My Normal Flash Setup Using Optical Slaves

I have been trying lots of different flash setups lately (optical, radio, bounce, etc), but I tend to fall back on optical triggering because it is the most trustworthy and versatile of my options. Of course, I would love to grab a pair of Pocket Wizards, but hey, you donate a pair, and I will certainly put them to use!

If you have a normal flash mount (just found out Sony uses their own “standard”…punks), you can easily buy a little optical trigger for no more than $15. You slide that baby on the bottom of your flash, and then when any other flash goes off, it will trigger that flash. So, the pop up flash will trigger it, or hey, I have even used my point and shoot flash to set off my speedlight!

But that is not the end.

Rarely do I actually want the pop up flash to show up in the photo. If portraits with a long lens or maybe on a bright day, I might just shoot the pop up flash straight, but usually, I want to redirect or soften it somehow. I carry a couple of those flat coffee filters in my bag: lifesavers. I cut the small end off and can slide it over my pop up flash, softening the light. Napkins work too.

A few weeks ago, I did not want to soften, but to almost totally mute the pop up flash. Oh, side note, those optical triggers are pretty good. I have never had a problem getting them to “see” the flash even with all this muting and redirecting going on. Anyway, I did not want any pop up flash, so I taped normal paper, folded a couple times, so it would hang just in front of the flash. Some light still got through, but most was bounced backwards (and into my eyes! …dang!).

Sometimes, I will just put my hand in front and redirect it off to the side. That will add a little red to the photo (your hand is full of blood, you know), but sometimes that is actually nice, but usually not a problem when you have another flash firing. If you want to keep it white, just use a business card or some such.

I love optical slaves (optical triggers, whatever…slave is the more standard term, but I find it a little non-obvious). You do not need line of sight to set those off. As long as enough flash is bouncing around so they can see it, you are ok. Cheapo and wireless. You cannot beat that.

Cooper Strange Written by: