A gallery full of example shots and a cheat-sheet to take you through the basics of balancing ambient light with flash.

Available light is great. It’s my friend and I love shooting to get the best out of what light is there before I ever start introducing artificial light into the equation. When I started working with Irwin, I began to get a lot more out of using my strobes and we have had some great workshops with students where we have explored some of what you can do when you start mixing up the light that’s there with the lighst you bring in your bag.

This article is not meant to be a warts-and-all workshop on how to use flash but more of an intro to what is possible, illustrated with a gallery of shots from us and our students. And, to tempt you into coming along to one of our studio or location workshops.

Before I get to the gallery, here are one or two great shots which I want to single-out as being perfect examples of what you can do with one portable flash:

Akiko: shot by Marie Wintzer down at our workshop on the Sumida River a few weeks ago. Lovely background exposure and one flash placed at camera left to pick out the model against the sky.

Hunter: this was shot by Yim on her first flash workshop. A nice bit of imagination in the pose, bit of drama in the background and just a fun shot. All achieved with one portable flash.

Download our PDF flash cheat-sheet here [614Kb PDF]. If you need or want a higher-resolution version of this sheet, email alfie[atmark]japanorama.co.uk

Here’s a gallery of more shots, by myself, Irwin and our students: all achieved with simple lighting set-ups.

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To enquire about joining one of our forthcoming flash workshops, drop us a line via our contact page or email alfie[atmark]japanorama.co.uk

Useful links:

• Nikon’s Creative Lighting System
• Canon flash-user’s guide
• Strobist.com
• Map Camera – some great deals on used flash-gear