In this article I’m going to reveal my top 5 tips for boudoir lighting when using flash.
And further down I throw in a bonus tip where I’ll explain how to use a flash trigger that’s not compatible with your camera to still fire your flash.
Okay let’s do this!
My top five tips for boudoir lighting when using flash…
#1 — Set Your Camera Settings First, Then Adjust The Power On Your Flash
The reason behind this is simple.
We’ve got four variables that can be adjusted when we’re trying to set the proper light level with our flash — they are, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and the power level on our flash.
We’re going to reduce the number of those variables to just one. The power level on our flash.
So, we want to set our camera settings first, and those aren’t going to change, because that’s going to determine the look we want to get.
For example, I shoot a lot of wide environmental type shots so I set my aperture to 7.1 for a deeper depth of field, my ISO at 320, so my flash doesn’t have to work so hard, and my shutter speed at 1/200th of a second to knock out the ambient light.
Now, I take a test shot.
If there’s not enough light I just increase the power on my flash. If there’s too much light, I lower the power on my flash.
This keeps things real simple when setting your light level because now you’re only adjusting one thing, the power level of your flash.
#2 — Increase Your Shutter Speed To Reduce Camera Shake
If you’re shooting hand-held, you want to have a shutter speed that’s right at sync speed, which will be around 1/200th of a second for most cameras. This will help you get sharper images when shooting hand-held and cut down on blur.
#3 — Increase Your Shutter Speed To Reduce The Ambient Light
When we’re shooting with flash, we’re really creating our own light by overpowering any existing ambient light in the room.
So, by increasing our shutter speed we’re getting more of the light we want, if not all of the light we want from our flash, and less of the light we don’t want from the ambient.
Now there is an exception to this and that is if you’re mixing natural light with your flash, but that’s a different scenario altogether.
#4 — Use Your Strobe’s Modeling Light To Help Set The Placement Of Your Flash
If your strobe has a modeling light, you can turn it on and walk around with it in your hand and point it at your subject to see in real time how the light is being cast on your subject.
Then, when you’ve found just the right spot, put it on a light stand, turn the modeling light off, switch to your flash mode and you’re good to go with your flash.
#5 — You Don’t Need To Buy An Expensive Speedlight Or Strobe To Get Amazing Results
There are plenty of third parties that make speedlights that will work just fine with whatever camera you have and save you a lot of money.
And if you’re looking for a really nice strobe that won’t break the bank, check out the Godox AD200 Pro, which is all the power you’ll need when shooting boudoir. The AD200 is almost a hybrid of a speedlight and strobe and is the perfect flash for shooting boudoir.
Okay, now for my bonus tip!
Bonus Tip — How To Use Off Brand Flash Triggers With Your Camera
Did you know you can take a flash trigger made for one camera brand and use it with another camera brand?
That’s right!
That means you can use a Canon trigger on a Nikon camera, a Fuji trigger on a Panasonic camera, a Nikon trigger on a Canon camera, and on and on (except Sony).
That’s because the firing pin on flash triggers from all brands (except Sony) are in the exact same spot and align with the firing contact point on the hotshoe of all camera brands (except Sony).
However, the other pins, the ones that communicate HSS (high speed sync) and TTL (through the lens) will not align with different brands.
Hey, 1 out of 3 ain’t bad, especially since you’re using a flash trigger made for one camera brand and it works in all the others as well.
This is good to know because if you ever forget your trigger or it malfunctions during a shoot, if someone has a trigger that’s not compatible with your camera, you can still use it to fire the flash.
The reason Sony cameras and flash triggers don’t cross pollinate with other brands is because the firing pin and contact point on their triggers and hotshoes are in different places than the standardized spots all the other brands use.
If you’re interested in learning more about lighting for boudoir both with natural light and flash, check out my ebook, Boudoir Lighting Guide.
Thanks for your time!
Charles Mitri