Event Photography: How to Use Flash and Make it Look Natural!
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- In this video I discuss how to use flash at an event. I get into a lot here, including some more advanced flash techniques. But I also discuss when to use flash, when to use flash when you might not necessarily need it, how to make your flash seamlessly blend in with your available light, and so much more.
(one correction I need to make: you can wirelessly trigger an external flash if your camera has a built in flash. But otherwise, you will need some sort of trigger)
If you have not already watched my video on using flash in TTL mode vs Manual mode, then I strongly recommend you check it out:
• Flash Photography: TTL...
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#eventphotography #eventphotographer #flashphotography
Would have liked it if i saw samples instead of just talking
Came here to say that too!
me 2!
Thank you for saving my time with this comment❤️
I've been an event photographer for over 15 years, and this is probably the best video on real-world on-camera flash usage I've seen.
I’m so proud that I got to a stage where this all makes perfect sense 🎉
I was literally thinking the same thing
I also just had that thought 😅
same bro same lmao
Amazing
So glad I found you as someone who doesn't want to use flash but realised I need to for event photos. Thanks.
VERY nice tutorial. I've been taking pictures of evening/night events at f2, 1/125, IS0 320-400 for the same reason. People always enjoy how the background and the venue's warm golden light etc. show up nicely in the picture, instead of just dark black. Because I don't like high ISO noise, I use the above fixed setting most of the time, and let the flash fills in. I realize I am using more flash light this way but in general I've found the depth and atmosphere of the room are still very nicely captured.
I like your advice very much. God bless your generosity.
That f/2 is your secret sauce.
I know this is an old comment, but what lens are you using in this scenario? Thanks.
I love that cranking up the ISO pass what I'm comfortable or my camera can do without too much noise + flash would definitely reduce the noise still getting that good lighting in dark situations
Ah yes, unexpected lighting situations are 'exciting' ... when the photos were for my personal use, such situations were 'interesting'; but when I had to do it for a paying client? Well, a very different word would spring to mind ;)
Hi Mik, your video popped out on YT with event photography advice and I've been binge watching ever since. Your videos are smart, interesting, with no fluff but real thing. Great teacher you are. Thank you for your help, best of everything and greetings from Croatia!
Glad you like them! Croatia, huh? That's on my list of places to visit someday.
@@MikMilman You'll see, the most beautiful coast and the sea in the world :)
The new variables is what makes this so alluring! This is the most exiting time of my life.
I have just bought my first external flash and this is a start for me to learn more how to use it. Thank you Mik.
It's good you told people about the default 'midtone' exposure of the flash (with no fec ). It seems not many people are aware of it. Mind you not many people are aware the camera does the same thing either...which is no surprise if they lear from other youtube videos. Your's is one video that actually tells the truth...
Shutter speed does affect your flash output. When you are shooting HHS, your flash output changes significantly.
Who mentioned HSS?
Excellent video - I love photographing Events. I photographed an event last week in a very nice Wine Bar. The Lighting was low but I knew my Speedlight would make a big difference to the look and feel of the images. My Client was happy with her images. I am glad I found your video, it has added to my data base of knowledge.👍🏽
For the most part you are on point. I think you left out one of the best event set ups which is the flash straight up with a fill card behind the flash. My SB-5000 comes with a built in fill card, I don't like the third party things you strap on. This set up gives you flattering soft light on your subject with a little kick to fill the shadows (which you can adjust depending on card hight). I do also however bounce for direction like you but most large events this isn't an options. Plus you have to take into account the color of the walls or ceilings you are bouncing off of.
One last point, if you are a pro, you should be in manually. mode, you want complete control of your results and for those to be constant. It only takes a second to check to see if you are where you want to be by checking the frame and adjusting. The only time I use any type of flash mode other than that is when I am outdoors at night and photographing a moving subject. I prefer aperture priority, because it is algorithm based setting that takes into account your distance from subject and aperture setting. If your exposure is off you know it out of focus, because the algorithm doesn't miss.
Honestly the best content period from a working professional!
Thanks, Jenna.
THIS WAS SO HELPFUL!! TY,, now off to watch more of your vids!! so east to follow!
