Welcome back to Small Flash (blog). Let's jump right into something that can be very useful for your photography. Snoot flash. A snoot is a tube-like accessory that you place over your flash unit to restrict the light to a very specific area. It is a very controlled light source. Think of it as your little spot-light of creativity. You can make your own snoot very easily or purchase one to fit your needs.I will show some examples of different snoots in my next blog.
Why use a snoot? The main reason I use a snoot is to place emphasis on a certain area of the subject and to block off areas that are not interesting in or around the photograph. Once you start using a snoot it becomes habit forming. It is really interesting and fun to see the results of shooting with a snoot.
Off camera flash will give you the best results. Putting the snoot away from you camera will give you ultimate control of your light. Your will be able to achieve much better results by setting up your flash in this manner. You can hand hold the flash/snoot or place the flash/snoot on a light stand. You could also lay the flash/snoot on the floor and point it at the subject for a nice look or just use a "voice activated light stand" (a friend) to hold the flash/snoot.
Below is an example of shooting with a snoot with an off camera flash. (Lacey was my model for this shot and she was very cooperative.) I shot this with the flash set on manual at a very low power setting. The camera is also set on manual to f/ll @ 1/250. The flash was triggered by a slave and another on-camera flash was pointing toward the slave to act as the "trigger" for the snooted flash.
Photography by Stephen H Causey - copyright 2012
Aim the snoot carefully and perhaps shoot several images while concentrating on the beam of light coming from the snoot. It may be necessary to make slight corrections to insure the light falls where you want it to.
This image has absolutely no adjustments or touch-ups made to it. It is straight out of the camera. That is one of the great things about shooting with a snoot. It looks like you post-processed the image in photoshop, aperture or some other photo-friendly program. You may still want to adjust some minor areas of the photograph but if you expose correctly and aim the snoot correctly your results are going to be fantastic to start off with.
The snooted flash is on the left and I laid on the floor to photograph my dog "Lacey". Notice the reflection you can get by keeping your flash/snoot very low to the subject.
Give this method of light control a try and you will be hooked on the results.
Until next time......Stephen H Causey
No comments:
Post a Comment