DIY Textured Painted Backdrop

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PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

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I’m sure we’ve all used the white background of a studio before. Who hasn't? But there are times when we want a white background, but we don’t necessarily want it to look like a studio. Here I show you how I quickly (ish) and cheaply made a white, textured backdrop.

I’ll jump straight into this one as there’s nothing technical to cover before we start.

I was recently asked to do a shoot for a hair salon. They have shown me example ideas on a moodboard with a white background, but many of the examples were not shot in a photo studio. Turned out they preferred a more organic, textured backdrop over a stark, e-commerce-looking shot.

Pretty standard so far, and I’m starting to see a lot more of these requests crop up as people are being put off by the somewhat stark, clinical and often overly commercial-looking shots we can see online.

Ideally, we’d find a cool location that had a more rustic and organic backdrop, but as with many hair campaigns, you often have to shoot in the salon as the hairstylists need all their tools on hand to prep the hair.

So, with a location shoot off the table, the next best thing is to bring a textured background to the salon. This is where I set out to look at some alternatives.

Although I’m sure many of you are immediately thinking of a multitude of ways to add texture to a background, I did have one major issue to contend with: I had to bring the backdrop to the salon. So yes, although elements like polyfiller, plaster, joint compound, or any other soft putty-like substance that dries rock hard sound perfect… I can’t roll that up and through it in the back of the car.

The Textured Backdrop - Rollable Edition

So yes, sadly, as much as I wanted to throw putty at a wall and paint it white, I needed to find a far milder alternative that I knew I could actually roll up and move. Of course, the most obvious solution was paint, but even then, I was wary of thick paint cracking and falling apart when dry and rolled up.

That said, I thought I should be okay with thick masonry paint at least, so I opted for this one.

‘Textured Masonry Paint’ I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of this, but be sure to get the ‘brilliant white’ version. Be wary of getting any off-white paint for this, as the odd cream colour under harsh light will play havoc with any white balance you try to do.

My thinking was that the paint would be thick (it even had’ textured’ in the name - more on that later), thick enough to have some shape to it when painted and not just lie completely flat and clean.

*If you’re going to be using paint on the backdrop, make sure it’s actually pure white paint and not eggshell, dove, magnolia, cloud etc etc!!*

The Backdrop - Rollable Edition

Many long-time readers will know that I love to use window blinds as backgrounds, and I’ve done so for over 20 years. I’ve now assembled quite a collection of window blinds here at the home-studio! The reason I use window blinds is due to how easy they are to transport to a shoot if needed. Plus, they lie flat, hand flat, are durable to the point they can be cleaned, they don't bend or fold, and most kinks can be removed simply by hanging it up. Plus, the blackout blinds are actually pretty thick and are ideal for shining light on them as they aren't shiny like other backdrops can be.

So again, for this project, I picked up yet another window blind. I’ve bought so many now, Amazon must think I live in a greenhouse! I always try to get a ‘blackout blind’ and I try to get the ones with the most ‘drop’ as they call it. This just means the length of the blind when hung up.

The one I got here is 180cm wide with a 160cm drop. This is pretty much the bare minimum size you can make work for a studio portrait, and ideally, I’d like a 2-metre wide one with at least 2+ metres drop.

*I’ve been using window blinds as photography backdrops for over 20 years! They’re perfect backdrops that can be easily rolled up and transported.*

*Don’t bother with these textured rollers - It doesn’t look good!*

Creating the Texture Backdrop

This part isn’t rocket science, but I did discover a couple of elements along the way. Originally, I’d actually purchased a bunch of big paintbrushes and even very textured rollers to see what would give the best result. As it turned out, the roller, in conjunction with this thick texture paint, worked too well, and the resulting bubbled and pitted texture was actually too dramatic and even for the more randomised effect I was after.

Even the big paint brushes I had gotten didn't work for what I was after, as their bristles were still too fine and didn't leave any texture in the paint. So the roller was too much, and the paintbrushes weren't enough. Ironically, what did end working well was an old plastic broom I had lying around in the garage.

The plastic broom had very large, plastic and very separated bristles. This is what ultimately gave me the deep and textured look of sweeps of paint I was after.

*Using a street-sweeping broom to paint the backdrop actually gave it the deep brushstroke texture I was after.*

The Finished Textured Look

Like I mentioned, I used a big street-sweeping brush to get the final look I was after. The larger, thicker and more seared bristles on the broom allowed me to get very visible brushstrokes in the paint.

From here, it was just a matter of building up the paint and being very generous with it when I applied the coats. I wasn't too precious with how I applied it either and kept the brush moving in multiple directions to ensure as much visual texture on the surface as possible.

Ultimately, I only applied two coats of thick paint. I wanted to do more, but even at two coats, I was very wary of the paint becoming too thick and then cracking when I wanted to roll it up. In the end, I think I could have gotten away with at least one more coat, but the two I had got the job done.

*I applied a couple of coats and kept the paint thick on both along with varying brushstrokes in the paint to keep the texture apparent.*

A Quick Test

Before I rocked up on the day with the DIY background, I wanted to give it a quick test to see how it would look and how it would hold up under lighting. As always, you learn something new every time you pick up the camera, and one thing that stood out to me when shooting these tests was how important the aperture would be.

***Click to enlarge*** *- In the full screen version, you should be able to see the texture more clearly, but in some of these shots, the texture is far less pronounced.*

I think many of us portrait shooters are guilty of going out and buying a beautiful f1.2 prime lens… and then never ever taking it off f1.2. It cost you a small fortune, why would you? But for hair campaigns, crisp eyes and hair totally out of focus are rarely a good look. The same thing was happening here in these tests. If the aperture was too shallow, the background texture was completely lost, especially when getting close for a headshot. But when shooting further back and opening up the aperture to f4 or f5.6, the background texture really started to pop.

Test Shots on the Day

In the end, I was extremely happy with the final shots and how the background looked in them. The texture was just enough to take away the clean and clinical look a simple white background might offer, but not so much texture as to be distracting.

Final Images

Click on any of the images below to fit them to your screen.

Complete Hair Shoot Breakdown

If you were curious about how this whole process and shoot was captured, including everything from moodboards to behind-the-scenes on the day, take a look at my complete photoshoot breakdown video on YouTube below.

