I'm not sure if I missed Gavin's explanation, but for those who want to try this, setting your camera/lens to manual focus and focusing on a spot in the room where the dancer will end up, is an effective way to get the flash exposure sharp.
That “oops” first curtain sync looked really cool too! I like that you showed this, because it teaches about rear curtain sync, and about how you can even be creative with the first curtain sync as well!
Gavin Hoey, a brilliant photography instructor and the perfect antidote to photographic ruts. Always fun to watch, lucidly explained, and you walk away itching to try out yourself what he's been up to. Great job by Sophie and the studio assistant too. 👍
Great video! I did this motion / freeze thing back in 1995 with a Nikon F4 SLR camera with a set of Dyna Lite flashes. Shot on Fuji Velvia SLIDE film. Shooting on slide, there is no room for errors. Colors, white balance, etc. You get what you get and there is no “post”😅 today is a lot easier. And Softbox grids alone back in the day used to cost $300. Today it’s included in most of them and a lot cheaper now. In the past, photography was more expensive and harder.
How to do this right NOW! STep1- turn off light, step 2 - face your monitor(cont.LED), step3- open your popup flash cam setting 4 sec ,F/8, ISO 100. Step 4 - position to centre your chair between monitor and camera, Step 5- shake your head!!! Thanks me later. :D
We did something just like this a few weeks back. But instead of the flash being triggered automatically I had an assistant firing a ad200pro manually multiple times during the long exposure beginning, middle, end. Talk about timing though. That took a while to get. So while the subject moved it caught them in action with a slight ghost movement between the images.
Gavin just has a way of simplifying it all. NOW I understand how to do this. He's right though, Seth Miranda is the King of the Shutter Drags for portraits. No photoshopping by Seth, just straight from the camera it's stunning!
I would add that you can use the "BULB" shutter setting so you can control with more precision when to close the shutter,this way your model (dancer) doesn't have to wait for the flash to fire since it will fire as soon as you release the shutter button, and you can release the shutter as soon as she finishes the movement or even capture her in the air. For those who don't know BULB setting is a "shutter speed setting" where the photographer controls the exact time the shutter is open, when you press the shutter button it opens the shutter and as soon as you release the shutter button it closes. Very useful setting for this type of scenario.
Having a remote trigger is useful when doing long exposures so you aren't vibrating the camera holding in the shutter button. Although doing a shot like this, it may not matter.
Thanks for the really helpful video. I have recently got the Olympus E-M1 Mark 3 as well BUT my flash transmitters and receivers are YONGNUO RF 603N models and I can not get them to work with the Olympus! I suspect the N stands for Nikon and I think I might require Olympus dedicated triggers !
Love it. Can you do multiple flashes within the same shot if you had more space and probably make it longer than 2 seconds. Guess you would have ti fire the flash manually?
Hi Ivan. If you're firing the flash manually you can have as many flashes as you like, although your subject will get brighter as they move closer to the light! Manual flash or multi flash mode will work.
I'm using Canon 7D with Godox TT685 off camera flash controlled by Godox tranmitter. In 7D menu, 2nd curtain show disabled under External flash control menu. Can you please help. Thanks
Gavin, I’m not proficient with a flash meter, but have borrowed a Sekonic for this activity and hired a professional dancer. When you took the reading (f/5.6), did you have the meter set with a shutter speed? If so assume it wasn’t the 2sec used for the shot? Appreciate your help.
Hello, I take a picture on godox ad200 and continuous led light I trigger the flash from the navigator x2. Sony AV Camera. I can't set the flash at the end of the exposure, this option is disabled ... why?
Funny and highly entertaining, yet also incredibly instructive and informative. Gavin and his team are absolutely stunning in what they do and deliver to us.
Beautiful images! Gavin, thanks for showing and explaining how that technique is done. You blew me away when you showed the early image that was sharp on the left and blurry on the right (LED side).
question... how to set up 2 or more flashes for this type of effect. ? this is what im thinking...use the rear curtain synch to freeze the model at the end of the movement BUT also use a flash or 2 to freeze the model in the middle of the movement... in a 3sec exposure = hit the shutter button>1sec flash>2sec flash>3sec flash shutter close.... how to synch more that one flash throughout the exposure..?
Thank you very much for your useful tutorials I want to know if we want to flash both at the beginning and at the end of the movement to freeze the image both at the beginning and at the end, what method or tool should we use? Because cameras usually do not have more than one of the two modes. Thank you Mr. Hoey.
This was very helpful for me. I was trying to capture similar movement in objects like rolling dice or playing cards but had tried stroboscopic effect using the multi-sync setting on my strobes however, this technique looks like it may be more effective. I will try this method out. I would also love to see you do a video using the multi sync setting and compare to this setup. Keep those videos coming, you provide a ton of inspiration.
Curious about a few point, Gavin. 1. How does your camera/lens focus for the final shot if very low light (modeling lamp only at model/dancer's back)? 2. Focal length used? (slides only show zoom lens 12-24mm micro 4/3rds i.e. crop factor 2). Thanks.
You frame the shot, place the model roughly where their movement will finish, near to the flash (left hand side) and focus and lock it (either use back button focus if your camera allows it or flick the switch on the lens to manual focus making sure you don’t accidentally hit the focus ring!). Now try not to move the camera too much from this position. Then the model goes to their starting position (right hand side of the frame) at which point you take the exposure. Regarding focal length - your guess is as good as mine but don’t think it’s lower then 28mm’ish 😂 BTW if your camera is having a hard time focusing due to dim light; use a small torch so you can focus. Remember you are not metering at this point as that’s all set manually.
Yes! Just use the first curtain sync as his oops in the beginning and reverse the motion. Start the pose at the flash and move toward the led. You might not like the blur between the pose and the start of the motion. If you have the olympus omd with the live capture feature you might have a little more control.
Really great piece of art!!! I just have a problem thou, cause I can't set the second curtain on my 5d Mk IV with xt16 godox trasmitter. Entering the flash menu on camera I only see the info that there is no connected device or there is something wrong with the device. When shuting normaly everything is ok, the external flashes are fireing, etc... What is that I'm doing wrong?
Long shot; have you checked you are not in full automatic or Bulb shooting modes as that’ll disable such options? It’s also worth double checking your wireless setting for the external flash is OFF. I’ve got 5D III and can set the 2nd curtain sync.
Sorry, I’m an old guy and a little slow. Again, what was your fill light and two, how did you delay your flash to the end of the shot? Thank you! Very nice captures of your model!
The fill light (on the right hand side) is a continuous one which Gavin says is 60W light. To be honest it can be any half decent continuous light provided it gives you enough light to make an exposure. Your 2nd question is related to settings on a camera. Canon calls it Second Curtain Sync and once set in the camera; the flash fires (delayed like you said) at the end of the exposure; just before the shutter closes. (Nikon calls it Rear Curtain Sync). BTW you are not slow 😂
Thank Gavin! This may be a naive question, but i want to know the focus mode and how to focus so that the subject is sharp when they finish the dance step
It's a perfectly sensible question. I gave Sophie a few pointers as to where to start, how long to make the dance move and (most useful to your question) where to end. Manual focus all the way!
@@GavinHoey Thanks for the prompt response. Does that mean that she was manually focused at the last step of her movement. And if yes, then how one can achieve that. Please don't mind but most of the photographers don't teach this important aspects of taking a photo. :)
hi thank you for the information throught your video , but please can u let us know where in the menu u can change the light of the flash (light fired comes in ) at the end of posing time (slow 2) , i have a nikon d850 but i don't find this option in my menu, thank u
It's different for every camera system. But a very quick Google of the question for your camera says... "Rear-curtain sync is set up using the camera's Flash mode button and main command dial"
I would have not put the trigger in the camera but have it fired manually with the test button at the height of the jumps , maybe try with more than one firing during the exposure, and also try with multi-strobing.
hi . thanks for your lesson . by the way is the any way I can do it with one source of light? like godox ad400 pro ? or I still needed the continues light for it
You need some ambient light to make the exposure to create the motion blur and flash to freeze it. You don’t need any fancy continuous light… eck you can create ambient light by turning on couple of your mobiles flash lights - you know what I mean ;)
Absolutely I'd give it a go. You might need to turn up the ISO and lower the LED power to keep the speedlight working at a lower power (fast flash duration)
Teaching and creating fine art pieces at the same time. You’re like a tenth degree black belt who has achieved mastery at levels of knowledge that the rest of us don’t even know exist. You really have outdone yourself with this one, Gavin.
Gavin, I was following you for long time, i like the results produced in this tutorial. I mostly use slow curtain flash feature in Nikon camera to mix ambient and flash light and it works me in still product photography, is it also work in dance, with slow curtain flash
Super shots - the Union Jack image is particularly notable! Will you be trying (or have you tried) the same thing with strobing the flash, to freeze multiple moments?
