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I’m happy to announce that my book on flash photography techniques for on-camera speedlights is now available. The book is based on the articles published on this website, but the material has been fleshed out into a cohesive and thorough approach to getting the best from your on-camera speedlight. Particular care was taken to present it all with a logical flow with the intention that it will all progressively help the reader attain a better understanding of flash photography. |
You can either purchase a copy via the Amazon link here, or alternately,
if you’d like an autographed copy of the book, you can order one directly
from me via the link below.
Shipping and packaging is included in the price.
Please select the correct region when ordering.
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Corrections:
I would like to correct a few errors in my book on flash photography.
( t seems no matter how many times work is cross-checked, mistakes do slip by.)
1. On p.107 – plate 14-14 .. the camera settings are incorrectly given. (They are correct in the actual text on p. 106). The correct description for plate 14-14 (p.107) should read:
Adjusting my camera settings, I droped the ambient light and left the couple illuminated mostly by flash. Settings: 1/250th @ f2 @ 320 ISO
2. The image on p.71 (plate 10-13) has a slight error. It says that I bounced the flash to my right .. but as should be clear from the photograph, I did indeed bounce the flash to my left. (I have a life-long tendency to confuse left and right when I give directions or descriptions, and it unfortuntely creeped in there as a typo with that image.)


Neil…Big fan of your site, wish I had time to keep mine up. Love your book though. I actually was waiting for it to come out and was pleasantly surprised. Never thought of metering with the histogram for flash, nice tip. Keep up the good work.
Comment by David Gould — October 31, 2009 @ 6:30 pm
Neil,
I bought your book two days ago and I’m almost finished. Let me tell you I loved the book. I think I’ll will began reading it again to pick up what I have missed the first time. Thank you!!!
HC
Comment by Hector Castillo — November 2, 2009 @ 8:26 pm
Ordered and received mine last week. Excellent read. Nice reading from cover to cover and then referring back when something niggles.
I saw some errata somewhere on your site but can’t find it now. Can you please let me know where to find it?
Comment by Etienne Bester — November 3, 2009 @ 6:30 am
Nevermind…saw it when I scrolled back up. So much for situational awareness!
Comment by Etienne Bester — November 3, 2009 @ 6:31 am
Decided to support a hardworking photog who contributes much of his knowledge to the public – not to mention needing a good book on this subject! Looking forward to many details so often left out of many publications. Are you listening Joe?
Comment by Brian Patterson — November 11, 2009 @ 10:47 pm
Great book, highly recommended!
Comment by Markus Linke — November 23, 2009 @ 4:27 am
Hi Neil,
I am a big fan of your web site in which I find lots of intersting tips and technics that help me a lot in my work. Before finding your tangents I barely used flash.
I don(t know if there’s many of your book in France but I have one and I love it.
Seb
Comment by Sebastien Lamadon — December 8, 2009 @ 6:05 am
Great stuff, man. Always nice to see the work of a peer. You should add buttons to the bottom of your posts to digg, stumble, etc your content.-Tom
Comment by Tom @ Leica Camera Source — December 8, 2009 @ 7:08 pm
Comment by Neil — December 8, 2009 @ 11:48 pm
Neil,
The simplest way to get all those social bookmarking links in is to use something like AddThis. (free service)
http://www.addthis.com/
It generates some HTML/Javascript that can be inserted into a website, WordPress, Blogger, or MySpace. It carries all the major social bookmarking websites, including a few you might not have heard about. A lot of commercial websites are using this service, so AddThis is an accepted technology.
Your web designer should look into AddThis. It will be easier than setting up the links/buttons manually.
(I’m not affiliated with AddThis, but we do use it at my workplace to support our websites.)
Comment by Stephen — December 9, 2009 @ 11:55 am
Comment by Neil — December 9, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
Hi Neil
I’ve been following your site for sometime now and throughout I’ve had a suspicion that you have a South African connection. Seeing the Madiba photographs added to my suspicion, which has finally been confirmed by the Bio in your book. I’m interested in buying your book preferable one with an autographed. Could you please tell me if there is a way for the book to be sent to Pretoria and how much it would cost.
Comment by Thabiso — December 16, 2009 @ 6:02 am
Comment by Neil — December 16, 2009 @ 5:37 pm
Neil, I have read your book which I buy on Amazon and the only thing I ask is when your next book will come, “of camera flash” which I am sure I will enjoy as much as the first.
I’m from Dominican Republic.
Comment by Alfredo Medina — December 16, 2009 @ 10:10 pm
Comment by Neil — December 16, 2009 @ 11:02 pm
Got your book from Amazon and just finished reading it last night. A veritable treasury of knowledge about flash photography. As I read the book, I could visualize photos I had taken over the years and knew now how I could improved them.
