How To Shoot A Mirrorless Camera Wirh Strobes

ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY

Elevate your activity photography with Speedlite flashes

A simple flash of light from a Canon Speedlite can open a whole earth of innovative action photography techniques. Detect out how to become the well-nigh out of this handy piece of kit.

Wink photography may seem daunting, but in essence a flash is a very simple piece of kit. Its purpose is to lift parts of your paradigm with a pop of light at precisely the right moment. Sometimes this might be necessary due to dark conditions, but at other times you lot can use flash in combination with ambience calorie-free to achieve a distinctive look. A unmarried Speedlite flash opens up all kinds of creative options, especially with action and sports photography. You can choose to freeze the activity, shoot for motion blur, or capture both in a single frame.

Whether yous're new to wink or are looking for fresh ways to expand your creative lighting techniques, here are a few tips on how to use a Speedlite for jaw-dropping activeness sports photography.

ane. Freeze action with high-speed sync

A man in standing at the top of a skate ramp photographing a skateboarder.

To shoot in High Speed Sync (HSS) mode, press the sync push button on your Speedlite until it displays the H symbol, then increase your shutter speed to freeze fast-moving subjects.

A man in dark clothes and a hat in the midst of a skateboard stunt, leaning back at a sheer angle at the top of a ramp.

Many cameras are limited to a max shutter speed of 1/200 sec when using a wink, which can be too slow to freeze fast-moving subjects. However, if your camera and flash are uniform, like the Canon EOS RP and Canon Speedlite 600EX Two-RT used here, you lot tin can shoot in high-speed sync mode (HSS). This opens up much faster shutter speeds.

For shooting people walking effectually, a shutter speed of one/250 sec is fast enough, whereas one/1000 sec is meliorate if your field of study is moving a fleck quicker, like a runner or a skateboarder, to capture the action blur-costless. The trade off with HSS mode is that the flash has to fire a series of imperceptibly quick pulses to coincide with the two defunction of our camera'southward shutter, significant the maximum power of the flash decreases equally you increase the shutter speed. Nevertheless, when y'all want to lite your subject field while shooting action photos, HSS tin be invaluable.

two. Add depth with off-camera flash

A skateboarder performing a trick, lit by a Speedlite flash on a tripod, in front of a graffitied wall.

Utilize a flash to light your field of study from whatever angle, such as side or back-lighting, this tin add depth to your images and appear more interesting than flat frontal light you go from an on-photographic camera wink.

A skateboarder performing a trick in front of a graffitied wall.

3. Underexpose ambient calorie-free to make your discipline stand up out

A man photographing a woman performing a skateboard trick, her board upside down in the shot as she jumps.

Underexposing ambient light creates a night and moody atmosphere, significant your subject will announced bold when lit by a Speedlite.

A woman skateboarding, captured frozen in mid-air, her board flipping beneath her.

When combining wink with daylight, you tin can experiment with the ratio between 2 light sources. For case, y'all could intentionally underexpose the daylit environment and apply the flash to expose and isolate our bailiwick. To attain this, leave the wink off to begin with and work out a manual exposure that underexposes the ambient lite and so it's nighttime and moody. Then turn on the flash and set it to manual power.

Accept a couple of exam shots to piece of work out the correct output for your scene. To overpower bright daylight like this nosotros need a loftier output, so start with your flash at 1/one full ability, then dial it down if information technology looks besides stiff. Too as irresolute the output we can likewise accommodate the strength of the light past moving it closer or further from our bailiwick. Used similar this, our Speedlite allows us to create an atmospheric pocket of calorie-free effectually the subject.

4. Prepare your flash to rear mantle sync to add trails

A Speedlite being set to a one second exposure.

Rear Curtain flash is a mode that means the wink fires at the cease of the exposure, or at the rear curtain. Hither the flash is being set to fire at the finish of a one second exposure.

When firing a wink during a long exposure, you can create a dynamic blend of blurriness and sharpness. The motion through the frame creates the blur, while the short outburst of flash freezes the subject at a split up-second moment inside your exposure. You tin cull whether the flash fires at the very beginning or cease of the exposure. It's normally best to set the flash to rear curtain manner so that it fires at the end. This manner the blur creates a trail behind your subject. To use rear pall mode, press the sync push button on your Canon Speedlite until it displays the three arrow icon.

five. Use a flash for your panning shots to brand your subject field precipitous

Panning the photographic camera with your subject tin event in a wonderful combination of blur and sharpness. Time it right and the bailiwick will be sharp while everything else streaks into blur. Panning can be done without a flash, simply adding i in makes the bailiwick sharper and more defined. Gear up the wink to rear curtain sync style, then utilize shutter priority mode and prepare the shutter speed to effectually ane/xxx sec (or quicker for fast-moving subjects like cars). When you're ready, pan the camera with the action. It may take a few attempts to become the subject precipitous, but it's worth the endeavour for the sense of speed and motility you can create.

6. Pulse your flash to create a blended image

A Speedlite flash being set to MULTI mode.

In MULTI manner nosotros can set the number of pulses and the per-second frequency (Hz). Dissever the number of pulses by the frequency to work out an ideal shutter speed.

A long exposure shot using a pulsing flash of a skateboarder doing a trick.

Using MULTI manner opens up a world of creative ideas for your action photography, making abstract blended images like this.

MULTI manner is a creative Speedlite setting that fires a rapid succession of pulses. When used in combination with a long exposure you tin can capture your subject in several positions effectually the frame. The challenge here is that – much like a double exposure – the lighter areas volition overlap and alloy with one some other. So it'south best to shoot your subject against a dark backdrop or at nighttime, and capture them moving from one side to the other.

Once you lot've mastered these techniques, why non find more than inspiration from professional adrenaline sports photographer and Canon Ambassador Lorenz Holder as he takes us through his top tips^ane for using flash for action photography, or follow professional person action photographer, Dave Mackison shooting with the Speedlite EL-1².

Written by James Paterson