Preping yourself for the 2 minute flash portrait. 

CORRECTION: I got one thing wrong. Doubling the distance of the flash means you’ll lose FOUR times the light, not two. Thanks for the help guys.

I didn’t realize how much more I had to learn about being effective with flash! This video is an absolute gem. I would love to see more content like this!

This is what makes a pro....knowing the equipment inside out. As always, love your teaching style. Have a great week!

It takes a ton of practice (and I’m still practicing myself) but if you remember how these 5 factors affect your ambient and flash exposure, you’ll be in total control of your lighting: Shutter speed only affects ambient light exposure. Flash power and distance only affect flash exposure. Aperture and ISO affects both flash and ambient exposure. Omar makes a great point to find a baseline setting for your flash, and memorize it. Then adjust and balance settings as needed in the real world.

1, 2, 3, that’s the most clear way to understand flash photography Omar. This will help a lot to use flash without guessing the result. Thanks for this great tip.

You’ve explained the entire flash concept in under 12 minutes. Very methodical and I like how knowing your baseline makes it easier to adjust for aperture, distance snd modifiers. 😊

hoping not to confuse the issue but there is a handy cheat on distance- it works just like the aperture series- in feet or meters. So if your flash is "4" feet from the subject, moving it to 5.6 feet is one stop less light, moving it to 2.8 feet is one stop more light and so on. If you want to get nerdy the fractions also work, you can use the entire series, in thirds assuming you can remember them:).

Hi Omar! I've been practicing indoors over and over again and I have found out having the flash power at 1/16th allows me to quickly capture a lot of cool shots all over the place without having any issue with the power recycling time! When I started practicing, I made a few mistakes with the flash power and I had to wait the power recycling, but your tips are insanely amazing and they really help me understand the logic behind these flash techniques!

This is great material. I may be off on this….so just tell me if I am. If I remember my physics correctly, intensity of light drops off as the inverse square of the distance. That means that if the light is moved from 1 meter away to 2 meters away, that the light energy / unit of area on the subject is one-quarter what it was a 1 meter way. And that translates into 2 stops difference.

I have my first time photoshoot for an event in two days, im glad i found this channel. Sir, you just save mylife

Do more like these Omar, this really helps demystify flashes which for me are a total mystery.

Thank you Omar, from across the pond here in the UK. This was a truly helpful and insightful video on the properties of light (flash) in photography and the need to practice, do dry runs and take notes. Your clear, concise explanation of this topic was wonderful; keep up this excellent work 👏

Doubling the light distance reduces power four times, that is 2 stops. Light is spread on a surface that is 4 times larger.

super Omar!

Short sweet and thorough !!! Great job !!!!

I always love your videos, Omar. This one is one of your best! Thanks so much!!

Omar, you mentioned open 1 stop when you double the distance, it should be 2 stops when distance is doubled.

One of the best tutorials on flash and portraiture found anywhere...great work. thank you.

Fantastic, Omar! Thank you! Will be coming back to this often!

Thank you so much for sharing your flash strategy. That simplifies things a lot. I usually figure out my exposure every time. I will make notes beforehand now 🤩

Thanks, Omar. This is video worthy of revisiting multiple times!

This is GREAT, thank you!

Another GEM of a video by the man himself! Thank you for this example of how to get to learn one's equipment. It makes perfect sense. All "except" how you said the light gets more "harsh" when you move the flash further away. I would think that the light has to get "softer" the further the distance from the subject, bro. I think you made a mistake there or perhaps this is why I got a bad grade in physics. 🤣😅😂

Excellent explanation!

This is super clutch!!!! Appreciate you taking the time to break this lesson down.

Thank you, this is super helpful 👍

Awsome! THANK YOU!

Great vid as per usual 👌

Thank you, Omar great tips, making simple and easy to handle all the parameters.

This was great’

Hi Omar, this is very timely. I was having an issue I didn't realize during one of my events with the flash power and your video and technique just resolved it for me! Thank you so much!! I know you don't shoot Fuji for your professional work but the Godox on Fuji just using TTL is awesome!

Super helpful to be reminded to have a baseline of 3 starting points; to practice; to figure things out in advance. Thank you again!

this video helps me a lot as a beginner... 😊

Awesome! Carry on. 👍🥂

Great video, thx!

Thank you soo much Omar!! This was the best video about flash photography at the best timing because I need this now.. I totally feel confident and can exercise more effectively 🙏

no, not confusing, Omar! This is what I have to do in my head to understand the exposure triangle and make adjustments in manual mode. And it's why I am wedded to my Fujifilm dials, because I need to see the values and manipulate them with my hands - cuz I can't hold all that in my head!

Oh man! “One” Happy New Year! “B” I loved your interview with Seth in Coffee with Creators. And “3” Thank you for this video!!!!! Lighting is the area I am learning and trying to understand at this point. This video really did help very much! I am using TTL and I am happy with the results so far, but I know they can do so much more. Thank you for a road map of what to do to find out what the flashes do and how to find out!! Also I liked the motovlog, and it did motivate me to get out more in 2024!