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

I livestream every other Tuesday night via YouTube and there I answer your questions, critique your shots, take community images into Photoshop to work on them and discuss all manner of lighting tips and techniques. I look forward to seeing you and your work there real soon. Jake Hicks Photography - YouTube

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

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All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

Lighting Setup: Joined-Up Lighting

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

Using coloured light can be tricky, and although it can be frustrating at times, the extra effort does offer up more than a few unique benefits when it comes to creative lighting. And one of those benefits is the ability to create basic optical illusions, such as ‘joined-up lighting’.

One aspect of white-light studio photography that makes it so comparatively easy when compared to coloured lighting is the ease with which we can add multiple lights to a scene and get away with not ruining the shot.

What I mean by this is that when the key-light, the fill-light, and edge-lights are all white-light, we can be very sloppy with their placement and still get a half-decent image. The reason for this is that all the lights are the same colour, so that when those lights overlap, we barely notice it. So, although we can be lax with our light placements for white light, we will be penalised if we do the same with coloured light. The reason for this is that multiple colours wash each other out. To avoid this, we need to keep our coloured lights separate.

For example, I like to break my subject’s headshots down into zones of light. The keylight would illuminate the face, the fill-light would illuminate the bottom, and the edge lights would, of course, light the edges of the face. This sounds super-simple and some would say fairly obvious, yet many still overlook it.

If we light our subjects’ portraits in this way, our lighting becomes far easier to control, and thus it’s far easier for us to keep those lights separated, and of course, this ultimately leads to stronger, richer colours.

Edit - I’m writing this out now and realising that the zonal lighting system I use would benefit from its own article. I’ll certainly try to make that happen soon, but for now, I hope this makes sense.

The Trick?

How can we utilise the zonal system to create the optical illusion I mentioned? Essentially, all I'm referring to is combining certain zones by making them the same colour. For example, in this setup, I use a red light on the top light as well as an edge light. By doing this, it tricks the viewer’s eye into thinking that it’s actually the same light and keeps the image looking clean and easy to digest.

Without Joined Up Lighting

Let’s first look at what the image looks like without the joined-up lighitng. In the two example images below, I’m only using 2 lights. One blue fill light and, of course, one red top light.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this lighting of course and I’ll often just have a single, strong top-light like this. But if we want to give ourselves a few options in terms of posing i.e. not looking straight up in every single shot! Then another well placed light can give us some variation.

Adding Another Light

Now, let’s bring in another light and place it in such a way that it gives us some more scope for posing.

As we can see in the image above, I’ve now added a third light, and this is the same red colour as the top light. This additional light is positioned as an edge light, but if we get the model to look to the side, it does a great job of acting as our key-light.

Joining Up Those Lights

In the image below, you’ll see that this image its actually only a slight variation of the one I previously showed. The lights are actually all still in the same place, the model is still facing the same way i.e. off to the side, and the only thing that’s changed, is her looking up slightly.

Can you now see how these two very bold and colourful red lights trick you into thinking it’s only one, single light? The top-light is arguably doing most of the heavy lifting here, as it’s lighting most of the model's face and chest, but the edge light from behind is doing more than you think, too.

I’ve included it in the diagram above, but I’ll enlarge it here too. Can you see what each of the two red lights are covering? This is the basic premise for joined-up lighting and it has a lot of scope for adaptability to numerous setups once you get your head around the idea of separation lights by colour and not just luminance.

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 85mm 1.4
Shutter Speed - 1/125th
Aperture - f1.4
ISO - 25
Kelvin - 5500K
Focal Length - 85mm

TL;DR/ADHD/Artist Setup Explanation

Set up a panel light above for an even spread of light
Position a large softbox behind you to illuminate the entire scene
Direct a hard light from behind the model and onto the side - ensure it’s the same colour as the top-light

Kit Used

Nanlite PavoSlim 120C
Nanlite FC-500C
Nanlite FC-120C
Nanlite FM-Mount Projection Unit
Large Softbox

Breaking the Rules

Of course, what I showed above is typically how you’d light and pose this setup. Have someone face towards that edge-light. But the visual trick of joined-up lighting is so strong that you can even break the rules with lighting a little, and it still works.

In this image, I have the model facing away from the edge-light. That light is positioned to the camera-right, yet she’s looking to camera-left. Now, that edge-light is no longer lighting her face, but instead it’s almost entirely lighting her hair from behind, and it looks awesome. If you look closely, you can also see on her jawline and neck, where that red edge-light ends and the top-light begins. See the shadow cast on her neck from the collar? Plus, see how her ear is lit, even though it’s underneath her hair? It’s these elements that can make joined-up lighting so strong.

Adding Luminance Variance

Nerd-Alert! I’m about to get into the weeds of exposure variance below. You certainly don’t need to know this to take cool shots with joined-up lighting, but it will explain another layer of creative control if you’re curious about it. You have been warned.

Up until now, I’ve spoken in terms of the joined-up lighting being a visual illusion to make 2 lights appear as 1. The illusion works as the lights are the same colour and typically the same exposure. But we can push that illusion a little before it breaks.

There’s actually a fair amount going on technically in the above image. Yes, I’m using joined-up lighitng to keep the shot looking clean and simple by making 2 lights look like 1 light. But, if manipulated correctly, you can push the exposure values of one of those lights to create even more depth, but without making it look like a separate light.

I’d like you to take a moment and visualise what each of those 2 lights is actually lighitng in the shot. Now try imagining what the shot would look like with only one of those lights on, and do that for both of them. With what you’ve learned so far, especially given that you know exactly where those lights are placed, you should be able to recreate a pretty clear picture of what each light is illuminating.

*Glanced light will typically create specular highlights on the right surface*

I now want you to look again at the luminance values in the above image and see how that affects the final shot. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, but the model's skin has those beautifully clean highlights running down her face on the right-hand side of the shot. What’s important to note here is that both lights are the same brightness, which is typically what you need to create the joined-up lighting effect. The eye won't be fooled into believing it's a single light if one of those two lights is far brighter than the other one.

But here we have another layer to consider. Specular highlights.

If you’re not familiar with specular highlights, then it's simply a brighter area of the shot that is a direct reflection of the light source itself. Most people know these as cathclights in the eyes, but you can create specular highlights with almost anything, given the right placement. This is a truly powerful tool that so many photographers underutilise, but if used correctly, you can leverage varying exposures on the same surface, purely by adjusting the angle at which the light strikes that surface.