Regarding putting gels on flash to balance color temperature with ambient tungsten, I, too, didn't like a perfectly balanced look, so I used a 1/2 CTO, which warmed the flash a bit (around 3800K) but not as much as the ambient, keeping the background warm but not orange while keeping my subjects from looking blue.
FYI - You "Open up or Close down" the Aperture of the lens and you "increase or decrease" the speed of the shutter.
Speaking as a beginner: a lot of pages describe iso, exposure, shutter speed while talking. Your video was affective and informing, but Ive yet to see a video where they talk about these subjects while filming the camera its self. Even if you have a different camera, that visual representation could still help people digest the information better.
Thanks for leaving the bloopers in - those are awesome 😎 Great video thanks
Love the advice. Low light event photography is challenging especially with flash and so hard to make it look great.
Like I say in the video, it's about learning the basic principals and being able to adapt is what it is all about.
Some examples would've been useful.
thanks for this, this was a really helpful. I'm mostly a videographer but have one job that asks me to do flash photography, so having you run through ideas like what how you think about when you are setting exposure made me look at it in different way, and makes total sense. Same things go into thinking about how to light interviews, but I wasn't thinking that was applicable when using flash etc. Anyways, thanks!!
Wow, this was so helpful. I was just bamboozled into doing an event and this is my crash course lol!
I'd check out my full playlist if that's the case!
Great tips. I love using checklists -- calms me down. Especially good advice to double your commute time to the event. For me to get to downtown Seattle, I'd probably use one of three bridges...all are drawbridges that can go up unexpectedly!
Thanks for explaining it this way, very simple to understand and even for us to want to test out!
Spectacularly helpful to hear your approach in a way that is not specific to a particular set of gear. I can actually apply this to get better. Thanks!
Thank you!
I like this guy is very honest and hes a good Tutor 💯
Your content is *chefs kiss* Please create a lighting fundamentals series 🙏🙌✨️
I'm not sure when it will be done, but I'm editing a video on low light at this very moment. Did you have any specific questions?
@@MikMilman I'm interested in the science of lighting, first steps to master light and really understand how it works in photography
I mainly use ambient light for my gig photos. I used to shoot a lot of social events and the bounce flash was much better. I have shot in the same venue that had very poor lighting and it was much better with the flash in that case.
Just found the site and liked it. I think Mik is very honest and really explains how to .
Thank you for the honest sharing from your experience! Great video
Hmmm. if your shutter speed is higher than the sync speed of your camera, usually around 1/200th of a second, then your shutter speed may not occur during the time when the shutter is open and you will lose the complete exposure of the flash, which may well exceed 1/10,000th of a second. Thus, you will only capture a fraction of your flash out put. Thus, your shutter speed can impact hour flash out put. Moreover, flash duration is a function of the flash output, and at 1/16 of the maximum output of many flashes, the duration of many flashes is about 1/8000th of a second, which is about the maximum shutter speed of most SLR. This means that a fill flash of less than 1/16 will probably faster than most shutter speeds of SLR cameras.
Some image samples showing the settings would help a lot!
A few times I entered a large room and there were mirrors EVERYWHERE. That's was very interesting to shoot.
Enlightens content. Thanks bro
Great tutorial !!! Saved it, so I can study it !!! Many thanks !!!
Great stuff man. Any tips on working in venues with high ceilings or outdoor evening/night events? Though I would imagine using the flash and camera one-handed.
For high ceilings, I just raise my ISO to allow for faster recycling times. For an outdoor event, at night, without walls or ceilings, I will hand hold my flash. You can also get a flash bracket to offset your flash, which I'm personally not a fan of using. Setting up light stands with strobes and creating a cross light is also an option, but now we are talking about quite a big setup.
Nice man! Would have been cool to show some examples of your work too?
Thanks Mik for another great video! 😀
Good explanation. Thanks from the Philippines.
I wish you could of shown different photo examples of the effects you are describing…..you know….before and after kind of thing.
Appreciate the insights sharing your techniques. Looking forward to trying them out.
Dude, you look like Carmy from The Bear...
