Off Camera Flash

by Stanley LearyStrobes
Reading Time: 3 minutes

You can see the blur in the volleyball even with strobes being used due to the 1/250 sync limitation.

TTL Flash offers some advantages over manual flash. I use the Nikon Speedlight system, which has given me an edge over many other photographers who do not use the system.

Three things make me choose my Nikon Speedlights over the manual flash: 1) I have no sync speed limitations, 2) quick—I don’t have to pause to take readings and then set the camera, and 3) I can shoot at wide-open f/stops.

You can see the blur of the basketball due to the slow shutter speed with the strobes.

Unlimited sync speeds

When you can shoot at any shutter speed, you open the possibilities for many things.

  1. You can shoot at a high shutter speed to stop the action, like 1/2000 or 1/8000 of a second. When the shutter is open at 1/250 sec for manual flash, there is enough movement in sports to have some motion blur. You see this in hockey and basketball.
  2. You can control the background—outside! You can crank that shutter speed up and underexpose the background by, say, 2 or 3 stops, and then up your flash output 2 or 3 stops to expose a subject yet underexpose the background properly. This is great for getting those dark blue skies behind a subject.
The TTL flash easily figured the correct amount of fill flash on the fly here.

Fast

Sometimes, you don’t always have time to take flash readings and then set the camera. News events are a good example of when you need to be ready. Recently, I photographed the founder, president, and son of the president for an article. These folks are known to change their minds at the last second and ask you to photograph them just about anywhere—this is when having a TTL portable flash lets you adjust on the fly.

Taking a flash into the rain forest where coffee is grown in the mountains of Mexico lets me pull it out under all the shade to make the photo look like sunlight.

Wide-open f/stops

Many photographers today shoot with an f/1.4 lens. If you go outside to shoot, you cannot use a manual flash because shooting at f/1.4 means shooting at a very high shutter speed. The TTL high-speed sync lets you shoot with a flash. 

To shoot large groups outside, you need those high f/stops that often require manual flash. The TTL system must be flexible and have a high sync shutter speed. What I hope you now know is that both systems have advantages. Don’t buy both systems right away. Buy one and learn how to use all its benefits. Once you cannot deliver photography to clients because your system is limited, buy the next system and discover all it can do.