Walk and Talk with Hot Shoe Flash 

One of my favorite shots for organizations is doing what I call the “Walk and Talk.” This is where two or more people walk next to each other towards me.

I encourage them to feel each other barely next to each other. This keeps them from walking further and further apart. Their closeness also helps communicate that they are friends. This is using the body language of touching or almost touching to help communicate their relationship.

Here are examples I did while teaching in Kona, Hawaii, in February this year. In these first ones, I was showing the students how to use two hot shoe flashes as fill lights. I have included the assistant carrying the lights for these examples to show you what they are doing as well.

I talk to the subjects and explain what I want them to do—no flash when off here.

The photo assistant is carrying a Nikon SB900 and a Nikon SB800. They are zoomed out to 200mm for the SB900 and 120mm with the SB800. This helps the light go farther but also keeps the light mainly on their faces.

Notice that the assistant must be pretty close to the subjects for the flash to work properly. In addition to the flashes, I am using the RadioPoppers PX system to help relay the infrared signal from the Nikon SU800 on my camera to the flashes.

We switched out the subjects so everyone could experience what it felt like doing this exercise and see it being done.

While showing the class how to use the hot shoe flashes, there were a few times when I got ahead of the flashes’ recycling. By not waiting long enough between flashes (2 seconds), the flash wouldn’t fire.

Walk and Talk with Studio Strobe

To help everyone see the difference in flashes, I also used an AlienBee 1600 powered by a Vagabond Mini Lithium battery. I borrowed the Photo Schools radio remotes, but I now mostly use the Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 Transmitter on my Nikon Camera and the Pocket Wizard Plus II transceiver on the flashes.


The MiniTT1 will let me shoot at 1/500 sync speed rather than just 1/250.


Another thing you will notice that is different in these examples is how far away the photo assistant is from the subjects. 


The AlienBee 1600 has the reflector that comes with it, so notice that the flash lights more of the subject. I can change that by just adding a grid, but I didn’t for these photos.

The flash is set at about 1/8 power. I can almost shoot on the motor drive setting for these photos, which is why the recycle time is so short.


When I shot these photos, not a single time did the flash fire. I think that when it comes to getting the best expression, you need to be able to shoot at any moment and not just when your flashes are ready. 


I would highly encourage using the studio strobe over the hot shoe flash for this reason alone.

Just like I did above, I talk to the subjects and do a few test shots before I have them walk towards me.

After we did some tests to get them moving, I had them start over where they were talking to one another.

As you can see, it doesn’t take long for people to relax, and the photos look pretty natural. I would have changed one thing in these photos. I would have had the assistant put the light on a light stand and raise the light a little higher to help avoid the glare in the glasses.

This is to show that the flashes fired every time.

Now look at the photos where the flashes didn’t fire. Besides their faces in the shade, the color on their faces isn’t as good. I think that using flash helps you get the best skin tones outside.

Go out and try this yourself.

When flying around the world, it is often easier to carry the Nikon SB900 and a Nikon SB800 than the AlienBee 1600 and the Vagabond Mini Lithium battery. So, depending on the situation, I can still take a photo with either system.