Harvey

[Manfred M]

Despite being an amateur photographer for 40 years I had never understood flash use except to brighten a dark shot (on camera). Two years ago I made it my mission to learn and there is whole different world of possibilities. I love it, but like everything in life, so much to learn.

Until about eight years ago, one could have said exactly the same thing about my photography. I used flash primarily to add light in situations where the scene was too dark or in cases where there were too many hard shadows. I took a some flash and studio lighting courses at a local community college and that totally changed by views on flash photography. I invested in some studio lights and modifiers for use at home and started to ramp up my approach and experience using both small flash, studio flash and even natural light photography (where I will supplement the natural light with reflectors and scrims (diffusers)).

There are times now where I shoot almost exclusively with small flash and studio lights; both indoors and outdoors. My small flash lighting tends to be either bounced light or some light weight portable off-camera lighting. I only use direct on-camera lighting when the other techniques will not work.

Here is my newest light modifier I picked up this week; a 50cm / 20 inch globe that I plan to use to emulate outdoor street lighting in outdoor and studio shots.