On-location flash, use high-speed sync or an ND filter?

Saturday 22 August 2020, 14:41 by Nando Harmsen | 6,681 views | 8 comments

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

Shooting on location with a flash, known as strobist photography, can be great fun. It gives you options that aren't possible in the studio. An off-camera flash gives you the chance to make the ambient light and your flash light work together perfectly.

If you want to use a shallow depth of field, there's a good chance your surroundings will become overexposed. After all, you're tied to your flash sync speed, which is almost always around 1/200. You have two options for getting around this: high-speed sync or using ND filters.

This video from Adorama TV explains the differences in a very simple and effective way. It also shows you how to determine the exposure and set your flash. In that respect, the video is very instructive in several ways.

The conclusion is that you can use either option successfully, but high-speed sync uses a lot of flash power. This is bad for battery life and may even fail to provide enough power for a properly exposed photo.

Using filters, on the other hand, is quite laborious and only useful if you have enough time. Watch the video and decide for yourself what suits you best. The way of working and setting the exposure is educational in itself, by the way.

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About the author

Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.

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8 comments

Arthur Wittendorp wrote on Saturday 22 August 2020 at 15:55 | reply
I always prefer HSS! In my opinion, the problem with flash power can be solved by using an external battery pack for the (speedlite) flashes. With this battery pack, you can even flash at full power almost always when using HSS.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Tuesday 25 August 2020 at 09:47 | reply
@Arthur;
A battery pack is intended for faster recycling times, and more flashes per battery charge. I have never experienced that it gives you more flash power.
The principle of HHS is distributing the power over a longer flash duration, instead of the power in one small pulse of a fraction of a second. Since you cannot have the flash's power any higher than the maximum, the net power must be lower with HSS. A battery pack does not change that.
If you have documentation showing that this is different, I would be very interested in it.
Translated from Dutch.

Francis wrote on Tuesday 25 August 2020 at 15:11 | reply
From a thermodynamic point of view, both should actually be equal: the flash can deliver a certain amount of energy, and either the flash has to give x stops more because the light has to pass through the ND filter, or the flash has to release its energy over a longer period of time and therefore in smaller amounts. I think everyone may & can choose which method he/she prefers; or depending on what equipment you have.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Tuesday 25 August 2020 at 15:26 | reply
@Francis;
Both are also equal. The result is the same. You are absolutely right that with the ND filter the flash has to work harder.
From my own experience, I have noticed that as much as 60% to 75% of the power is quickly lost when using HHS. The color temperature of flash light is also often less stable with HSS, although this probably won't make any difference at all in these circumstances.
Unless there is a lot of time and space for using ND filters, HSS will remain the flash method I use most in these these cases
Translated from Dutch.

paul wrote on Wednesday 26 August 2020 at 08:28 | reply
Great, very educational! As an amateur, I have 3 Canon speedlites that I control with a Canon transmitter on my camera (do keep in mind that not all old flashes can be controlled remotely). I make a lot of use of umbrellas to distribute the flash light nicely, this way I can achieve some nice things with limited luggage without having to lug around too much weight. My only enemy is wind, umbrellas and wind don't go together.
Is this ideal? Certainly not but I have an incredible amount of fun and regularly get very nice results, which is the most important thing for my hobby.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Wednesday 26 August 2020 at 09:57 | reply
@Paul;
Great to hear how creatively you use your separate flashes. Top-notch strobist photography. Wind is indeed a bit of an issue; it has already caused me to break an umbrella once.
You can get sandbags, which you can use to weigh down a light stand. Maybe that's an option?
Translated from Dutch.

Dick wrote on Wednesday 26 August 2020 at 14:55 | reply
I don't understand why the videos are always in English now.?
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Wednesday 26 August 2020 at 15:16 | reply
@Dick;
there is simply a larger and more varied selection of English-language videos. Here on Photofacts Academy we provide Dutch-language videos, of course.
We share some of those English-language videos here, because we find them interesting subjects that we like to share.
Translated from Dutch.

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