CDLC Presents: The Dramatic Portrait with Eric Stoner

I used to consider myself a “natural light” photographer and I got really good at controlling the light that was provided to me to make beautiful portraits. Speedlites were somewhat of a mystery to me for some reason because while using TTL (through-the-lens flash metering), I never knew exactly how much light I was putting on my subject. For some reason, that was important to me, most likely because I learned on manual flash units that had three settings . . . 50 watt seconds, 100 watt seconds and 200 watt seconds. Anyway, once the 600EX-RT was released back in early 2012, a whole new world of lighting control opened up to me. I love these Speedlites for a few reasons:
 

1. I have the reliability of radio transmission from camera to off camera Speedlites.
2. TTL automatic flash is very accurate, more so than it’s ever been.
3. With this system I had complete control over all units in up to five different groups with the ability of having some flashes in E-TTL and others in manual.

I’m absolutely a Speedlite guy because they are so darned reliable and portable.
 
While on a recent trip to ShutterFest, a terrific photography conference in St. Louis each Spring, I taught a class entitled Great light Anywhere, Anytime with Speedlites. The goal of the class was to give students more confidence, something I didn’t have until 2012 when this Speedlite made its debut!
 
During the class we made some terrific images of our model, Anna Elizabeth Truett, and I’d like to share some of them by walking you through the progression of how the final portrait was created . . . all with Speedlites.

See the entire article on the Canon Digital Learning Center.
 
B&H carries the Canon 600EX-RT, Westcott Rapid Box 26" Octa and MagMod products.