I will have to read it again to absorb the lessons until I do all this without thinking. Thank you.
Rajoo.
Comment by rajoo — December 17, 2009 @ 5:10 pm
Neil–I was referred to your Web site as an excellent resource for understanding and effectively using TTL metering techniques with ambient light. The site’s show-and-tell teaching style is very practical and straightforward, with immediately actionable tips and techniques based in practice, not just theory. After working through the TTL pages only, I ordered your book. Thanks for publishing great content online and, better, thanks for bundling it up into a purchasable volume. Cheers! Will
Comment by Will — December 30, 2009 @ 8:55 pm
Got your book today, first impression is great!
Thanks for your little note, much appreciated.
When your next book is ready (off camera flash)
i will buy that one immediately. Happy New Year
and all the best. Greetz! Twan
Comment by Twan — December 31, 2009 @ 9:24 pm
Comment by Neil — January 2, 2010 @ 6:49 am
Hi Neil,
Can I get a an electronic download of the book
Comment by Harinder — January 8, 2010 @ 6:11 am
Comment by Neil — January 8, 2010 @ 10:00 am
Ordered your book today in The Netherlands, will receive it in 5 to 7 days. Looks to me as a very usefull book to master my on-cam flash
Comment by Rob — January 12, 2010 @ 10:34 am
Please, let me know when the electronic download of the book is available.
Comment by Marius Augustin Popa — January 29, 2010 @ 3:50 pm
[...] flash photography book [...]
Pingback by wedding photography – and some homework .. « planet neil – tangents — February 3, 2010 @ 7:05 am
Neil
I’m just finiahed your book and it has helped me enormously. I am not ashamed to admit I was a 45 deg omnibouncer but now I’m boucing it all over the place and getting much better results. I do look strange wandering the streets of Oxford (UK) with a large piece of black foam attached to my flash though! ;-)
(I left a glowing review on Amazon as I think so many would benefit from your book – do you intend to write any more?)
Giles.
Comment by Giles — March 12, 2010 @ 4:06 am
Comment by Neil vN — March 12, 2010 @ 4:46 am
Neil
Glad to hear about the new book in progress – I’ll watch out for it next year.
Your book talks about flash synch speed and my D300 has an option for 1/320 (auto FP) but when I set this and have the shutter at 1/320 (manual mode) I get reduced power from the 1/250 shutter speed. I’m using an sb-900. I have had to set the d300 to 1/250 (auto FP) and this works fine at 1/250 shutter speed. Am I doing something wrong?
Cheers
Giles.
Comment by Giles — March 13, 2010 @ 10:08 am
Comment by Neil vN — March 13, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
I read your book, and I am using it as a bible!
EVERYTHING makes so much more sense after I read your stuff!!!
THANKYOU!
Comment by Isobel Q. — March 30, 2010 @ 9:27 am
I downloaded the book thru Kindle Store today . Not started reading yet and just glanced thru . I am sure its going to be a life time experience going thru all the practical examples but one thing which is disturbing is that the quality of photographs on the kindle edition is bad . These are not clear .
Comment by Harinder — April 20, 2010 @ 8:40 am
Yeh I downloaded it from Amazon last night and shame about the photo’s being poor, I guess the kindle thing is poor resolution? I use a app on mac to view the book just wish I bought the book now. That said it is so far a fantastic read and easy to follow. I have bin following this site for a few months now and is up there with my fav sites too follow.
Keep the great post’s coming and look forward to the next book
Jay
Comment by jay — April 22, 2010 @ 5:01 am
Neil
Merci, Thank YOU. Your book is just great. As a French guy I had a bit of hard time reading it in english but now I am part of the black foam Ninja French Team :).
Before I did not know how to use my 580EXII. And now I am training myself all the time with it. Your book is THE book for on-flash camera photography :).
Michael
Comment by Michael — April 22, 2010 @ 8:09 am
I lurk on your blog regularly and learn as much as I can, or reaffirm things I’m doing with lighting. I bought the book, if you read blogs like this you should support the content creators in what ever way make scenes. Good luck with the book.
Comment by Brian — April 22, 2010 @ 4:35 pm
Neil
At first I thought the book was simply a collection of your blogs, as many of the images and lessons in the book have appeared on this site. However, it is much more than that. As a pro, I am not in the habit of spending my hard-earned cash (very hard-earned in some cases) on yet another how-to manual, so it needed to be special to get me to buy. It needed to be even more special for me to actually start using the techniques. It worked on both levels.
So, even though you struggle to tell left from right, congratulations on a spectacular success….
