Portraits with shallow DoF & high-speed sync flash
High-speed flash sync (HSS) has two primary uses - being able to get to a fast enough shutter speed to stop action, and for shallow depth-of-field. Other than that, I rarely stray higher than max flash sync speed. So for me, it is a conscious decision to go to HSS. Or not.
For these playful portraits of my friends, Irene and Michael, I wanted to use the shallow depth-of-field with specific intent. Irene and Michael are at the core of a performance group called the Modern Gypsies. Their official website: Modern Gypsies Read more inside...
High-speed flash sync / auto FP .. vs .. normal flash
There have been a number of questions about high-speed flash sync (HSS), and how it affects the output from your flash. There were also some questions asked about high-speed flash sync with this recent post where we tried to reverse-engineer a photo.
I decided to do a series of comparison photos, so we can actually see what happens before, at and beyond maximum flash sync speed. And we can also see what happens with high-speed flash sync. To do this, I set up very simple portrait lighting using a single speedlight and a large Read more inside...
using neutral density (ND) filters with flash to control depth of field
Working in bright light, the limitation of having a maximum flash sync speed forces a small aperture on us. That small aperture means more depth of field than we might like.
There are two ways to force a high shutter speed / wide aperture combination:
- go to high speed sync (HSS) mode.
- use a neutral density (ND) filter.
Using HSS dramatically cuts down our power of our flash, so if we're working in very bright light, we might be past the edge of what our flash is capable of. Then we need to bring it Read more inside...
