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Speedlights

Lesson 74 from: Fundamentals of Photography

John Greengo

Speedlights

Lesson 74 from: Fundamentals of Photography

John Greengo

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Lesson Info

74. Speedlights

Summary (Generated from Transcript)

In this lesson, the instructor discusses the different types of speedlights available for photography. He explains that there are entry level speedlights that are limited in their capabilities, intermediate level speedlights that offer more options and wireless capabilities, and top of the line speedlights that have faster recycling times, external plugins, and additional features. The instructor also mentions manual strobe units and studio lights, such as mono lights and flash heads, which provide more power and control. He advises against spending a lot of money on expensive flashes and suggests that basic flashes can be just as effective if used in manual mode. The lesson concludes with a mention of ring lights for closeup portraits.

Q&A:

  1. What are the different types of speedlights available for photography?

    Entry level speedlights, intermediate level speedlights, and top of the line speedlights.

  2. What are the capabilities of intermediate level speedlights?

    They have tilt and swivel options for bouncing light, infrared AF assist beams for focusing in low light, and wireless capabilities.

  3. Why are top of the line speedlights recommended for photographers who shoot large groups or need to shoot in rapid sequence?

    They have faster recycling times and external plugins for extended shooting periods.

  4. What are some additional features of top of the line speedlights?

    They have bounce mini cards, reflectors, syncs for studio environments, and diffusers for wide-angle or fish-eye lenses.

  5. Are wireless capabilities available in all speedlight systems?

    Yes, Canon and Nikon started with wireless systems and it has expanded to most systems.

  6. What is the advantage of using strobe units in the studio?

    They can fire very quickly and provide more power, allowing for freezing motion and capturing fast-moving subjects.

  7. What other types of lights are mentioned in the lesson?

    Ring lights, which can be used for seamless and shadowless closeup portraits.

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

23:32
2

Photographic Characteristics

06:46
3

Camera Types

03:03
4

Viewing System

22:09
5

Lens System

24:38
6

Shutter System

12:56
7

Shutter Speed Basics

10:16
8

Shutter Speed Effects

31:57
9

Camera & Lens Stabilization

11:06
10

Quiz: Shutter Speeds

07:55
11

Camera Settings Overview

16:12
12

Drive Mode & Buffer

04:24
13

Camera Settings - Details

10:21
14

Sensor Size: Basics

18:26
15

Sensor Sizes: Compared

24:52
16

The Sensor - Pixels

22:49
17

Sensor Size - ISO

26:59
18

Focal Length

11:36
19

Angle of View

31:29
20

Practicing Angle of View

04:59
21

Quiz: Focal Length

08:15
22

Fisheye Lens

12:32
23

Tilt & Shift Lens

20:37
24

Subject Zone

13:16
25

Lens Speed

09:03
26

Aperture

08:25
27

Depth of Field (DOF)

21:46
28

Quiz: Apertures

08:22
29

Lens Quality

07:06
30

Light Meter Basics

09:04
31

Histogram

11:48
32

Quiz: Histogram

09:07
33

Dynamic Range

07:25
34

Exposure Modes

35:15
35

Sunny 16 Rule

04:31
36

Exposure Bracketing

08:08
37

Exposure Values

20:01
38

Quiz: Exposure

20:44
39

Focusing Basics

13:08
40

Auto Focus (AF)

24:39
41

Focus Points

17:18
42

Focus Tracking

19:26
43

Focusing Q&A

06:40
44

Manual Focus

07:14
45

Digital Focus Assistance

07:35
46

Shutter Speeds & Depth of Field (DOF)

