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 apologise for the TikTok title, but you’re here now, so you may as well stay and see what you’ve been doing wrong with your speedlight all these years.
As a studio shooter for over 20 years, my first instinct is to tell you that the mistake is using a speedlight in the first place. But I recently got the Godox V100 for review, and I’ve actually been having a ton of fun with it. Speedlights have come a long way since I last used them, and they are a much more viable light source today than they used to be.
Plus, a speedlight is often the best choice given the nature of the job. Photographing events, weddings, and the odd hen party for a friend, if you need a lightweight flash that packs a punch and requires zero setup, you’d be crazy to use anything else.
So what’s the issue? What is the mistake I see so many speedlight users making?
The mistake is easily done to be fair, but it's when you shoot your camera in portrait orientation and still have the speedlight attached to your hotshoe on top of your camera. When you shoot in landscape orientation, everything is fine; the flash is on the hotshoe, which is, of course, directly above the lens. The problem arises when you turn the camera and simultaneously the speedlight, to take a portrait, and now that harsh light is now positioned to the ‘side’ of your lens. This results in a super-ugly side-light compared to if you'd repositioned the speedlight back to being above the lens.
As many of you know, lighting 101 dictates that the light source should typically be above the model's eye line. This is simply because it creates a more flattering light on the subject, as we are all so ingrained to see one another’s faces when the light is above them. Whether it be the sun outside or the lights on the ceiling inside, we as humans are drawn to the beauty of a face when it is lit above.
So, when we turn the camera on its side to take a portrait, the flash is sadly no longer above the model, and this can often create some unflattering looking light.
So, how bad is it?
click to fill screen
That’s actually kinda wild, right?!
It looks pretty bad, and that’s simply nothing more than the speedlight being mounted on the camera’s hotshoe in portrait orientation.
It’s crazy, as I’ve seen many people shoot portraits like this, and it always staggers me as being an obvious issue, but I see very few photographers actually address it. In fact, when I wanted to shoot this ‘mistake’ for the article to illustrate the right and wrong way, I knew it would look bad, but even I was shocked at how bad it looked when I tested it. And like I mentioned, it’s actually very easy to fix, and when you do, it's very much worth the effort.
What’s the difference?
Now let’s position the speedlight properly and take the same portrait again.
It’s a night and day difference, right? And all that is simply down to moving that speedlight a matter of inches, and the portrait changes dramatically and is instantly more flattering.
Take the L
Like I said, thankfully, there’s a super-simple solution to this, and all it took was a cheap L-bracket from eBay to solve the issue.
As you can see in the shots above, the L-bracket attaches to the tripod mount at the base of the camera and then extends up the grip on (your preferred) side. Sadly, this bracket is a cold-shoe, meaning it isn’t talking to the camera in any way. I’m using a flash trigger on my camera's hotshoe here, which fires the speedlight. However, you can also connect the camera directly to the speedlight using a short trigger cable instead.
Alternitves
As I mentioned at the top, I had to review this Godox speedlight, so I just wanted to get this L-bracket quickly and cheaply to test everything out properly. You can see in the shots above that I still have strap plates and tether plates on the bottom of my camera that I didn’t even bother to remove to attach the L-bracket. This is far from an ideal solution, and although it worked fine the entire shoot, I think if I were a wedding shooter or event shooter, and I was runing into this lighting issue more frequently and needed a better, more solid solution, I may opt for a small camera rig that has a more solid L-bracket attachment point.
I’ll be honest, I was very surprised at how few of these L-brackets there are. When I was searching, I never once came across a proper brand-manufactured bracket for their speedlights. Maybe I missed them, so if you find one, let me know. But this does seem odd to me. This is a widespread problem that I would assume many photographers encounter, yet I couldn’t find a proper and bespoke bracket for the issue.
Regardless of how you do it, get that speedlight above your lens at all times when switching to portrait orientation. No, the problem isn’t as noticeable when you’re further away from the subject, but that side lighitng is still happening, it’s just less apparent.
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
Godox X3 Wireless Flash Trigger
Camera Flash L-Bracket
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
