During this lighting course, Brandon Heiss (President at Westcott) discusses the basics of flash photography.
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Here, you’ll find how-to videos, lighting tips, and overviews on strobes, speedlite modifiers, reflectors, scrims, and more. New videos are added frequently to help our fans perfect their craft! Find more tips, articles, and photo galleries at http://westcottu.com. Learn about Westcott gear by visiting http://fjwestcott.com.
Course Breakdown
0:00:00 – Introduction
0:01:04 – What is High-Speed Sync?
0:02:11 – What is TTL?
0:02:38 – What is Recycle Time?
0:03:07 – What is Ambient Light?
0:04:05 – What are Groups and Channels?
0:05:36 – Class breakdown & topics covered
0:06:40 – Importance of Lighting
0:07:52 – When do you use lighting?
0:09:12 – Hard Lighting & Soft Lighting
0:14:04 – Hard Light vs Soft Light: Photo Examples
0:18:00 – How much flash power?
0:22:47 – Understanding Fill Lighting
0:35:20 – Issues with Using Flash (Incorrectly)
0:37:29 – How can we improve flash?
0:37:59 – How to bounce flash
0:43:59 – Why you should take the flash off of your camera?
0:46:18 – Using Modifiers with Flash
0:47:45 – What is an Umbrella modifier?
0:49:39 – What are the Rapid Box Modifiers
0:51:16 – What are the Apollo Modifiers?
0:54:03 – Why Use Grids?
0:55:05 – Diffusion Layers in a Softbox
0:56:55 – Feathering the Light
0:58:04 – Feathering Light: In Use
1:00:22 – Using a Hair/Edge Light
1:06:49 – Breaking Down One Light Photos
1:11:46 – TTL vs Manual
1:13:47 – TTL to Manual on the FJ Wireless System
1:17:09 – How to use TTL/Manual
1:22:46 – Getting Creative with Flash
#photography #fj80 #fj200 #fj400
45 comments
I noticed throughout the video, you never talked about the modeling light or how to use it. This is something of great interest to me as most lights have a 150w bulb which will show how your light is hitting the subject, at least in a studio environment. Could you amend this video showing the use of the modeling light?
Thank you for creating this video. This is what I’ve been looking for. I’m doing research on my next lighting setup and the FJ200 & FJ400 looks great.
Great video, great explanation. Thank you. I liked a lot side-by-side shot comparisons, really helpful.
Hi from South Africa. Thanks very much Brandon for explaining everything so well and for the very helpful practical demonstrations. I learnt a huge amount and am so motivated to go and try things out. All the best
For the first time in my life, I have actually been able to learn and understand the fundamentals of using light with strobes. Thank you very much!!!
Diffusion Balls😁
Sneaky advertising, in this course 😉 But in a real course and no blabla.. Thumbs up for it.
Thank you Brandon, for breaking up your presentation into sections and for providing time stamps. That's the kind of respect I appreciate in all tutorial videos. I don't want to watch an 8 hour 30 minute video just to get the answer to 1 question really. Great video.
Hi Brandon. Lovely video on Flash photography. I really liked it and understood so much from it. I have a Godox AD 200 pro. and an Xpro C for a flash trigger. But whats important are the techniques learnt today in this course. For starters One speed light and 1 shoot thru umbrella is more then sufficient.
♥️♥️😍♥️😍♥️
Loved it!
For the first time in my life, I have actually been able to learn and understand the fundamentals of using light with strobes. Thank you very much!!!
Excellent
Super ,Congratulations,***
நன்றாக இருக்கிறது வாழ்த்துக்கள் R.MANOHAR-CHENNAI
Can godox x2t trigger fire flashes in sequence like the locker room shot you did?
Thank you Brandon. This is the BEST course on flash photography I have seen. Brandon knows his stuff but has the rare gift of being able to reduce complexities to simplicities. Most "coaches" seem to be more concerned about showing everybody how much they know rather than helping their students to become better photographers.
When taking a photo of a person do you expose for the sunset the add flash? For best exposure? Or how do you know what the ambient settings are to set the camera?
Great tutorial ! You explained everything clearly and slowly, very informative.. Thank you !
Excellent video. Very much enjoyed it, thanks.
love the fj80 touch screen brilliant idea just wish I got it before invested in godox . great training video, the control is using touch screen seems so much easier if implemented right.
Excellent presentation.
This was so awesome. I learned a lot. Thank you
How does one measure 'Ambient Light' ?
I have a question because this is all I have. can I use is savage universal RGB pro panel light and put and soft box cover over it? Also I have the Sony Speed light
Breaking each light by itself, great tip
This was an awesome training video. Thank you!
Very professional.
🙌🏾 down best lighting video that I have ever watched
That was so good! Ordered a fj400 this past weekend.
This is great thanks 🙏
Excellent content, very well presented
This is an excellent training resource – thank you. A request – F-stop and shutter speed would have been useful as well for various scenarios.
Great video! Thank you!
I know most of what you are teaching but this video allows me to put things in better context with more understanding of lighting.
I wish other flash manufacturers did the same thing.
Kudos to you.👍👍👍😀
I have the FJ400 Bundle (two lights + X2M) Can I only use the gels without a modifier (I have Rapid Octa-M and 3×4) of can I combine them? I want to get the softer light with an CTO gel glow? Do you have to go with a tape on filter and not use what comes from Westcott??
This was an amazing amount of information. We get asked a lot of these questions and it’ll be a great resource to send to those who want to learn.
Hey, Brandon…looking for a flash to put inside my photek softlighters (36" & 60")…what is the diameter of the FJ 200?…can't find it anywhere online…thanks
Awesome
What’s the best distance to place your light to your subject to get it softer?
We want westcott products in North Italy!!!
Covid and mostly lack of friends really allowed me to watched this entire video 😂
I had no idea how effective the inner baffle is, thanks for a great lesson!
Great content. Thanks very much.
Thanks
Is good idea to share curses …if you buy the product and follow the channel is enough to start 🙂