In this instance, the light behind the model is pushed so far back that when she turns in a certain way, that light from behind will glance off the skin and create specular highlights. It’s these beautiful highlights you see here on the forehead and nose that add so much depth to the shot, which is especially useful in an image that is so dominated by colour.

Ironically, it's this technique that I use in nearly all of my gelled lighting shots and have done so for close to a decade. Simply exposing the skin only gets you so far; it’s the use of the right modifier and angle that does most of the heavy lifting in gelled lighting, which is why you see so many flat gelled lighting shots out there.

Closing Comments

The example I’m showing you here is, of course, a very simple one, and the results are very easy and clear to see. But this same lighting principle can be applied to many situations, and even to more basic ‘white-light’ shots that utilise various Kelvin tones in a single shot, for example.

Joined-up lighting is a seemingly simple principle to understand, but a little trickier to actually pull off. Remember, this isn't just simply adding an edge-light to your key-light and calling that joined-up lighting. It’s clear to everyone that the image was taken with 2 very distinct lights. The trick is making 2 lights look like 1 light to create very clean, instantly digestible imagery and of course, this is an exceptionally useful tool to know when working with very bold colours like you’ve seen me do here.

Good luck if you try this one out, and if you think you're up for the challenge, see if you can shoot an image with joined-up lighting and then see if I’ll notice it’s 2 lights and not 1. Be sure to submit your results to the weekly -Share-a-Shoot- and I’ll gladly take a look.

Featured Model/Actress: Annav_roberts

Products Used

Note: These are not affiliate links; I do not earn anything from you using these links. These links take you directly to Nanlite’s website for further info.

Nanlite PavoSlim 120C

Website Link

Nanlite FC-500C

Website Link

Nanlite FC-120C

Website Link

FM-Mount Projection Attachment

Website Link

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

Metal Grid Lens Diffusion Filter

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

This is certainly one of my more abstract techniques, but if you’re someone who isn’t afraid to play with new ideas and enjoys the process of actually creating some cool effects in-camera, this one should be a bit of fun. Plus, the shots look pretty cool too!

Thankfully, contrary to many of my other techniques, this one is super-simple.

Step 1: Buy yourself a small metal grid sheet
Step 2: Hold the metal grid in front of your camera
Step 3: Press the button

Now that everyone young enough to own a TikTok account has gotten bored and wandered off, let me go over a couple more details.

*Adding flares and diffusions to your shots is a lot more fun when you actually do it in-camera!*

The Metal Grid

A while ago, I noticed sunlight casting lines across a chain-link fence when I squinted my eyes. It sparked an idea that the same light-play may also happen if I scaled it down. And I mean, all the way down to an A4 sheet of metal mesh.

The images I’m sharing here are the results of my very first play and test of this metal grid diffusion filter idea. I pretty much just bought the first sheet of metal mesh I came across and have only tested that one out so far. But after seeing the results, I think I’ll pick up some other variations and give those a try too, as I can certainly see the bones of an interesting concept, and I’d encourage you to play with some variations of this too. Below is what I did and what I learned from that initial test.

The Setup

The core of this setup is obviously the metal grid, but for some ideas on how to get the best results, I simply recommend shining a hard light straight into it from behind the subject.

As you can see in the setup example above, placing a hard light behind the model and shining it back at you and the grid will give the best results. It’s also worth noting that the hard light behind doubles up as a hair light on the model, while also creating the flare and diffusion across the metal grid.

Modifiers

By all means, try a variety of lighting modifiers on the light that will be hitting the grid, but I would recommend starting with a hard light. This provides a couple of benefits, but chief among them is light control. We don't want a ton of light spilling all over the room and washing out the shot.

If you need some tips on hard light modifiers, then think of any modifier that is small and tightly controls the light. For example, a snoot, grid/honeycomb, optical spot, spotlight and even barn doors will work.

The Metal Grid

I simply went to Amazon and pretty much bought the first wire mesh sheet I came across to test it out. These metal mesh sheets are often used in cooking or to place over vents and windows to keep bugs out, so they’re pretty easy to come across.

I got a couple of A4 sheets for less than a fiver, so certainly not expensive to pick up and play with.

Setting it up

As I mentioned, this is pretty easy to play with and you really only need one light behind the model, pointing back at you, ideally also hitting the back of the model too. The reason I say this as having a random coloured flare in the foreground of your shot can look cool, but the image may well benefit from that flare feeling like part of the image. The issue I often have with ‘faked’ flares in post is that they look so odd and out of place when that flare has no reference or bearing to the rest of the shot. If you can bed that flare into the image by having the same coloured flare as the colour striking the model, then you have a far better chance of the flare looking more realistic and organic in the shot.

See how the orange light creating the flare is also present on the models face? This is an easy way to bed your flares into the image and they will nearly always look better when a light that is illuminating the model is also creating the flares.

Holding/Attaching the Grid

For the most part, I was holding the grid in front of my camera with my hand. This got tiring real quick, as I had my ancient DSLR and 24-70 at one point in the other hand. One benefit to doing this, though, is that it’s super easy to adjust and manipulate the grid to get varying looks. But when I got tired of holding it, I simply affixed it to a stand via some crab-clamps.

What is the Grid Actually Doing?

As I’m sure many of you can envisage, the grid is letting a lot of the light through the gaps in the grid. Still, the grid is also catching some stray rays across its shiny metal surface, and our camera is seeing those rays as flares when rendered in extreme out of focus due to the grid being so close to the lens.

But what’s the difference? What does it look like when not using the grid?

I grabbed a couple of shots without the grid over the camera lens to show you what it’s actually doing.

Example 1

This image does have a grid in front of the lens…

Example 2

As you can see in the bottom images above, the grid is actually doing a fair amount. Firstly, you can see that the grid is causing an overall diffusion across the image. This soft, base coat of light appears to lift the black point overall, and the whole image appears far more light and airy as a result. Secondly, the grid is, of course, casting that flare across the middle of the shot, and that’s what is creating those atmospheric effects in-camera.

Types of Effects

I’m sure many of you have already picked up on the types of looks that are possible with this technique, but here are a couple that I came across and want to explore further.

All Diffsuion No Flare

In the image above, you may notice that there isn’t actually any dominating flare streaking across the shot. There is, however, a ton of diffusion, and it is very possible to angle the grid in such a way that it’s not catching any flare streaks across its surface, but will still provide you with the diffusion effect.

