Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 57: Rear Curtain Sync 

Mark NEVER disappoints!!! like ever. Watched about 10 vids on this rear curtain thing and no one made it this simple!!! LEGEND!!!

This is the first video that broke it down and explained it so well. Thanks for this Mark!

After watching numerous videos on rear curtain flash thankfully I found yours, great tutorial

Your tutorials are some of the best on youtube! Thanks for the tips!

Thanks for providing detailed instructions on how to use rear curtain sync with both Canon and Nikon cameras. Great examples.

very well explained and illustrated again Mark thanks so much

Great tutorial, can't wait to try it out! Thanks Mark.

i just want to say, i love your channel. Great tips and perfect demonstration.

This was one of the Photography concepts that I never understood. Thanks to this snapfactory

I'm a photography student but I find myself looking for your videos for every assignment I have since you seem to be able to explain things in a way that is easy to grasp. Thank you so much :D

Awesomely presented, thank you!

Thank you sooooooo much! I'm in love with second curtain sync...

Yes! I've been waiting for a lesson like this. Thank you!

Mark, thanks sooooo much for sharing your genius. Amazing

Very nice Mark. Thanks and keep positing good stuff

Mark you really broke it down. Your videos are so informative and well put together bro.

Great demonstration Mark!

Many thanks for answering all these questions about photography to folks like me who didn't even know what shutter speed was!!!

really well explained best i've seen so far cheers

Great as always..

Well done! Great content!

Tops! Thanks for a great video!

Mark this helped me so much, and I'm a boudoir photographer looking into some light painting, thanks so much!

I had too watch this video three times to understand how it worked exactly, but I have gotten some great shots by using this technique. Thanks.

love your tutorial. I'll try it out. Thank you so much

Thanks for this tutorial, I learned a lot.

awesome mark this explains a lot. thank you

Thank you Mark & ADorama

great explanation & tutorial!

great video again! thanks

I love this technique, I really used it a lot and it gives you spectacular images! Very good tutorial !

GREAT explanation, I am going to get the most of my 480EXII Canon flash. Beautiful model

OMG Now I finally understand EVERYTHING !!!!!

I bet all those cars think theyre getting a speeding ticket! lol

You are simply amazing,really helpfull video!

im sick of people who say that photgraphy is easy and just one button..

and awesome and very educational lesson that's clear to understand. thank you

which shutter speed interval works the best?

Thank you so much! It really helped me

Thank you Mark !

God bless you. Very effective explanation!

Thanks alot! Keep em coming pls!

"Frozen Brenda on top of Blurred Brenda" :-) Gotta love that explanation.

fantastic video

Thanks mate, really helpful.

@jsc974 You're doing everything right. The first flash happens before the shutter opens. It's called the pre-flash and it's used to meter the light from the flash. It's perfectly normal.

thanks for the great video :)

Thanks for video. It is clear. May I ask if thee second curtain sync shoot is possible in daylight using filter big stopper 10 stops darker.

Great Video!

Is rear curtain sync available in all flash modes, manual or ttl auto? I have a fuji x-pro2 and tried with both the fuji ef-x20 and cactus v6 flashes. I was wondering why I could not set my camera's flash mode to rear curtain sync while out doing a long exposure where I wanted to use flash to freeze image at end of long exposure.. for instance a car moving and people walking at a street intersection.. wanted the blur to trail the subjects to show forward motion and not lead where it would look reverse and weird. The camera could still be set to fire flash, just only normal first curtain flash. I was simply on single shot full manual mode on my camera. Seemed pretty straightforward task, but i could not set camera to use rear curtain flash sync. It wasn't until I had time last night to fiddle with my camera and flash settings that I figured out that the option to set for rear sync flash was available only when the flash unit was set to TTL auto. When in manual flash mode on my flash unit, the camera would not allow me to set rear sync. I found that strange because it would seem like rear sync should be an option when using manual flash.. I would think the camera would just have to send the delayed signal to fire the flash just before the end of the exposure. Simple enough, right? Am I missing some science behind why I cannot use rear sync with manual flash? Any insight would be great. Thanks.

would the same principle apply & work if i wanted far more traffic blur say from a 6 or 8 second exposure ? and keep the model / portrait sharp

Great explanation :)

Well that looked like a great way to piss off drivers. Good thinking, there.

Great video thanks :)

Great tutorial! many thanks! Can u apply this setting by off flash camera?

