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:
What are the different types of speedlights available for photography?
Entry level speedlights, intermediate level speedlights, and top of the line speedlights.
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.
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.
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.
Are wireless capabilities available in all speedlight systems?
Yes, Canon and Nikon started with wireless systems and it has expanded to most systems.
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.
What other types of lights are mentioned in the lesson?
Ring lights, which can be used for seamless and shadowless closeup portraits.
Lessons
Class Introduction
23:32 2Photographic Characteristics
06:46 3Camera Types
03:03 4Viewing System
22:09 5Lens System
24:38 6Shutter System
12:56 7Shutter Speed Basics
10:16 8Shutter Speed Effects
31:57Camera & Lens Stabilization
11:06 10Quiz: Shutter Speeds
07:55 11Camera Settings Overview
16:12 12Drive Mode & Buffer
04:24 13Camera Settings - Details
10:21 14Sensor Size: Basics
18:26 15Sensor Sizes: Compared
24:52 16The Sensor - Pixels
22:49 17Sensor Size - ISO
26:59 18Focal Length
11:36 19Angle of View
31:29 20Practicing Angle of View
04:59 21Quiz: Focal Length
08:15 22Fisheye Lens
12:32 23Tilt & Shift Lens
20:37 24Subject Zone
13:16 25Lens Speed
09:03 26Aperture
08:25 27Depth of Field (DOF)
21:46 28Quiz: Apertures
08:22 29Lens Quality
07:06 30Light Meter Basics
09:04 31Histogram
11:48 32Quiz: Histogram
09:07 33Dynamic Range
07:25 34Exposure Modes
35:15 35Sunny 16 Rule
04:31 36Exposure Bracketing
08:08 37Exposure Values
20:01 38Quiz: Exposure
20:44 39Focusing Basics
13:08 40Auto Focus (AF)
24:39 41Focus Points
17:18 42Focus Tracking
19:26 43Focusing Q&A
06:40 44Manual Focus
07:14 45Digital Focus Assistance
07:35 46Shutter Speeds & Depth of Field (DOF)
05:18 47Quiz: Depth of Field
15:54 48DOF Preview & Focusing Screens
04:55 49Lens Sharpness
11:08 50Camera Movement
11:29 51Advanced Techniques
15:15 52Quiz: Hyperfocal Distance
07:14 53Auto Focus Calibration
05:15 54Focus Stacking
07:58 55Quiz: Focus Problems
18:54 56Camera Accessories
32:41 57Lens Accessories
29:24 58Lens Adaptors & Cleaning
13:14 59Macro
13:02 60Flash & Lighting
04:47 61Tripods
14:13 62Cases
06:07 63Being a Photographer
11:29 64Natural Light: Direct Sunlight
28:37 65Natural Light: Indirect Sunlight
15:57 66Natural Light: Mixed
04:20 67Twilight: Sunrise & Sunset Light
22:21 68Cloud & Color Pop: Sunrise & Sunset Light
06:40 69Silhouette & Starburst: Sunrise & Sunset Light
07:28 70Golden Hour: Sunrise & Sunset Light
07:52 71Quiz: Lighting
05:42 72Light Management
10:46 73Flash Fundamentals
12:06 74Speedlights
04:12 75Built-In & Add-On Flash
10:47 76Off-Camera Flash
25:48 77Off-Camera Flash For Portraits
15:36 78Advanced Flash Techniques
08:22 79Editing Assessments & Goals
08:57 80Editing Set-Up
06:59 81Importing Images
03:59 82Organizing Your Images
32:41 83Culling Images
13:57 84Categories of Development
30:59 85Adjusting Exposure
08:03 86Remove Distractions
04:02 87Cropping Your Images
09:53 88Composition Basics
26:36 89Point of View
28:56 90Angle of View
14:35 91Subject Placement
23:22 92Framing Your Shot
07:27 93Foreground & Background & Scale
03:51 94Rule of Odds
05:00 95Bad Composition
07:31 96Multi-Shot Techniques
19:08 97Pixel Shift, Time Lapse, Selective Cloning & Noise Reduction
12:24 98Human Vision vs The Camera
23:32 99Visual Perception
10:43 100Quiz: Visual Balance
14:05 101Visual Drama
16:45 102Elements of Design
09:24 103Texture & Negative Space
03:57 104Black & White & Color
10:33 105The Photographic Process
09:08 106Working the Shot
25:29 107What Makes a Great Photograph?
07:01Lesson 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
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