Flash Photography for Beginners | FREE COURSE 

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you very much for a great video.

one of the best tutorials on strobes and Flash photography. Thank You

Thanks, Brandon. I'm a 78 year old newbie and you just gave me a jump start. A lot of fun and very informative.

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.👍👍👍😀

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!!!

Great great greattttt video man loved this, very helpful💯🔥😂

I have done paid courses and I never learned as much as I did with this free one. Great Job, you have a fan for life!

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.

Fabulous tutorial ❤️

I love how you kept stressing the camera settings will not be the same in different lighting situations. I appreciate that do my students can learn to trust their own instincts to change settings when needed to get the “look” they’re trying to achieve. Great tutorial! This teacher appreciated it very much!

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.

Great job Brandon. Thank you. Excellent presentation with examples.

I'm new to off camera flash and hungry for knowledge but because I know nothing I didn't even know what I didn't know, so didn't even know what questions to ask to figure out what I needed to learn! This video was EXACTLY what I needed. It started from an assumption of zero knowledge and slowly built it up from there. Possibly the best video I have ever watched on youTube. Thankyou Westcott - I am feeling inspired and I will be back for those 20 lights in a flash - haha see what I did there ;)

Very good. Worth every minute of my time. Thank you 🙏

So informative. So far the best I have seen on this subject.

Thank you so much. This has answered so many questions for me and given me the knowledge and confidence to try new things. 👏👏

Good video.

Breaking each light by itself, great tip

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.

Very detailed and easy to understand. Thanks 🙏🏿

Fantastic video! Thank you!! 👍🏼

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

The best flash tutorial 👍

I'm so thrilled to have watched this entire course - it has eliminated some of the unknown fears of flash photography to a point where I want to begin to experiment with my ability to control light using some of these instruments. Thank you for your guidance.

Thank you Brandon!!! This was a huge help and you do such a good job of teaching!

Great video, great explanation. Thank you. I liked a lot side-by-side shot comparisons, really helpful.

This was the beat video I have watched since I started photography last year. You are amazing!

Great tutorial ! You explained everything clearly and slowly, very informative.. Thank you !

This was so awesome. I learned a lot. Thank you

For free ! Wow ! Thank you !

This course is incredible. You are masterful. Thank you so much for explaining flash photography so well. Rush, Nassau, The Bahamas.

Thank you for taking the time to create this tutorial. I have been using flash in and out of studio for some time now and still picked up some useful information.

This was an amazing course, very informative and filled with useful nuggets. Thank you.

Great video! Thank you!

This is I've been waiting for...Thank you so much for creating this video. I can't wait to go out using flash photography

WONDERFUL TUTORIAL.. THANKS A LOT.

Excellent video. Very much enjoyed it, thanks.

Thanks Brandon. Your teaching is awesome. Enjoyed this video so much.

I,ve been looking for a course on this matter for yeas without result.Very greatful for taking part of this.

That was so good! Ordered a fj400 this past weekend.

I had no idea how effective the inner baffle is, thanks for a great lesson!

Thank you sooooooo very much Sir!!! Absolutely amazing and quite detailed and professionally executed tutorial which basically put most of RU-vid vids to shame! Haven’t been married to the Godox ecosystem I would’ve invested into Westcott to support you! I’ve played this tutorial into its entirety 3 times in a few days and more to come! Keep it up and keep them coming!

Brandon, thank you for making this video and sharing your knowledge and experience with your audience. I'm 4 weeks into my adventure with lighting, but 17 minutes into the video, I just want to point out what I'm hearing so that perhaps, when making future videos, you take into account the limited knowledge of beginners. That said, I did follow your explanations - but that is because I've done a ton of reading and ton of shooting in the last four weeks. My thoughts: Love the fact that you started with the quality of light (i.e. soft, hard, size and distance of the source). Demo of each of those concepts at the beginning would have been great. Side by side images. Source size consistent with changing distance, distance constant with ONLY changing size of source. In a flash for beginners video, to me, it gets confusing when you 1. start using multiple modifiers right off the bat without showing what they do separately (i.e. reflector with grid) - you have to remember that many people watching this may not own both, may not own one of them, and may not know what qualities each of those have by themselves - let alone in tandem. You then proceed to talk about a speedlight round head (entirely different rabbit hole) and add a diffusion dome. Now, unless what I've learned so far is not correct, the quality of the light (soft and hard) really is a separate issue than diffused or specular light - so why right off the bat are we mixing them together? The reflective umbrella with silver lining and diffusion sock again combines two concepts (bigger source and diffusion) again, pretty much right out of the gate for beginners to digest. Again, I'm following you, but I think it would be cleaner in future videos to separate the concepts of "size matters" from diffusion or specularity. I realize there is a time constraint and editing constraint, but side by side images of only changing distance first and then size, to demonstrate just the quality of light change, and then define for us what each modification does, and show that to us, would have been terrific. Later in the video, when demonstrating different modifiers, you mention "grids" "focus the light "even more". I'm not trying to be nit picking, but my understanding is that grids are light blockers (restrictors if you wish), but do not focus light - they block the spread of light. Again, just telling you from a beginner standpoint how I'm seeing this. When I teach what I am a professional at, I have to build with people, one step at a time, and help develop some strong fundamental understanding as I move forward. It's great to have all these tools to utilize, but us beginners do not even completely understand what you are trying to do with each (i.e. add a grid on a snoot, or worse yet add a grid on a softbox - when you are not in a small space). Just want you to know, I'm very appreciative of you taking the time (yes, I realize given your position that you are trying to sell FJ products) to put this together and demonstrate concepts. Your approach is honest and genuine. Just want you to know, don't lose sight of the fact that introducing multiple points and materials at one time may prevent what you are trying to achieve. The more comfortable I am with what a product will give me, the more likely I am to reach for it and purchase it. Hope to see you more! Many thanks to you and your model.