Bonus points to those of you who noticed the star-bursts! - Yes, due to the nature of the cross pattern associated with grids, many specular highlights did in fact have this cool star-burst flare at their bright point. This won't be to everyone’s taste, but I did think it looked kinda cool and certainly very nostalgic.

Micro-Managed Flare

The above shot is actually one of my favourites from the test, and it was achieved by only holding the grid over part of the lens. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the flare stops cutting across half of the face, and that’s due to me holding the grid to one side and not completely covering my lens. With you holding the grid in one hand, you have a surprising amount of control over how the flare and effect look, and you can even prevent the flare from covering up certain sections of the shot, just like I’m doing here.

Split Flares

Due to the grid being very malleable, you can, in fact, warp and bend the grid as you hold it in front of your lens. By doing this, you can create a ton more effects with the flare, from tightening it up to spreading it out and even splitting it into multiple rays; there’s a lot to test and play with. In the above image, I’ve bent the grid slightly in my hand so that the flare is now spread out into two or three rays of flare. I definitely recommend playing around with this to see what you can come up with.

Final Thoughts on Overall Style (definitely not a rant)

Long-time followers will know that I’m in the process of working through this arty-farty phase of almost degrading my images in a desperate attempt to add some soul back into them. In an era of clinically perfect sensors and lenses recording images that are now mostly retouched by AI algorithms, I’ve found myself going the other way. I shoot more film now than I ever have, and when I shoot digital, I’m always on the lookout for ways to add a little character or intrigue back into the frame.

Everything doesn’t need to be pin-sharp all the time, and it’s ok to make the viewer work a little to interpret your image. In an era where many strive to make imagery as digestible as possible, we often overlook the true goal of imagery: to make people think.

We know that attention spans have gone down significantly in recent years, and consequently, many try to create images that are instantly understood and interpreted. But I think the opposite is now more critical than ever.

It’s simply not enough to just show people your image; you should really invite them to engage with it. Get the viewer to look beyond the data as simply ‘content’ and encourage them to see a story, not just an image.

One way we can invite people to engage with our work is by giving their eyes something to enjoy and savour, not just consume. By adding elements like these visual artefacts in the form of diffusion and flares, our eyes are coaxed into wanting to know what’s beyond. We add these elements to draw people in. Just like how food for many is more than simple sustenance and fuel, it’s a ritual that we seek to enjoy. Modern imagery is becoming much like fast food, fuel for sure, but never memorable. Consider if your shots are simply fast food for your viewers’ eyeballs the next time you set up an image.

My Process For These Shots

My elitist rant out of the way, I’ll just outline the thought process for this series of images. I knew I wanted to add flare across the shots via the metal grid, but that might have looked very odd and very much out of place had I simply opted for a regular key and fill style portrait. If you just want to play with the technique and have fun with it, by all means get the lights out and simply start shooting, but for me, I wanted to bed the flare into a slightly more believable setup.

I decided to go with a more cinematic style setup and opted to integrate environments into my shots that would accommodate the flares a little more organically. As many of you know, I mostly shoot LED light now, and this does open up a few more options when it comes to that cinematic style, namely shutter speeds. With flash, regardless of your camera's shutter speed setting, the flash fires at around 1/4000th of a second, ensuring everything is sharp and crisp. By shooting LEDs, I can drop my shutter speed down dramatically and allow for a little movement to be present in the shot. Here are the settings I used for many of the shots I shared here.

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 85mm 1.4
Shutter Speed - 1/15th
Aperture - f2
ISO - 25
Kelvin - 5600K
Focal Length - 85mm

If you’re interested in the specifics of this setup and how easy this is to set up in your own home (that’s right, this can be achieved in a space as small as your living room), then feel free to check out my Cinematic Studio Lighting Workshop

All of my workshops and lighting courses can be taken online via one-2-one video calls, so please feel free to reach out and learn more about what’s involved, as not only do I cover a ton of cool setups, but you’ll also get a 60+ page PDF of notes including all the lighting diagrams and notes.

Jake’s one-on-one courses are amazing! The course content was comprehensive and well-structured, covering everything from the basics to more advanced techniques.
What set this course apart was the superb teaching style of the instructor. Jake was incredibly passionate about photography and had a knack for breaking down complex concepts into easily understandable terms. His enthusiasm and deep knowledge of the subject made each lesson engaging and enjoyable.
The courses are a fantastic way to grow as a photographer and explore your creative potential. 10/10 highly recommend!
Olivia P. - B.C. Canada

Learn more about Cinematic Studio Lighting

Credits

Model: Jaye Hicks

Post-Pro Artefacts: Boris FX: Optics

Post Pro Grain: Vlad’s All-in-One Grain V3

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

Capturing Motion with Long Exposure & Speedlights Outside

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

For the most part, we rarely need to use flash outside in natural light, as there is typically more than enough daylight to capture the images we need. But, what if we wanted to add a little life to those boring, stationary images?

I recently reviewed the Godox V100 speedlight, and during that review, I played with a few setups, one of which was a simple outdoor setup in natural light. At first glance, the images seemed simple enough, but the shots also demonstrated a sense of movement from the subject.

This very cool motion effect is achieved through long exposure, and yes, typically long exposure leaves you with a blurry mess. However, when you couple that with a flash, you can capture a very cool and visually engaging blend of motion and a frozen subject in the same frame.

I did briefly explain this setup during a recent livestream, but I still had some questions about the details, and to be fair, I do think there are a few small, very important detials with this setup that can make the images significantly better in my opinion and I’ll be going over what those are here in more detial.

What do you need?

The good news is that this is a very easy setup to achieve for most people, as all you really need is a speedlight and a little bit of daylight. Can a different flash work? Yes, if you wanted to use a regular flash and have it placed on a light stand to one side, you can still achieve the same principle of movement and frozen action.

Do I need TTL?

TTL stands for Through The Lens, and it’s a clever technology that allows your flash to adjust its power based on the settings and ingredients you throw at it. Don’t get me wrong, TTL is incredible for setups like this, and it will certainly make your life significantly easier, allowing you to work faster and get more shots in a limited time. However, TTL is not required to make this work. If you don’t have TTL on your speedlight, you’ll just need to work a little harder, not moving too close or far away from the subject once you’ve locked in an initial speedlight power.

