flash and see

the results straight away.

First of all, we have to make sure

that our flash is actually in the manual

mode and not in TTL.

Now, on different flashes you will find different

power setting options, but the most standard one

shows the power from the strongest 1 out

of 1, followed by 1 half, 1 quarter,

1 sixth, 1 sixteenth, all the way down

to 1 256 being the weakest.

On the other hand, pro photo flashes show

the power output a bit differently, from number

1 to number 10.

Number 10 is for full power, or 1

out of 1.

9 is half power, although I thought 5

would be half power, but it's not.

8 is a quarter, and so on to

1 being 1 256 of the full power.

On most flashes, there are also some in

-between steps for precise settings, and they can

be set to 0.3 value increases and

decreases, or even more precise, 0.1 in

-between steps.

But as I said, everything here is quite

straightforward.

Let's see an example real quick.

Without changing any camera settings, a full power

output of the flash will look something like

this.

And the lowest power output will look something

like this.

The more power gives us more light and

the appropriate change in exposure.

Again, nothing really surprising.

Now, as I mentioned during the introduction, the

most common issue for me, when I was

just beginning my flash journey, was that I

would turn on the flash and do a

test shot, and usually I would get a

fully blown out photo.

Everything on the screen was just white, and

I had no idea what I was doing

wrong.

Now, I do know that the flash was

set too strong, but back then it was

just a huge demotivation for me, and I

had no idea what would be the next

logical step.

So I would usually take the flash off

my camera, and I would go back to

my usual natural light photography.

So as I was practicing, I found one

little trick that can help you harness the

flash power straight away.

This should help you practice working with flash

without feeling that you're completely out of control.

At least it helped me.

The trick is to firstly set the flash

to the lowest power setting, or 1-256.

Now, we will do an exercise, so I

will show you exactly what I mean.

For this exercise, we're going to start in

a well-lit indoor space.

I don't recommend trying this for the first

time outdoors or in direct sunlight, as it's

going to be much harder to see the

subtle differences we're going to discuss later.

Let's begin by exposing the camera normally for

the ambient light, for the space we're in.

Just stick to one important rule when exposing.

Keep the shutter speed below 1-200.

I'll explain why in the lesson about shutter

speed, but for now, just trust me, okay?

Now, take a picture without a flash, only

using the ambient light.

You got it?

Good.

Now, turn on the flash and set the

power all the way down to 1-256.

Just remember to keep the same camera settings.

Don't change anything in the camera.

Okay, go on and take a picture.

Do you see the light from your flash

showing up in the picture?

If you don't see the difference, it might

be due to more available light in the

room.

It's probably stronger than the flash at its

lowest setting, so try tuning the power up

to, let's say, 1-64.

As you add power to the flash, you

should start seeing the difference, and if you

continue to increase the flash power, you will

notice how the light of the flash is

showing up more and more until it takes

over completely and makes the whole picture overexposed.

So, if you want to keep the bright

exposure of the photo, and as you increase

the flash power, you will have to close

your aperture.

Again, we will not push the shutter speed

higher than 1-200, so we will have

to use the aperture.

So, as you close the aperture, your camera

will capture less and less of the available

light, and as you get to the full

power of the flash, you might even make

the daylight look like nighttime, because the light

of the flash would overpower the available light

completely, and if you expose for the light

of the flash, which becomes stronger than the

ambient light, you would see only what's lit

with the light of the flash.

And there's the beauty of it.

Understanding how to properly balance the available light

with the flash is the main thing we're

going to focus throughout this course.

It can be just a bit of extra

light, or a completely different scene.

You can create whatever you want, that's the

power of flash.

I'd advise doing this exercise in various locations

and light situations, until you start feeling how

much of the flashlight you might need in

accordance with ambient light.

So, when you enter the room next time,

you already know where to set your flash,

maybe somewhere around 1-64th or 1-16th,

you will know.

I believe this exercise will make your path

of learning how to harness the flash power

feel more natural.

You will not start with fully blown out

photos and without any ideas of what to

do and where to go, but instead you

will see something what you're already used to,

but with a hint of more light.

So, a rule of thumb would be to

always start with the flash turned off.

Set the camera exposure properly for the available

light, with the shutter speed lower than 1

-200.

Then lastly, add the flash and see which

direction you want to go.

Do you want the flash to only add

some fill light, or do you want it

to take over completely?

The creative control is completely yours when shooting

with the flash.

And it really all comes down to practice,

practice and practice.

Just like it was when you were starting

out with photography or any other skill.

Take your time and if you want my

advice, don't even go to the next lesson

until you feel completely familiar and confident with

this exercise.

Next up is TTL mode, so see you

in the next lesson.