What do you mean “your shutter will not have an impact on your flash output”? Maybe not if you’re using it in manual mode, but it certainly will if you’re using ETTL. That’s kind of the point; the flash syncs with your shutter (depending on if it is within the flash sync speed).
solid conversation. thank you for the effort and the sharing. i am an appreciative subscriber. thumbs up.
Thank you!
I don't like people only speaking... U should show some practical work buddy
Thanks.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. So easy to understand!
Glad it was helpful!
Time to get a camera of this century
You or me?
Well done tutorial... keep them coming!
Just yesterday went to shoot an event... Learnt in the last part. Iso 1000 , flash 1/16, shutter between 125-200.. I wish I had know those earlier . But this is how we learn.
Yeah, shooting flash in manual is impractical at an event. Did you watch my videos on using TTL properly?
@@MikMilman have to check that out. Just want great photos to take for people.
I have a really cool bracket that Manfrotto has discontinued. It allows me with a turn of a knob to go from landscape to porterait..
Nice work!
This was very helpful. Thank you
Hey bro , Could make a video on how use the flash unmounted of the camera without needing a trigger. Thank you
This was super helpful, man! Thanks!
amazing video, thank you for such a good explanation. a suggestion as a viewer and as beginner: don't open that big the aperture when you film your videos, made me dizzy trying to focus my eyes to see better your face
Noted!
Thanks so much Mik. Loving seeing that you really know what your talking about.
Subbed.
Thank you. I appreciate the comment.
Thanks Mik, this has to be one of the most succinct, no fluff instructional flash vids on CZcams to date. Straight to the core. Question for you, what are your thoughts on something like the cheapy USB portable Pro-Master strobe. It looks interesting and even has a colour grade adjustment wheel. Thoughts? I'm a Fuji XT-2 guy who is coming off a Godox 685 (too big for me) and Fuji EF-X20 (small but weak as) - Cheers!!
I'm not familiar with it. Sorry, I wish I could be more helpful!
3:34 what modern day camera has the flash trigger built in?? I just called my local camera store and they had not heard of this either. I trigger with a wireless trigger 🤔🤔
Great video! For me personally, my main takeaway from this video was learning how adjusting your cameras shutter, etc. affects the amount of ambient lighting. For so long I was shooting with flash in clubs and wondering why the DJ was exposed great from the flash but I would lose all of the light from the led screens and other club lights. 🤯
You can get away with a pretty slow shutter speed; if you're using flash it will freeze the action.
Thanks for the tips
Very welcome.
Because I cannot give another like, I'm liking the video again by commenting here :)
THANK YOU! Supposedly that helps!
When you say you expose for the ambient light does that mean the camera and flash are in manual?
Great video! Subscribed! 👌🏼
Glad to have ya
From 6:21. I am doing that in low light photography for events.
Clear explanation sir
Definitely need that R6 flash settings video 🔥
Amazing, educational videos! Thank you !
So informative and helpful. Thank you! 🙌🏻🙏🏻💡
Just found your videos. Very informative. I, too, have an R6. Love the low light capabilities. However, there are times with indoor events fill flash in needed. I just purchased a Godox V1 (with bounce card and dome diffusers). In E-TTL and Program mode what do you recommend for ISO? Or does it not matter? Also, do you recommend powering down the flash to work with the ambient light? Thanks.
Hi, when you mention holding the flash on the other hand you say most modern cameras now have the wireless trigger built in, but from what I'm reading, only cameras with built-in flash can do that. Are you using something else other than the 5D mark IV for that technique?
Hey there,
I actually misspoke when I said that. It was one of those examples of when you have a thought in your head and it just comes out wrong. I believe I added a correction in the description some time ago.
So you are correct. If you only have one light and no built in flash, you would need a trigger to fire off an external flash. There are lots of options available for this. Similarly, you could use an on camera flash to trigger an external one, if you have two flashes of course.
@@MikMilman That makes sense, thanks for taking the time to reply! I'm just getting started with flash and figuring out the gear has been so annoying, I was worried I bought a trigger for no good reason. Also, just in general, thanks for all the great info you share here, I learned a lot!