Comment by Nick — April 27, 2010 @ 3:21 pm
Comment by Neil vN — April 27, 2010 @ 4:29 pm
Neil, reading your book at the moment! Thanks for the clear explanations!! Discovered a small typo on page 13: if a flash bracket is used the battery pack can be screwed onto the onto the vertical pillar. This might be added to the list of typos if you wish.
Comment by Karla De Smedt — July 4, 2010 @ 11:32 am
Hi Neil,
Greetings from downunder(Adelaide)!! Found your book really, really useful. I am astonished by the quality of light you get using on-camera flash bounce appropriately. I am also very happy that you share your personal experience and settings with your public through the website and your book. There is a lot for me to internalise and practice from reading your book, but I am very keen to begin practising your techniques because it will eventually free me up from carrying too much gear on location shoots; indoor or out.
Thanks once again for an engrossing read, and I look forward to your upcoming book on off-camera flash. Any firm timelines yet for publicaton???
Alan
Comment by Alan Meyer — July 11, 2010 @ 10:31 pm
Hi, Neil
Hi from Tokyo, Japan!
I got a copy of your flash photography book about a week ago and have kept reading it again and again since then. It does help me understand more and more about using ceiling bounced flash light effecively and controlling it as I want, and I am sure that it adds more spice on my wedding work.
Thank you for sharing your techniques, experience and useful tips through the book. I’m also looking forward to your next book, and please let us know when it comes out!!
Shig-
Comment by Shig T — July 12, 2010 @ 6:27 am
Hello Neil
I got your book few months ago and iam reffering it almost everyday. well on page 38 i saw following
1) When the scene/Subject is light in tone,you will increse the Exposure
2) when the scene/Subject is dark in tone you will decrease the exposure
and its stated under the section of Flash exposure compensation. my question is are you talking about the FEC or Total Exposure compensation on Camera body? if i understood it correctly its about FEC .is the Darker objuct less Exposure compensation & Lighter objuct more exposure compensation rule is applicable for FEC too?
and on Page 39 on the Table # 4 Wheather the Subject is offcenter or centered in the frame… How does the TTL/BL flash effect the subject if its centered or offcentered?
Thanks
Anoop
Comment by Anoop Nair — July 25, 2010 @ 3:52 am
Comment by Neil vN — July 31, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
Hello Neil,
Your blog rules and it has changed the way I use my flash! Thanks for being so totally cool and sharing this valuable info with the whole world.
I bought your book on Amazon.co.uk and I posted a well meant positive review, I think that’s the least I could do :-)
Kind regards,
William
Comment by William Krusche — August 1, 2010 @ 5:04 pm
Comment by Neil vN — August 4, 2010 @ 4:04 am
Neil
Thanks …so the Bottom line is the FEC on Flash itself need to bump up 2-3 stops if the Subjuct is lighter in tone and – 2 to3 stops if the Subjuct is darker in tone. and of couse i know this is applicable for Exposure compensation on camera body also am i correct?
Thanks
Anoop
Comment by Anoop Nair — August 4, 2010 @ 8:41 am
Comment by Neil vN — August 4, 2010 @ 11:27 am
Hello,
I am wondering if your book is for beginners? Manual flash versus TTL flash continues to mystify me.
Thanks.
Comment by Wendy — August 12, 2010 @ 9:49 pm
Comment by Neil vN — August 12, 2010 @ 10:04 pm
I have a question about your settings when combining ambient light.
In your shot on page 71. The wedding couple at the table in front of a large window.(photo plate 10.13) Your settings are 1/60 f4 iso 1250 and +2.3 on Flash. The ambient light appears to be f16 1/125 ISO 100.
Because I am having trouble conceiving how bright ambient light wont blow out at such a setting I tried it. i am not having much luck in getting detail. Its blown out. Is there something I am missing? Does the increase in Flash Exp have something to do with it? I can’t seem to get past this?
Thank you for putting together such a wonderful array of learning material for us to learn from. Its greatly appreciated.
Comment by Barbara — August 20, 2010 @ 4:07 pm
Comment by Neil vN — August 20, 2010 @ 4:11 pm
Hi Neil,
Actually I did know the shutter was 1/160. That was my typo.
Explaining that it was overcast outside does help.
Still having a little trouble with the high ISO but I will keep practicing.
Your book is the best I have read. Thank you for your quick reply!
Comment by Barbara — August 21, 2010 @ 1:20 am
Hi Neil,so far you’ve got 59 out of 68 comments that give you 5 stars feedback at Amazon.Congratulations!.I do really look forward for your next book.
P.S.: of course,one of these 5 starts is mine :)
Comment by Gorka — August 27, 2010 @ 2:35 am