Flash photography tip: Freeze movement with your flash

Thursday 5 June 2025, 20:02 by Elja Trum | 2,820 views | 0 comments

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

You can use your flash very well to freeze movement. The light pulse from speedlights is particularly short. This allows you to freeze movement very effectively. Contrary to what you might expect, the light pulse is even shorter when your flash is set to a lower power.

Eva Maria - f/9, 1/160s, 1000 ISO @ 35mm
The shutter speed is of secondary importance here. You might think that your camera needs to be set to 1/2000th to freeze movement. However, 1/200th works just as well.

It is the light pulse that freezes the movement, not the shutter speed. In bright ambient light, a slower shutter speed can still cause movement in your image.

You can of course use freezing movement to freeze, for example, a jumping model, but it can also be fun to use the short flash duration to freeze water or powder in the air, for example.

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