I have explained in a little detail how I have discovered that using HSS flash for my garden bird photography has allowed me to operate at high shutter speeds under any conditions.
What I haven’t explained is exactly how I set it all up. I believe in making things easy for myself, so I operate the camera remotely from an easy chair in the conservatory, using an Aodelan remote shutter release. The camera is on a tripod, focussed on a perch that I have arranged near a feeder.
Two flash units light the bird. They are mounted on lighting stands about four feet from the perch, angled downwards so that any shadows they produce do not fall on the background. The background is a large poster print of foliage, taken completely out of focus. This is mounted on a wooden board suspended on a frame about four feet behind the perch. I have several different backgrounds to give different effects.
The background is then lit by a third flash unit on 1/2 or 1/4 power and which is mounted low behind the perch.
All three flash units are controlled remotely by a Godox transmitter mounted in the camera hot shoe. This great bit of kit works by radio rather than infra red, so the flash units do not have to be in line of sight of the camera. I originally used Canon Speedlites, controlled by the inbuilt camera flash, but had lots of problems with the speedlites seeing the infra red signal.
Does it work?
Well, I am happy with the results. This one was taken this morning.
What I haven’t explained is exactly how I set it all up. I believe in making things easy for myself, so I operate the camera remotely from an easy chair in the conservatory, using an Aodelan remote shutter release. The camera is on a tripod, focussed on a perch that I have arranged near a feeder.
Two flash units light the bird. They are mounted on lighting stands about four feet from the perch, angled downwards so that any shadows they produce do not fall on the background. The background is a large poster print of foliage, taken completely out of focus. This is mounted on a wooden board suspended on a frame about four feet behind the perch. I have several different backgrounds to give different effects.
The background is then lit by a third flash unit on 1/2 or 1/4 power and which is mounted low behind the perch.
All three flash units are controlled remotely by a Godox transmitter mounted in the camera hot shoe. This great bit of kit works by radio rather than infra red, so the flash units do not have to be in line of sight of the camera. I originally used Canon Speedlites, controlled by the inbuilt camera flash, but had lots of problems with the speedlites seeing the infra red signal.
Does it work?
Well, I am happy with the results. This one was taken this morning.