The Set Up

Background Choice

As I said, we’ll be setting this up outside, but that doesn't mean we can just do it anywhere. There are certainly things to look for when choosing a spot for this setup. I personally recommend finding a consistently toned background that doesn't have too many very bright and dark colours or highlights and shadows. We will be using this background as our long exposure backdrop, and if certain areas are far brighter or more colourful, they can ruin the long exposure effect by dominating the scene. I personally like the idea of a hedge or shrub, like you see me using here, as that gave me a very evenly toned backdrop to work with.

In the image above, you can see that it is still very much daylight outside. As a result, I brought in a large black flag to try to reduce the light hitting the model, but this wouldn’t have been necessary if I had waited another 30 minutes for the sun to set. You can also see a fan being used here. That is, of course, optional, but it’s another way to add some movement to the shot via some wind in the hair.

Keeping to the Shadows

In keeping with the aforementioned evenly toned background, I would recommend doing this setup in the shadows. Ideally, this setup would be done later in the day when you have a lot more long-thrown shadow areas to choose from and, better still, wait until the sun has just gone down for the best results. The reason for this is twofold: one, bright sunlight can make long exposure images very challenging to achieve, as the sun is simply too powerful, and two, we want an even-toned background with minimal highlights. As soon as the sun has gone down, you can achieve this setup almost anywhere you want.

Locking in the Exposure

This step is going to be the tricky one, but once you have this dialled in, you’re all set. Remember, we want to shoot long exposure shots. First, you need to determine what that means to you personally and the look you're going for. What I mean by that is, how much motion and blur do you want in your shot? For example, a 1-second exposure will give you a lot of motion in the background, versus a shutter speed of 1/15th, which will be far more subtle.

For me, I went for a shutter speed of 1/8th of a second. If you set your camera to that and take a picture outside, even after the sun has set, you’ll immediately see the first problem. The shot is bright, and I mean very bright. What we need to do now is bring that exposure down, whilst keeping that long exposure shutter speed. You have two options. First off, lower the ISO to as low as your camera will go. For me and my Nikon D850 (this is also one of the reasons I love Nikon), I have an ISO 25. This is equivalent to a 2-stop ND filter from a typical ISO 100 value, and I use it all the time.

With your ISO at its lowest, we next need to close down the aperture if the shot is still too bright (it will be). This varies, of course, but for reference, mine was set to f/11. The sun was still very much out for my setup, so that’s why I had to go so high on the aperture. If the sun has gone down for you, this will be less of an issue.

Background Exposure

In the previous section, I mentioned my settings, but I didn't explain what I was exposing for. At this stage, I haven't added the speedlight, so I’m only trying to expose for the background behind the model. For this shot, I don’t actually want the background to be correctly exposed, as I want the model to stand out. With this in mind, I opted to underexpose the background by 1 or 2 stops, and I’ll show an example below of what I mean.

On the left in the shot above, we can see what could be considered a ‘correctly’ exposed background. In the middle is what I set my camera to so as to darken that background down, and on the right, we have the model now standing in with no flash and an underexposed background.

Note that these are only example shots to demonstrate what I mean by underexposing the background, as I’m not using 1/8th of a second exposure here.

Exposing for the model

Once you have your background exposure locked down with your long exposure settings, all you have to do is turn the speedlight on and expose for the model.

If your speedlight has TTL…. you’re done. Simply start shooting.

I will say that although my V100 did have incredible TTL, I did opt to use the exposure compensator to reduce the brightness slightly by around 0.3 to 0.7. This just helped to avoid any blown highlights on the skin that can happen from direct flash.

If you don't have TTL, you just need to adjust the power of your speedlight manually until you’re happy. Of course, without TTL, adjusting for every shot as you and the model move, you’ll need to be conscious of how much you move around. Because as you or the model gets closer to one another at these shorter ranges, the exposure will jump up dramatically very quickly.

Adding the Movement

All that’s left to do now is add the movement. This may seem odd to many of you who’ve never done long exposure photography before, but the basics are quite simple: press the shutter and then immediately start shaking the camera around. There is, of course, a little more nuance to it than that once you know the effect you're going for, but ultimately, it's you moving the camera that creates the blurred effect.

The Final Shots

TL;DR/ADHD/Artist Setup Explanation

wait for the sun to go down
find a spot outside with even tone and non-contrasting colours
under-exposure your camera for the background with the shutter speed you want
turn on TTL on your speedlight
press the shutter and start swinging your camera about

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 24-70mm 2.8
Shutter Speed - 1/8th
Aperture - f11
ISO - 25
Kelvin - 5600K
Focal Length - 24mm

Further points to consider

Flash Zoom

Because I wanted to see movement in the image, I didn’t want the speedlight to freeze the entire frame. Most speedlights have a zoom function, which allows them to illuminate objects further away if needed with their longer zoom or to illuminate an entire group up close with their wider zoom. So, even though I was using this speedlight up close, I wanted to only flash the top half of the model, allowing the daylight and thus the long exposure movement to illuminate the bottom half.

To achieve this look, I simply set my V100 to maximum zoom, which is typically 105mm. You don’t need to do this, of course, but you may find that it's harder to see the movement in the shot, especially on the model, if her entire body is being lit and frozen by the flash.

The image on the left above is a normal, non-long-exposure image. See how there seems to be a pool of light illuminating the model’s top half? And as you look lower down the image, you’ll see that it gets darker. It’s by using this pool of light on the top half, thanks to the speedlight zoom, that we’re able to leave the bottom half unfrozen by flash. Look again at the right-hand image above, and you’ll see that the spots on the dress aren’t frozen as the flash never reaches them. It's this separation of movement against a frozen image that gives such a sense of movement and energy to the shot.

How much movement?

We’ve established how we technically achieve movement via our longer shutter speed, but how do we manage and control that movement? This is going to be the very creative aspect of this setup, and as I mentioned above, to those of you new to long exposure, it will seem very odd at first to start swinging your camera about after you've pressed the shutter.

On that note, I advise waiting until the shutter has been depressed before initiating the movement. If you start swinging the camera as the flash goes off, you’ll likely get unwanted movement in the final shot.