05:18
47

Quiz: Depth of Field

15:54
48

DOF Preview & Focusing Screens

04:55
49

Lens Sharpness

11:08
50

Camera Movement

11:29
51

Advanced Techniques

15:15
52

Quiz: Hyperfocal Distance

07:14
53

Auto Focus Calibration

05:15
54

Focus Stacking

07:58
55

Quiz: Focus Problems

18:54
56

Camera Accessories

32:41
57

Lens Accessories

29:24
58

Lens Adaptors & Cleaning

13:14
59

Macro

13:02
60

Flash & Lighting

04:47
61

Tripods

14:13
62

Cases

06:07
63

Being a Photographer

11:29
64

Natural Light: Direct Sunlight

28:37
65

Natural Light: Indirect Sunlight

15:57
66

Natural Light: Mixed

04:20
67

Twilight: Sunrise & Sunset Light

22:21
68

Cloud & Color Pop: Sunrise & Sunset Light

06:40
69

Silhouette & Starburst: Sunrise & Sunset Light

07:28
70

Golden Hour: Sunrise & Sunset Light

07:52
71

Quiz: Lighting

05:42
72

Light Management

10:46
73

Flash Fundamentals

12:06
74

Speedlights

04:12
75

Built-In & Add-On Flash

10:47
76

Off-Camera Flash

25:48
77

Off-Camera Flash For Portraits

15:36
78

Advanced Flash Techniques

08:22
79

Editing Assessments & Goals

08:57
80

Editing Set-Up

06:59
81

Importing Images

03:59
82

Organizing Your Images

32:41
83

Culling Images

13:57
84

Categories of Development

30:59
85

Adjusting Exposure

08:03
86

Remove Distractions

04:02
87

Cropping Your Images

09:53
88

Composition Basics

26:36
89

Point of View

28:56
90

Angle of View

14:35
91

Subject Placement

23:22
92

Framing Your Shot

07:27
93

Foreground & Background & Scale

03:51
94

Rule of Odds

05:00
95

Bad Composition

07:31
96

Multi-Shot Techniques

19:08
97

Pixel Shift, Time Lapse, Selective Cloning & Noise Reduction

12:24
98

Human Vision vs The Camera

23:32
99

Visual Perception

10:43
100

Quiz: Visual Balance

14:05
101

Visual Drama

16:45
102

Elements of Design

09:24
103

Texture & Negative Space

03:57
104

Black & White & Color

10:33
105

The Photographic Process

09:08
106

Working the Shot

25:29
107

What Makes a Great Photograph?

07:01

Lesson Info

Speedlights

All right, so, speed lights. There's a lot of different speed lights available. The entry lights are for the people who maybe don't have a built in flash and they just want a little kicker flash just to help illuminate things that are directly in front of you. They don't have any bounce capabilities, so it's kind of limited in what they can do. We have intermediate level flashes, which I think are often pretty good choices for people who want to get involved with this type of work. They're going to give you some options. A little tilt and swivel so you can bounce against ceilings and walls, sometimes they'll have little infrared AF assist beams that will let your camera focus under low light conditions, and many of these will allow you to work wirelessly if you have another flash of that style, or you have a camera with a built in flash that has a wireless system so that you can put your cameras off to the side without a lot of cords and cables running all over the place. If you use fl...

