[Fuji X-E2, 55-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4.7, 1/75 [Neewer TT850 on light stand bouncing. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera.]
“Those are spectacular!!! Much nicer to have the lighting off the camera’s direct line of sight.”
~ email from a parent
I photographed my daughter’s orchestra awards banquet, and while there, a guy came up and started talking to me and asking questions. I could tell from all his camera gear that he was either a pro or just a hobbyist. He wanted to know where my photos would be accessible. He had been taking pictures for a few years since his child was a senior in the orchestra. My daughter is just a freshman.
I gave him my business card, and he wrote, sending me a link to his photos. Then, since I knew he wanted to share, I sent him the link I had also given to the orchestra teacher to use for the newsletters and other things to help the program.
That is when I got the email with the quote above “Those are spectacular!!! Much nicer to have the lighting off the camera’s direct line of sight.”
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| Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ6.4, 1/30 [Neewer TT850 on a light stand in the back of the room pointed straight toward the front of the room. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera.] |
I think the father noticed my flash on a light stand because my Fuji X-E2 didn’t look pro compared to his large DSLR and 70-200mm ƒ/2.8.
His wife later in the evening said, since you do this professionally, you can answer a question. She then pulled up a photo where you could see her reflection on-camera flash in the people’s glasses. She wanted to know how to get rid of the reflection.
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| Fuji X-E2, 55-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/6.4, 1/40 [Neewer TT850 on a light stand in the back of the room pointed straight toward the front of the room. The Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger to fire the off-camera flash and control the power from the camera.] |
I talked to her about how your flash works, like you playing billiards/pool. By getting the flash further from the lens, you avoid the problem of reflections in the glasses.
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| Here is the Neewer TT850 on a light stand and the Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger on the Fuji X-E2] |
This flash system isn’t TTL; therefore, controlling the exposure is done in a few ways.
- Flash Power—The bright flash will influence if the picture is over, under, or properly exposed. You can control the Neewer flash from 1/128 to full power in 1/3 stop increments.
- ƒ-stop/Aperture—You control how much of the light is coming into your camera by the camera iris called the aperture. These are fractions—the focal length of the lens over how wide the opening of the lens is.
- Flash Distance to Subject—The closer you put the flash to the subject, the brighter the subject, and the further away you put it, the darker it gets. Of course, this assumes your Flash Power and ƒ-stop is constant.
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| When the radio is on the same channel as the flash, you can send the signal to change the flash’s power settings. |
I put the flash off to the side of the room or at the back of the room. How do I determine where to put the flash concerning the camera? I want the FLASH—CAMERA—SUBJECT to form a triangle. Usually, the flash is between 45º to 90º most of the time.
What impressed the parent wasn’t my camera or my flash—he had as good of gear, if not better than what I had, but his flash was on his camera, which made my pictures spectacular. How do I know this—he said so.