The Canon Magazine 17
SHOOT WITH A PRO
MAX FLASH SYNC SPEED
ALTHOUGH THE fastest shutter speed on your camera is
likely to be around 1/4000 or 1/8000 sec, you can usually
only shoot as fast as 1/200 sec when using flash, as this is
the maximum sync speed with many cameras and flash
setups. Your camera has to synchronize the flash
firing with the shutter curtains being fully open.
If the flash fires when the shutter curtains aren’t
fully open you’ll get a dark band across your picture
(see bottom right) and this is what happens when
the shutter speed is set too fast. High-speed sync
options are available to get around this if needed.TOP GEAR #
Sturdy studio tripod
NATASHA POSITIONS her tripod in
the studio where she thinks it will work
best for the shot, though the
photographer can always suggest
moving it or making it higher or lower
to change the perspective. She uses a
sturdy Manfrotto 190X aluminium
tripod, as well as a 3-way head that
allows her to get precise control of the
framing on the X, Y and Z axis.NOW TURN THE
PAGE TO SEE THE
SHOT OF THE DAY!
EXPERT INSIGHT
MONO IN-CAMERA PICTURE STYLE
THE MINIMAL lighting for this shot was well suited to black and
white. To see what the image would look like as a black and white
image in real time on Yemi’s screen, Natasha set the Picture Mode
of her Canon EOS 90D to Monochrome. This removes colour from
the shot providing you with a greyscale image on the Live View and
you can tweak the contrast too. Because Natasha shot in Raw she
could edit the colour images into mono during post, though if you
shoot in JPEG you’ll lose the colour data and will remain mono.YEMI’S COMMENT
For this setup we tried some low-key black and white
portraits. Two strip boxes were positioned to her left and
right to side light her and leave the background nice and dark. This
setup is superb for bringing out subtle muscle definition in the body
and creating a striking rim lighting all the way around her profile.Natasha initially posed with her arms above her head, but I noticed her arm was in front
of her head, stopping the flash from illuminating her face, so I asked her
to try a different pose and we were able to get this great portrait here.
TOP GEAR #
Portable flash heads
NATASHA HAS four
Pixapro Citi600 flash heads
in her studio to help her
control and fine-tune the
lighting in certain parts of a
photographs frame. These
are all battery powered,
meaning there’s no cables
to trip over in the studio and they’re easy to
move around when need be – their portability
makes them ideal for working on location too.
Natasha uses a Pixapro 2.4GHz PRO AC trigger
on her Canon camera to change the power
settings without having to arduously go over to
each flash heads and dial these in manually.