Muchas gracias, saludos desde México!

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.

Loved it!

These videos are amazing thank you so much!!!!!

What a awesome tutorial, learnt so much!

This was an awesome training video. Thank you!

🙌🏾 down best lighting video that I have ever watched

I just became a big fan of Westcott and have recently purchased an Apollo Orb and a Rapid Box to use with my Canon Speedlites. Since I am a starving photographer artist I have to find used equipment at a good deal with the idea that all of this used equipment was brand new/top of the line at one time and can still serve the purpose of what I want to accomplish. Using multiple Speedlites gives me more versatility in arranging lights. Also, carrying 5 or 6 Speedlites is lighter than 2 or 3 power strobes.

Of all the lighting videos I have watched. Your is the most comprehensive! Glad I Starbord across your channel I’m definitely a follower now !! Thanks you sir God bless

Covid and mostly lack of friends really allowed me to watched this entire video 😂

Very professional.

Thank you so much. I normally watch one style of lighting. You helped me so much!

Great content. Thanks very much.

One of the best courses I ever seen 👍🏻 Well done, thanks

This was amazing thank you for making this! Been using a speed light since 2019, and I just got the fj400 been messing around with it cant wait to use it on a shoot this week!

I got autoplayed here and I thought this was Michael the Maven. Thanks for the course!

Thank you for sharing this video, it was extremely useful. I learned a lot about using speed lights and strobes. I like those backdrops they look very portable.

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.

This way Super Cool!!! Thanks so much Brandon.

Excellent presentation.

Hi It was amazing tutorial video. Thanks

Excellent content, very well presented

This is great thanks 🙏

Very helpfull your video, I never had picture taken of a photographer. That is also due my nature, I dont like to pass some limits in a frame. It is just matter of thiking to see how to fit that into the knowledge.

Liked AND subscribed!!! Thanks a lot for this

Awesome

Thanks!

This is excellent!!

Great video for people trying to start with flash. 2 points. 1) your first example of soft light. With the young child… absolutely. Not sure if call the other image soft. The transition between light and dark was pretty abrupt. 2). Your definition of fast paced environment talked about changing subjects ( and Manual is perfect) what about changing subjects and distances? A problem I deal with regularly.

Excellent

You will find that most seasoned photographer ‘s are still using there Norman lighting if they have been shooting for some time as a professional, Norman’s will out live the life of the photographer!

It would be nice if you also talked about the effect of flash on the eye. Eyes are the most powerful part of portrait. Flashes cause the iris to open up. For example, some flashes fire twice to cause the iris to open and close preventing the red eye effect.

This video was amazing !! It's so insightful and well done. I've learned so much about how flash is used. Also interested in the FJ80 for on camera flash. That touch screen is brilliant.

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.

very cool

Thank you!

Thanks

Hi Brandon, it was a great video and I learned a lot from it. Can you please explain how to setup those 2 sequences.

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?

This was amazing! Can’t wait to put this knowledge to practice

Thank you so much - really informative, engaging and a clear explanation on each subject matter too. Top tutorial.

Thank you! Very informative...When you speak of reading the ambient light b4 turning on the strobe are you doing that in Manusl mode or auto? Are you taking test shots to figure out the ambient light? There are times when I don't have enough light to get the ambient reading. Also how far do you place subjects away from a backdrop?

Thanks Brandon for this complete lighting course, very interesting and easy to learn. the only thing i am missing is how to control the different lights A-B-C for example how to turn them on and off from the trigger... Do you have any other tutorial of how to use the equipment? that would be great !

Is good idea to share curses ...if you buy the product and follow the channel is enough to start 🙂

Could you breakdown the composite lighting segment for me? I only saw on flash a rim light flash. Where was the other one that took the second shot composite? And what does he mean by burst shooting?

Thanks for the great content. 13:03 is that concept reversed: closer light is harder? According to inverse square law.

This is an excellent training resource - thank you. A request - F-stop and shutter speed would have been useful as well for various scenarios.

I have to use manual on my Z6ii.My Z50 uses TTL.

Was looking for the "first video in the series" that you were referring to. Unfortunately, I was not sure where to find that!

Super ,Congratulations,*** நன்றாக இருக்கிறது வாழ்த்துக்கள் R.MANOHAR-CHENNAI

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?

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

I have 3 FJ400's. What are the settings to have each strobe at a different power level yet have them all trigger? Do they need to be on the same Channel but different groups...and does it matter if they are in TTL or manual??? thanks

Thank you Brandon.. I have just bought my first flash.. And your video has been a great help... I photograph cats and bunnies for an animal sanctuary to help get them adopted.. And its not thr best lighting.. So I wanted to make the shots look better.. And your video has helped in a way to make them look better and get adopted.. 😎

So when you’re shooting outdoors, what would be better to use, TTL or HHS?

I find that the fill flash used around 26 minutes make the pictures look photoshopped.