Sitting here watching your videos and my 18 month old was glued to the screen, then swapped to a photographer with massive hair and Daniel went, nah and walked away! 😊

very useful. Thanks

Practice, practice, practice is the only way you'll become competent using flash. I use TTL a lot during fast moving event photography ( shooting full manual with my camera ) and generally it does a good job. I'll adjust flash compensation to dial it in if I find the flash is putting out too much or not enough light. Modern triggers often have the ability to convert TTL settings to manual to maintain consistency if you want to keep your flash exposures identical across multiple frames. If time allows I do prefer to shoot the flash manually. I'm pretty decent at guessing my power setting but if I'm not sure I always start with my flash at middle power setting ( usually about 1/16th on most flashes ), I can then check the result on the lcd and adjust power up or down accordingly. I do have a couple of flashmeters which I do use on occasion but only if I can set up my lighting prior to a shoot so its dialed in perfectly before the client even arrives. No client wants to see a photographer fumbling about trying to get their flashes right, it looks unprofessional. Something you didnt touch on here was the balance of ambient to flash in the exposure. Whilst it might be desirable to have flashes being the only source of light for full control you have to take into consideration how much ambient light you want ( particularly for event and environmental portraits ). I generally control that aspect with ISO but you have to be mindful that your flash isnt too powerful even at its lowest setting in that scenario in which case all you can do is add a modifier to reduce flash output or simply move the flash further away. Ive made the mistake of taking a flash that was too overpowered before ( my Godox AD600 ) and realised I'd have been better using a normal flash instead! This is where flashes that can drop to 1/256th second power can be a life saver 😋

Nice little cheat sheet there. I was struggling on where my settings would be but with that baseline of 2.8 iso 100 and 1/16. That gives me a starting point to work from. Thank you!

Reciprocals... Yes sir! Seriously, well explained. Now practicing. Thanks Omar, also for the birdie! 😅

Merci cher ami photographe, i wish thanks you for this interesting vidéo.

BIG like ! great and simple info :)

Very helpful and very timely. I have a portrait session coming up.

Thanks so much for this. Whenever i mounted my flash in the last 20 years, I've always been using ttl with poor results and never thought that those fractions on the manual mode where stops 😅

OMG, finally a practical guide on how to use flash. Thank you very much for this. Makes so much sense now. I just got a flash. I do mostly landscapes but want to experiment with macro as well. Do these rules apply to macro?

Thanks for your share

Thanks for sharing.

Oh for me, that was as confusing as hell… but the least confusing video on flash that I have seen LOL. I’m going through/course, but I actually find this video much more helpful. Thank you so much Omar ❤

Aw cmon Omar…MATH IS HAAAARRRDDD!!!!

Great info but would you please consider making a video on how you gel your lights? Maybe a SOOC photo and how you got these images.

Thanks Omar, your style of teaching is inspiring and this will be a goldmine for many aspiring photographers. I work as a photographer myself and live by the same rules as I come from the analogue time 😆and I really enjoy your videos. I am curious to know what that gadget (you showed in the video) for holding a speedlight into a ring that fits a soft box is? I need one 😄 Cheers from Norway, Thor.

thank you

Really interesting, and you are so funny, great entertainer

Thanks

I know that venue anywhere, 466 lmao. Good stuff!!!

Good evening 😊

What is a good soft box/umbrella to get for beginners? Thanks

Totally helps. Also reinforces the value of practice to make this second nature. Question: is there any detriment to using HSS? I’m finding my base ISO and native sync speed not adequate to get a dark frame (portraits with a backdrop) for daytime shoots in my home studio (a.k.a. My living room).

Thank you for this. This explanation is exactly what I needed!!

Great Video. practice practice! luv to meet ya at shutter fest in St. Louis in 4-2024. You going?

Best explanation I’ve heard. Thank you!

What Fstop do you usually shoot group photos at....2people side by side? 8 people in two rows? 12 people in three rows? Do you have a video covering group photos and settings?

Great quick tutorial! I find glass photography sooooo hard, despite the fact that I’m pretty good at math. Love your “simple” approach!

This is good - thanks!

Excellent video and well explained

The key for me is Practice...I panic with the numbers and then make a mistake

Great Video!!

Never shoot flash all my life here, if you need flash, then your lens isn't *fast* enough. 🙂 Avialable light with natural light only.

TTL is much more easier than manual

Thanks Omar, good informative video. Could you consider doing a video on flash at an event, where you just have flash on camera. Thanks

Honestly, this is one of your best videos... you always have great videos but many times they are very gear brand related... as a side note, when I did school portraits for a national school company we used paracord string cut in a 6' and 3' section for quick placement of the light stands...

Great video as always Omar. Very well explained. The other big tip with flash is...use shutter speed to balance (or overpower) the ambient light.

Awesome job. Enjoyed the video.

This is brilliant! One of those cases where, yeah, I kind of knew it, but I needed someone to step me through in practical terms. Onwards and upwards from here! 😂

Did I know all this? … I believe so … but have I practiced it??? NO. Just like an athlete, I need to practice if I want to get better.

Fantastic, appreciate these types of videos! Thank you Omar.