How you achieve the movement is up to you, but I'd recommend trying a few different motions to see what works best for you. Try moving the camera from left to right or vice versa to instil a sense of model movement. Try moving the camera straight up and down, or even try spinning the camera around using the lens as the axis. This will result in a very swirly pattern, and although very eye-catching, can be a little much.

Lastly, if you have a zoom lens, try taking the shot and then immediately twisting the lens to zoom into the subject while the shutter is open. This can create a very cool effect, and one that really draws the viewer into the shot.

In the example image displayed here, you can see that I've clearly spun the camera on the lens axis after the shot has been taken. By doing this, the further out you go from the centre of the shot, the more prominent and noticeable the motion effect is.

Lastly…

One final note to bear in mind is to use an L-bracket on your camera if you choose to shoot with your speedlight on your camera’s hot-shoe and in portrait orientation. If you fail to do this, your flash will be off to the side and not above the model's eye-line when you turn your camera on its side. This results in some ugly cross-lighting and unflattering shadows, and it is definitely best avoided. Don’t feel bad if you do this though, as I still see scores of photographers and YouTubers making this mistake, so it’s an easy error to make. Thankfully, it’s also very easy to avoid.

In the above image, you see the resulting image from shooting a flash image with your speedlight on your hotshoe and in portrait orientation.

In the above shot here, we see what a huge difference it makes to the quality of the light when you use an L-bracket to keep that speedlight above the model’s eye line.

If you’re interested, you can learn more about the L-bracket and when best to use it here…

You're Using Your Speedlight Wrong!

Also, if you’re interested on my thoughts regarding the Godox V100 Speedlight that I used for this shoot, you can check out my review on it here…

Godox V100 Speedlight Review: This is Cheating!

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

Godox V100 Speedlight Review: This is Cheating!

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

I’ll be completely honest, I was dreading this review. I hadn't used a speedlight since I struggled through art college with one over twenty years ago. That thing was terrible. Almost no power controls beyond bright and brighter, the light was catapulted out of the front and was almost impossible to modify in any way, no matter how many Rizlas we stuck to the front. But, it seems speedlights have come a very long way since then.

Last month, Godox kindly sent me some items for review, including the KNOWLED LiteFlow kit, MS60Rs (review here), as well as the V100, and although I was very excited to test the new kit and explore new ways to get creative with it, I’ve been putting off the V100 review.

What on earth could I do with a speedlight?

Disclaimer: Godox sent me this product for review. They are not paying me for this review and all my opinions are my own.

For clarity, as soon as I left art college, I immediately bought myself four 500W strobes, as trying to make lighting work with that old speedlight was a nightmare. And I never looked back. However, as I mentioned, speedlights have come a long way since then, and as soon as I attached this V100 speedlight to my camera, I was genuinely immediately impressed.

Photography has never been easier….

There I said it. I got my old man quote out of the way early, but it’s true. With mirrorless cameras and real-time EVFs, along with full-colour RGB LEDs, lighting and capturing lighting have never been easier. But what about flash? Has that gotten any easier?

Have you met TTL?!?

TTL is cheating

If you’re not familiar with TTL, it stands for Through-the-Lens. Essentially, the tech fires a flash, it then looks at that initial flash and then immediately fires another flash with any necessary power adjustments it sees fit, and it's actually this second flash that the camera captures.

If you read that and thought I said that the flash makes all the power adjustments itself, you’d be right. And yes, it does all that no matter what your camera settings are. If you think that sounds like cheating, you’re two for two. And let me tell you, the TTL on this V100 NEVER misses!

It’s actually kinda wild how well the TTL on this V100 performs, regardless of what I throw at it; every frame is correctly exposed. And when I say I threw everything at it, I mean, long exposures inside with ambient light, long exposure outside with daylight, very fast shutter speeds, I even used it off-camera with the speedlight in a softbox across the garden from me AND, I even used an old manual focus lens that didn’t have any communication with the camera whatsover and used drop-in apertures… and guess what? Every frame was correctly exposed!

I’m sorry, but if you think that’s not cheating, I don’t know what to tell you.

First Impressions

I’ll share some images down below that showcase the types of shots I took with the V100, but I want to be upfront about this: every single one of them was taken with TTL. Why wouldn't I? Sure, if TTL was struggling, I would have switched to manual mode and adjusted the power to my tastes. But it never struggled.

These wildly fluctuating power requirements were always an issue with old speedlights. The light was typically positioned on top of the camera, and you were often moving, as was the subject. This meant you were constantly getting closer and further away from the subject, and the light was all over the place. That’s clearly a problem of the past, as with the TTL on this thing, you can literally do whatever you want. The thing doesn't even need to be on your camera for it to give you the correct exposure every time.

Let’s look at some shots

First off, let’s keep it simple.

Pretty straightforward so far, right? Indoors against a white wall, obviously, TTL was even breaking a sweat. The resulting light looks as you’d expect from a speedlight. Bright, directional, strong shadows and bright highlights. No surprises here.

If you’re gonna cheat, do it properly.

Note: When shooting in portrait orientation and using the flash on the camera, be sure to use a bracket to keep the light above the lens. Failing to do this is a schoolboy error and well worth avoiding.

*The above shot was taken with the speedlight on the hotshoe. That shadow is not good.*

The easiest way to avoid this harsh side-shadow is to use an L-bracket. Doing so allows for the speedlight to remain above the lens, and it keeps those shadows looking far more flattering.

*In the above shot I’m using an L-Bracket to keep the speedlight above the lens. The shadows look far more flattering now.*

Can’t fight nostalgia

Next up, I added some long-exposure shots to the mix.

All that’s going on here is me turning the V100 modelling bulb (focus assist light) on and lowering the shutter speed on my camera to around 1/2 second. The result is a warm glow of movement from the modelling bulb, and then a clean and crisp image is also captured by the flash.

Once again, TTL has barely had its morning coffee, as getting every single shot perfectly exposed while I swing the camera around randomly to add movement to the image is still a breeze for TTL. Again, TTL didn’t flinch at getting these shots perfectly exposed each time, so I haven't actually touched the manual power adjustment on the flash yet.

Note - I mentioned nostalgia at the top, as this style of stark on-camera flash is experiencing a resurgence in weddings. The ‘90s kids are finally getting married, and that tungsten-glow-and-flash shots from our childhood disposable cameras are tough to shake.

Let’s take this outside

Next up, I wanted to try this same long exposure principle, but outside in natural light.