ash a lot, you're photographing large groups, or you need to shoot in rapid sequence, the top of the line flashes typically have faster recycling times because they're more powerful. They're going to have external plugins where you could have an external battery powering your flash if you're going to be shooting for a long period of time. They have extra little features, little bounce mini cards and reflectors and so forth all built into them. They'll have syncs so that you can work in studio environments, and with all sorts of lighting equipment, and little diffusers so that you can work with wide-angle or even fish-eye lenses, and these, too, will often have these wireless connections. Canon and Nikon started with these wireless systems, and it's grown and expanded to pretty much all the systems out there, so there are some good options. I have seen some really elaborate photographs of people who have been hired by the manufacturers and have been given tens of thousands of dollars of their expensive lighting gear to fire something all TTL, and I'm just thinking: "Wow, you could have done this "whole thing with a few hundred bucks and basic flashes "if you would have been willing to use manual." And they were clearly doing a set-up shot, so they would have had a chance to test it. I think spending a lot of money on these flashes isn't the best choice for most people. You could actually go buy some decent lighting equipment for the price of three or four of these flashes, because they do tend to be quite a bit of money. But, for an event photographer, somebody moving around a lot, these can be really, really handy. So, strobe units. There are some more manual units out there. This old style was called the potato masher, because it looks kind of like a potato masher handle out there, and they were known as nice, powerful flashes that had a good kick, and wedding photographers had those for a long time, and I still see them on, there must be a prop house in Hollywood, because in a lot of the movies they have news reporters, and these people that clearly aren't photographers, but they're posing as them, use this. But, they are very powerful, as far as a hand-held device. When we get into the studio, we have mono lights, which are lights and power units all built in, and this is kind of nice because this is just one unit, you plug it into the wall or a battery pack, and it's got everything you need in there. The more serious photographers will have flash heads, and then they'll be plugged into the power source, a power pack or a generator, and this is going to be able to control more and send more power to these flashes, and so these flashes can be really, really powerful, and one of the advantages of these is that they can fire very, very quickly compared to some of the other speed lights, as well as being more powerful, so you could shoot a model spinning in a dress at a very fast shutter speed, and having a lot of light on them, so the flash is happening at just a thousandth of a second for freezing motion. One of the things that these companies are going for is the fastest flash sink that they can get. There's a lot of other things that we're not going to get into, really, in this class, but there are ring lights so that you can actually shoot straight through the light so you have, really, a seamless, shadowless area if you were doing a closeup face portrait.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Fundamentals of Photography Class Outline
Learning Projects Workbook
Camera Keynote PDF
Sensor Keynote PDF
Lens Keynote PDF
Exposure Keynote PDF
Focus Keynote PDF
Gadgets Keynote PDF
Lighting Keynote PDF
Editing Keynote PDF
Composition Keynote PDF
Photographic Vision Keynote PDF

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

Love love all John Greengo classes! Wish to have had him decades ago with this info, but no internet then!! John is the greatest photography teacher I have seen out there, and I watch a lot of Creative Live classes and folks on YouTube too. John is so detailed and there are a ton of ah ha moments for me and I know lots of others. I think I own 4 John Greengo classes so far and want to add this one and Travel Photography!! I just drop everything to watch John on Creative Live. I wish sometime soon he would teach a Lightroom class and his knowledge on photography post editing.!!! That would probably take a LOT OF TIME but I know John would explain it soooooo good, like he does all his Photography classes!! Thank you Creative Live for having such a wonderful instructor with John Greengo!! Make more classes John, for just love them and soak it up! There is soooo much to learn and sometimes just so overwhelming. Is there anyway you might do a Motivation class!!?? Like do this button for this day, and try this technique for a week, or post this subject for this week, etc. Motivation and inspiration, and playing around with what you teach, needed so much and would be so fun.!! Just saying??? Awaiting gadgets class now, while waiting for lunch break to be over. All the filters and gadgets, oh my. Thank you thank you for all you teach John, You are truly a wonderful wonderful instructor and I would highly recommend folks listening and buying your classes.

Eve
 

I don't think that adjectives like beautiful, fantastic or excellent can describe the course and classes with John Greengo well enough. I've just bought my first camera and I am a total amateur but I fell in love with photography while watching the classes with John. It is fun, clear, understandable, entertaining, informative and and and. He is not only a fabulous photographer but a great teacher as well. Easy to follow, clear explanations and fantastic visuals. The only disadvantage I can list here that he is sooooo good that keeps me from going out to shoot as I am just glued to the screen. :-) Don't miss it and well worth the money invested! Thank you John!

JUAN SOL
 

Dear John, thanks for this outstanding classes. You are not only a great photographer and instructor, but your classes are pleasant, they are not boring, with a good sense of humor, they go straight to the point and have a good time listening to you. Please, keep teaching what you like most, and I will continue to look for your classes. And thanks for using a plain English, that it's important for people who has another language as native language. Thanks again, Juan

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