Thank you So much God Bless U :)

@Val Mirov - the first flash is before the front curtain is raised and allows the camera to meter the amount of flash that will be used before the rear curtain rises (2nd flash)

Great tutorial, thank you! :)

Mark = genius

@TheCodenameHSK The flash that fires at the beginning of the exposure is for metering. It is called monitor pre-flash and happens after the mirror comes up, but before the shutter opens. The flash that fires at the end of the exposure is to make the image.

hi bro nice tutorial i have question the rear curtain sync is it perform on off flash using trigger ?

Great work. You make it real easy to undertand. Thank you.

But your using directional light (flash), will this also work when yiu use a bounce card or some kind of diffuser

Wow I've been learning a lot from your videos. I'm going to be buying a canon 5D Mark ii in like two months

awesome thanx i learnt something new

Thank you great video...

Great video tutorial! '2nd curtain flash for dummies!'

This is something Ive always wondered about and never quite understood. Your explanation was great! Thank you

wow that was a great tip !!!! ... Thanx.

one question......I shot with and without rear curtain flash and I got the same result < wich is good but , I didn't find the difference btween regular and rear curtain....explain pls

thanks Mark.

Always wondered what that icon on my speedlight was lol Thanks for explaining.

Can Rear Curtain Sync also be used with external, manual speedlites?

Firts of all let me to congratulate you for all ur videos they are awesome. Have a question the normal flash thats in the camera can be synchronize to rear curtain and make this effects?

Hi Mark, Thanks for these amazing videos, but I wanted to to know what were the camera setings on the pics you took of brenda? also have they in any way been retouched? just because they look too good. Thanks

thank you!!

What are the settings for the rear curtain flash? Is this a long exposure? What is the minimum timing I need for a second curtain use? Thx

Awesome

Great tip. How do you meter the subject? Usually at night it would be quite dark and if I have a slow shutter, it might produce too much light and camera shake wouldn't it?

wow I'm going to try this feature/techniques

Thanks for the video. Are you suggestion that when you use flash, you should use rear curtain sync?

thank you!

Any help in finding most affordable flash for T7i that can do High speed sync, Second curtain flash, and Ettl?

So for Canon users, the only way to achieve rear curtain sync is to use a Canon flash? Is there any way to do it in-camera with a third-party flash? Thanks in advance.

Good stuff, Mark. But, how do you setup rear/2nd curtain sync when using PocketWizards? Do you have to hook them up to your laptop and program them?

Mark can you tell me what camera settings you would use on a Canon for rear curtain sync? Is this good to use for low lighting indoors for a party?

I've noticed that if I shoot a shutter speed of over a sec, the subject begins to look faded, creating this "ghost" looking effect. Is there a way to shoot longer without this, or is the second curtain flash only effective up to a certain shutter speed?

@snapfactory YOU ARE A GENIUS! you've just put my mind at ease with this, i'd been using 2nd sync but the flash that fired before was so confusing too me. so in essence, is that split second of exposure "ignored" by the camera as such and once the flash is over, then the photo begins, if you get me?

So is it possible to get your model razor sharp, or is there always going to be some element of blur? When I try doing this, the movement that happens before the flash at the rear curtain shows u in the photo, which you mentioned and said we could get away with...

nice job flashing the drivers lol, good tutorial :D

@snapfactory Many thanks Mark.

Hi mark, I dont have a on camera flash only the pop up flash built in. My question, in the camera settings i have a setting that is called 2nd flash and when i take a picture it flashes once and then again right at the end..... Does this work the same way as you demonstarted in the video?

What was your shutter speed when shooting Brenda? Also what would you recommend for shooting in a bar with little to no light? Thanks

one question: if i understand this video correctly, so when the shutter speed is high, there should not be too much different between this mode right? like 1/400, 1/1000, and shooting some one walking.

SIGMA FLASH EF-610DG SUPER EO-ETTL II IS SUPORTED IN SECOND CURTAIN SYNC ?

What shutter speed did you set??

Hi Mark, can I used my built in flash to be able to used a 2nd curtain sync on my Canon XS. Thanks for any reply you can give.

How can i get strobe effect with Just one On camera flash or Off camera flash ? I have Godox ving V 860 Mark II nad Canon 77d Camera...

Great tutorial! I have a problem, my speedlight flashes two times (at the beginning and at the end) do you know why?

Hi Mark, I have a Sony a99 camera and the Sony HVL-F60M flash. Do you know if there's any way for me to use rear curtain sync?