Flash photography tip: Using flash at faster shutter speeds

Friday 21 March 2025, 15:30 by Elja Trum | 2,581 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Want to take flash photos with a faster shutter speed than your camera's flash synchronisation speed? Use your flash's High Speed Sync feature.

Isabelle - f/2.8, 1/1.000s, 160 ISO @ 50mm
At a higher shutter speed, the shutter moves across your sensor like a slit. The first curtain opens to expose your sensor, but the second curtain follows directly behind it to cover the sensor again.

If you used flash at a faster shutter speed, only part of the image would be lit by the flash.

With high-speed sync, your flash does not fire just once to expose your sensor, but several times in rapid succession. Each time, part of the sensor is exposed, eventually producing a properly exposed photo.

One disadvantage of high-speed sync is that it uses more power and that the maximum output of your flash is lower, roughly one stop less powerful.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about Photofacts

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