Flash Photography: Canon Speedlites

Master the controls and creative options of your Canon speedlight—one of the most liberating photography tools you can buy. Learn on-camera and off-camera flash techniques.

Introduction

• What you'll learn in this course
• Which Speedlites are covered and their differences

1. An Overview of Speedlites

• Why use a Speedlite over a built-in flash?
• Comparing Speedlites to strobes

2. Quick Start

• Connecting a Speedlite to your camera
• Powering on your Speedlite and choosing the right batteries
• Choosing the right camera mode for your Speedlite
• Changing the Speedlite mode and brightness
• Speedlite menus and controls
• Understanding the ready light
• What are these other things in the box?

3. Taking Control of a Speedlite

• How to control your Speedlite on your camera's LCD
• Choosing the right flash modes
• What is sync speed and how do I adjust it?
• When to use Manual mode and how to control it

4. Controlling and Shaping the Light

• Creating soft light
• Creating hard light
• Using flash modifiers on the camera
• Controlling the color of light
• Changing between first-curtain, second-curtain, and high-speed sync modes
• Demonstration: Speedlite on the camera
• Demonstration: Using modifiers on the camera
• Demonstration: Using first-curtain, second-curtain, and high-speed sync

5. The Camera as Commander

• How to find Commander mode and making a shortcut
• Changing the mode, channel, group, and power settings
• Using the ST-E2 transmitter
• Using the ST-E3-RT transmitter
• Activating wireless slave mode on Speedlites

6. Using Off-Camera Flash

• Line-of-sight discussion
• Positioning the flash off camera
• Balancing the color of your Speedlites
• How to choose off-camera flash modifiers
• Off-camera flash demo

7. Shooting with Speedlites and Workflow Tips

• Slowing down
• Controlling power and extending battery life
• Cheating the line of sight on your flash
• Controlling ambient light
• Using Speedlites with third-party radio triggers

Conclusion

• Goodbye