I'm very happy to hear that. Over time it will become a lot less unmanageable feeling.
Amazing guidance - so many tips here
Thank u - thumbs up and subscribed
Very glad to have you!
Very good video, it has really helped.
Thanks!
Nicely explained.
Which canon full frame camera triggers the flash wirelessly without a trigger placed on hot shoe ? 3:30
Really helpful, thank you! :)
I use TTL matrix metering with dedicated flash it gives perfect exposure.
I hate when someone says they made a video on something like I’m here already
wait, I can use my camera as a trigger or remote without buying one for my flash?? I'm confused.
Awesome and informative video!!!
im in so many bs situations that the other day i told someone.. its cool.. ill just light everything with my flash.. you know who you are.. ive been experimenting with all the different flash positions and still i like it best when i just shine bare flash at the subjects.. the colors are more vibrant and snappy.. screw shadows.. no one cares.. no other flash configuration delivers as good a picture.. except maybe a 7 foot umbrella.. not happening on my locations..
Awesome video!!!!!!.. You covered tons of info. I have an old and possibly stupid question, but can you please tell my why nobody use flash brackets anymore?. I'm old school. I love my CB bracket. I shoot on low light conditions and I rely heavily on my flash. The only reason I've dont use my bracket is because I don't want to be embarrassed. What's your thoughts. Thanks in advance.
Do not be embarrassed, just use your bracket, then you can concentrate on taking photos. I don't use a bracket, but I do use the flash hand held off camera, with a battered and obviously home made bounce reflector. I'm not at all embarrassed; I just use it. Quite a few flash brackets still in the online shops, so somebody's using them!
I used to have an old Braun 370BVC hammerhead flash. That had its own bracket but there was a quick release mechanism so the 'gun could be swapped between hand held and bracket mounted in a couple of seconds; the best of both worlds.
Good video, Mik; plenty of sound advice.
I don't personally use one because I prefer to bounce my flash whenever possible and flash bracket is useless in that situation. Plenty of people do still use them. If you check out a busy step and repeat, in which a sea of photographers are fighting for the attention of their subject- they're just about all using one.
Nice video. Thanks bro
The settings difference i believe had to do with the quality of your equipment ok
Excellent! Thank you
I am buying my 1st full frame and I have been using a Canon 77D. Since I am doing it for hobby BUT I do have a few dollars towards improving my passion by reducing NOISE and creating great photos. Would you suggest that I look at buying a used 5D Mark iii, or spend more bread and buy a R8 or R6?
Keep in mind that having SHARP photos and reducing NOISE are my 2 main concerns. It drives me bananas to see noise in my photos.
If you can afford an r6 I think that is an incredible camera without compromise. I have an r6 and an r6ii and while the r6ii is better in many many ways from a technical standpoint, I would not argue its game changingly better.
@@MikMilmanThat will be my next purchase R6 mark ii. Now what about a wide zoom lens suggestion? I need something that I could take a picture of like 70 people and everyone's face is sharp AND in focus. 😁
Showing sample pics of what you are describing would help understand better. I still enjoyed your video though. Thanks
Very well explained. But I wish you used example photos
Hey Jeff,
I hear you. When I made this video, this was the absolute best I could do in the midst of a very busy period of work. I wanted to add visual examples, but just didn't have the time. But I listen to feedback and do have future content planned with lots of examples. Stay tuned.
great explanation...
What do you think about this speedlite from canon 430EX? Or what fash do you recommend for canon 5D?
Great video, man.
Appreciate it!
Great video!
Great job!
Hi Mik, could the godox PB960 reduce the recicling time in a godox V 680 II ( events)? or doesnt help so much?
I don't know enough about those specific products, but a battery pack does help with recycling.
where do I point my flash if the ceiling is really high and I got no walls to bounce off of?
Need some more pictures for all those different scenario as an example as well mate
Great video... I'm a wildlife photographer but I want to learn more about studio photography.. This helped a lot.. Thanks.. Subscribed..
About halfway through this video the light dawned! I’ve been setting my flash to M and using exposure compensation. Never thought to use ETTL this way!! I’m an idiot 😮
You're not an idiot. Glad you figured it out!