With this next set, I tested a similar long exposure style, but this time, instead of relying on the modelling bulb from the V100, I was using natural light. I simply set my shutter speed to 1/8th of a second and then allowed some natural light to creep in as I moved the camera whilst the shot was being taken. As you can see in the images above, the speedlight was also firing, which resulted in me capturing a frozen image of the model as well as the sense of movement from the daylight.

I love these images and I think they look amazing, but again, I can’t really claim too much credit here as, you guessed it, I had TTL turned on. I pointed the camera in roughly the right direction, and the V100 took care of the rest.

As good as these images were, I needed to feel useful before we wrapped up the shoot, so for the final setup, I decided to take the V100 off my camera and place it on a lightstand with a beauty dish attachment via the S2 S-fit converter. With the V100 on the other side of the garden and being fired into the beauty dish before it reached the model, I was fully expecting to have to take the wheel and help little ol’ TTL out finally.

I’m convinced it’s just magic at this point!

Off-camera flash is a step-up for anyone in terms of complexity, especially if you're incorporating the ambient light as part of the final look.

As we can see, I’ve set the camera to accommodate the natural light as the fill-light. In the shots above, you can see the shadow side of the model’s head, but the natural light is filling those shadows. The main lighting on the model here is coming from the V100 in a collapsible beauty dish attached to the S2 S-fit converter on a lightstand.

To fire the V100, I’m using the X3 trigger on my camera and that is also set to TTL.

Once again, I was merely there to hold the camera as somehow the TTL got every shot correctly exposed, even with it being far away from me and with a modifier attached to it.

I had one last trick up my sleeve though, as I wanted to use my very old manual focus lens (that’s what’s creating the swirlly effect in the background of the final images). This lens does not communicate with the camera in any way, and it does not even have traditional apertures, as the f-stop of this lens is changed via drop-in and out aperture discs. There was absolutely no way at all for the V100 to know what camera settings I was using.

But of course, it didn’t care. Once again, TTL got every shot correctly exposed, even though I was balancing the daylight as a fill, using the speedlight off-camera, through a modifier, and I was using an ancient lens that obscured the camera settings!

I think that if I’d given the model a tripod, I wouldn’t have needed to be there at all.

What’s going on?

Granted, I’ve taken slight artistic licence with the writing above, and although a little tongue in cheek, the TTL on this V100 is absolutely insane. I know many of you are familiar with how it works, but as I mentioned above, the TTL fires the flash twice: once as a test and then a second time with any necessary adjustments based on the information it gathered from the initial flash.

As the name suggests, it’s using Through The Lens results to make those adjustments, so no matter the modifier, or whatever lens you use, or the camera settings you have, it doesn't care; it’s looking at the image captured with that first flash to make all of its adjustments to second flash.

The results speak for themselves, and you can see them all above. My lighting reviews typically delve into the specs and features, and you can explore all of those for yourself via numerous online reviews, but why would you? This V100 does what you want it to do, quite literally straight out of the box with TTL engaged. As I mentioned, I didn't switch the TTL off at any point during any of the setups above, and why would I? The goal of any light is to illuminate the subject, and TTL does precisely that, regardless of the bizarre lighting scenarios I threw at it.

I assure you, I had every intention of adjusting the power settings manually and adjusting the power up and down, as you'd expect to do with any light, but I really didn’t see the point. Sure, if TTL wasn’t lighting the subject properly, of course I’d jump in to make the necessary changes, and I wouldn't have thought anything of it. In fact, I wouldn't have even marked it down as I wasn't expecting it to succeed given what I was doing…. but it did.

Do you need a speedlight?

At the start of this review, I mentioned that I wasn't looking forward to this. I don’t use speedlights and I never have in my professional career, but that’s because the last time I used a speedlight, it was little more than a flashbang in a pipe. But, they’ve come an awful long way since then.

I think if you’re someone looking for a speedlight, you're likely someone who wants a bright flash to be used on top of your camera most of the time, and occasionally off-camera. If that wasn't the case, you’d be looking at the AD200 instead. So, if you’re after a flash to be used on your camera, TTL is what you’ll be using 99% of the time, and why wouldn’t you? If that’s you, and you’re after TTL, this V100 has that absolutely mopped up, no matter what you might throw at it.

If you still need convincing…

If you still haven’t ordered one yet, let me go over a couple of the other features that you may need.

Interface

The V100 is solely controlled via its touch screen. Yes, it also has a little wheel and button at the bottom, but for the most part, you’ll be using the touchscreen for any adjustments. Multiple menus can be accessed via swiping from left to right as well as top to bottom. These were a little inconsistent, and I invariably accidentally hit the screen when I didn’t need to, but none of this was a game-changer or hampered the V100’s usability.

Battery

Back in my day, we never left the house without a shoebox full of AA’s. Times have changed, and the V100 comes with an impressive lithium battery. I find it impressive, as I only charged it once, and it's still going, even after I accidentally left it on standby for days. I always loved the convenience of AAs, and that you can buy them almost anywhere if the worst happens. But they are a pain when you need to change them. These new lithium batteries last significantly longer and pop in and out with one hand very quickly. I think if I were using this V100 in earnest for my job, I'd grab two or three of these batteries and feel very comfortable that I had the day covered.

Power

I think it’s easy to overlook the very impressive 100W power of this speedlight, given how many other remarkable features this little speedlight has. But 100W packs a punch, and it manages well in almost any situation. Remember, I was using it outside in natural light, and I was firing it through a big beauty dish that has a diffusion cone inside. Plus, it has an 8-stop range, meaning that it’ll also go pretty low in power as well, so if you just need a little fill-light instead of a big, bright key-light, the V100 has you covered.

Fill-Light (sub flash)

The V100 also comes with a little additional mini-flash that can be situated on the front of the V100 and is used as a fill light. Godox refers to this as the ‘sub flash’. You can only use this sub-flash when the V100 is angled up and used as a bounce flash. I know many photographers shoot in this way, and although the stark front-on flash look is making a comeback, bounced flash is typically a little more flattering.

I tested the V100 with and without the front sub-lash, and here are the results below. Both shots are taken with the V100 angled straight up to bounce the light off a white ceiling.

