Outdoor portrait using a flash

9 years 6 months ago #410994 by Sean Lamber
I just got my first off camera flash, it's a Nissin Di 866.  I'm working on trying to make better outdoor portraits and not exactly sure how to use this.  I have read that you don't want to have the flash on top of the camera.  Which means I need to set this up away from the camera.

Does the distance away from the camera matter?
Is it better to connect the flash to camera with wire cable or wireless?


Thank you for any help you can give. 


Sean


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9 years 6 months ago #411010 by Ian Stone
Get your flash at least a good 2-3 feet from your camera, this really depends on what effect you are after.  Wire connection will give you 100% fire rate, some triggers don't have such a good success rate


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9 years 6 months ago - 9 years 6 months ago #411011 by KCook
Some glamour setups do call for on-axis lighting.  If the flash is being used only for a little fill effect, then placement is not so critical.

A sync cord works well with the flash on a flash bracket.  So the flash is still pretty close to the camera.  But for much distance, wireless RF triggering is a lot more handy.  RF triggers can be low budget if you only want to trigger, no TTL games.  My RF trigger is dirt cheap.  It does misfire once in a while, but not very often.  Still far, far more reliable than optical triggering.

Links for lots of info -

www.photographytalk.com/forum/tips-and-t...lighting-on-location

www.photographytalk.com/forum/beginner-p...or-outdoor-portraits

www.photographytalk.com/forum/photograph...le-shooting-outdoors

www.photographytalk.com/forum/photograph...-flash-who-uses-them

www.photographytalk.com/forum/lighting-a...-ettl-flash-triggers

strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101-light-stands.html

Kelly Cook

Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/

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9 years 6 months ago #411059 by EOS_Fan
Can I recommend a Rogue flash bender to you?  Awesome tool to have


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9 years 6 months ago #412440 by Sean Lamber
Thank you for all the information, so helpful!


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