Get a free guide on flash photography

Learn techniques and best practices for flash photography

Off-Camera Flash Overpowering Ambient Light

Over the weekend, I was on a shoot on the Brooklyn waterfront. It was very windy outside so I had Alice help secure the light stand so as not to be blown away. While we were changing things up, I thought I’d fire a quick shot of Alice adjacent to the umbrella and have it appear as if she was popping out of the blackness, even though there was plenty of daylight. I set the shutter speed to 1/2000 and wham-o! The ambient was killed and we got the shot. This was greatly facilitated with the aid of the Pocketwizard FlexTT5’s high speed sync capabilities, however there are other ways around this if your flash cannot sync past 1/250th. Just a fun quick shot and I hope you guys get out there and experiment with your speed lites too!

Alice outtake