*This image was taken without the fill-flash*

*This image was taken with the fill-flash*

As you can see, there is definitely a difference, and the fill-flash certainly helps to add a little light to the shadows caused by the bounce. I couldn’t see any way to adjust this fill-flash manually, so it appears as though you’re at the will of the V100 to decide the output for you, but it did a pretty good job of getting it right for me.

Zooms

Speedlights have been able to adjust the throw or zooms on the flash output for a while, so there were no surprises when seeing it here too. The V100 has 28mm (the widest throw of light), 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, 80mm and 105mm (the tightest spread of light). This is useful as a way to change the look of the light and for the most part I used 105mm to give me a tight pool of light on the model, but I also used the widest 28mm spread when I had the beauty dish attached as that helped spread the light around the modifier.

Modelling Light

One of the best features of the V100 is the modelling light. I’m sure this isn’t new to speedlights, but it’s so useful for focusing, especially in darker environments. You also saw me use it to illuminate some of my shots above when I was shooting long exposure. I should probably make a point here that the modelling lamp itself is very warm in colour temperature, and I’d guess it's around the 2700K-3000K mark, so very reminiscent of tungsten in colour. This isn't a big deal as you’re typically only using it to focus the shot, but it did strike me as odd, given that the flash is daylight at around 5600K, so why make the modelling lamp 2700K? In fairness to Godox, I don’t think this was an oversight. I won't get into rumours here, but I did hear that it was initially supposed to have both warm and cool LEDs as the modelling lamp, so that you could choose. It was supposedly a potential patent infringement, so the cool LED was dropped. Like I say, this is internet hearsay, so feel free to check for yourself. My point here is that I don’t think Godox simply made a weird decision on the LED colour, and again, for me, the warm one is fine; I actually like the nostalgic, warm glow it gives.

X3 Trigger

This review is already getting lengthy, so I’ll keep it brief. But the X3 trigger is an exceptional little piece of kit. I used this trigger on my hotshoe to fire the V100 when it was mounted on my L-bracket, as well as when I was using the V100 off-camera on a lightstand with a beauty dish.

The X3 connected to the V100 very easily, and I never experienced it dropping out or misfiring. I personally love the X3's interface, as it not only features a large touchscreen but also includes three buttons and a dial on the side. This allowed me to make adjustments very quickly and easily with one hand, and it was noticeably convenient to use over other triggers.

Finally!!!

I also just want to make one last point on this trigger, and that's my love of the option to choose the trigger distance. You can select between a 0-30m range and a 30m-100m range. This may not seem like a big deal, but all my other triggers struggle to work when they are positioned too close to the actual flash. This happens more than you'd think, and I’m constantly fighting this issue with ringlights, backing into large umbrellas behind me, and of course, when I use this trigger with the V100 on the L-bracket, which is right next to it. That 0-30m option eliminates all misfires, and regardless of how close the trigger was to the flash, it always fired. I know this is a V100 review, but that feature alone is more than enough to warrant the purchase of this X3.

In conclusion

I already spoke about this above, but if you’re someone who needs a speedlight, AKA a flash that sits on top of the camera, you’d be nothing short of crazy to not use TTL, especially when it’s this good. It literally never misses.

I’m someone who has been shooting for a very long time, and I like to think I have a pretty good grasp of how to use and operate flashes manually in any situation. However, with this TTL, there was really never a moment when I needed to override it. Sure, I used the exposure compensator to reduce it by one or two-thirds to protect skin highlights, but that's a matter of personal preference rather than right and wrong. The V100 has a ton of power in a small package, and it works flawlessly with its X3 trigger when off camera, too.

All this to say that using this speedlight was a ton of fun!

My day-to-day is multi-light setups in the studio, but that’s a lot of work and stress to get some shots. With the V100 on the camera, I never had to think about anything. I was playing with long exposure shots and focusing on capturing some cool movement with the model, but I never once worried about the tech performing, as the TTL system simply never failed. So yeah, using this V100 was actually a ton of fun, and I really do think it would serve anyone looking for a speedlight very well.

Featured model: Jaye Hicks

Products Used

None of these links are affiliate links; they’re only there for your convenience, so feel free to use, not use or find a better deal elsewhere.

Godox V100 Speedlight

Essential Photo Website Link

Godox X3 Wireless Flash Trigger

Essential Photo Website Link

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. || PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

I’m sure we’ve all used the white background of a studio before. Who hasn't? But there are times when we want a white background, but we don’t necessarily want it to look like a studio. Here I show you how I quickly (ish) and cheaply made a white, textured backdrop.

The Textured Backdrop - Rollable Edition

The Backdrop - Rollable Edition

Creating the Texture Backdrop

The Finished Textured Look

A Quick Test

Test Shots on the Day

Final Images

Complete Hair Shoot Breakdown

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. || PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! || All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. || PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

Using coloured light can be tricky, and although it can be frustrating at times, the extra effort does offer up more than a few unique benefits when it comes to creative lighting. And one of those benefits is the ability to create basic optical illusions, such as ‘joined-up lighting’.

The Trick?

Without Joined Up Lighting

Adding Another Light

Joining Up Those Lights

Camera Settings

TL;DR/ADHD/Artist Setup Explanation

Kit Used

Breaking the Rules

Adding Luminance Variance

Nerd-Alert! I’m about to get into the weeds of exposure variance below. You certainly don’t need to know this to take cool shots with joined-up lighting, but it will explain another layer of creative control if you’re curious about it. You have been warned.

Closing Comments

Products Used

Nanlite PavoSlim 120C

Nanlite FC-500C

Nanlite FC-120C

FM-Mount Projection Attachment

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. || PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! || All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. || PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

This is certainly one of my more abstract techniques, but if you’re someone who isn’t afraid to play with new ideas and enjoys the process of actually creating some cool effects in-camera, this one should be a bit of fun. Plus, the shots look pretty cool too!

Step 1: Buy yourself a small metal grid sheet

Step 2: Hold the metal grid in front of your camera

Step 3: Press the button

The Metal Grid

The Setup

Modifiers

The Metal Grid

Setting it up

Holding/Attaching the Grid

What is the Grid Actually Doing?

But what’s the difference? What does it look like when not using the grid?

Example 1

Example 2

Types of Effects

All Diffsuion No Flare

Micro-Managed Flare

Split Flares

Final Thoughts on Overall Style (definitely not a rant)

My Process For These Shots

Camera Settings

Credits

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. || PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||