How to Freeze Motion In the Photography Studio Using Flash

That is right. Knowing how to set your lights and camera setting make a big difference in freezing your subject.

SUPER. SUPER , THE BEST
நன்றாக இருக்கிறது வாழ்த்துக்கள் R.MANOHAR-CHENNAI

Thank you for this John

This was really valuable information, and very clearly presented. Thanks for this - I haven't seen this presented anywhere else in this manner. Much appreciated!

High quality content, as always. Thank you very much! Congrats from Brazil!

Could the direction of your light have influenced your results also since it was directed mostly down (or looked it in the video) versus pointed directly at the subject?

I also love hypersync for freezings motion...

Real question is: what flash duration setting did you use to get rid of the sticker on the rear foot? 😂

Fascinating! The detail available from sensors today really changes how we (older folks like me) thought about everything. I totally get that you're teaching how to reliably get the screaming detail that some clients want in certain photos with frozen motion, but to my taste, the first, most "blurry" photo of the model with the fan blowing is hair is the best photo of them all.

great Video John (again). Hot topic.. Without knowing how many times Fernando had to jump, I am impressed by your and his precision. It's just as you state: The challenge is, to determine how frozen a movement should be. It seems really difficult to me to get a precisely controlled blur of movement and only of the body part you are aiming for. On the other hand, (ultra-)short flash duration are associated with a high loss of light output. (except obviously with Profoto). One can ask oneself whether the goals can be better achieved with LED light and fast shutter speeds. But there again other concerns have to come to the photographer's attention..

Very useful information

“…as well as a small sticker…”. 😆

Very nice details!

This information is incredible to know, and presented so clearly. Thank you so much, I've been so confused by this concept.

Lates 80s, wow, me too, I was Monte assistant, but he didn’t teach me about the photography business . Thanks for sharing

Wow, that’s a lot to take in, but super interesting. Your content is always different than what I see anywhere else. Hopefully not a dumb question, maybe I missed this. Are you metering ambient (it’s non-existent in the black frame, obviously). How do you know how many stops over it you are? Too much math, lol.

Excellent information… our 2 year old model doesn’t like to sit still and I’ve been wondering about getting less motion without having to use HSS. Thank you very much. 🙂

Your presentation cleared up how flash duration actuay works at different settings, the best! I'm so much more confident having this information, thank you.

thanks John - great info

I am confused on the example around 13min where you have a lower 1/X where X is the lower value compared to the first example. On the first example you had X much higher and froze the action.

Can't get how you determine how many stops are you from ambient exposure. How do you do this>?

Mazing video thanks, so easy to follow and understand. How did you know how many stops over the ambient you were? Was it just a case of finding the exact point where ambient light is eliminated and then move up two stops any which way you choose?

Hi there, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Great content! I‘m asking myself if I could achieve similar results by setting the exposure to 1/500s? Wouldn‘t this freeze the subject perfectly as well and make the strobe settings not that crucial for over all sharpness? Or could you please help me to understand what the visual difference would be than in the result? Many thanks in advance!

exceptional breakdown. You are a teacher. Thanks.

Excellent tutorial ! be safe from loose cord.👍👍

Brilliant.

I started using flash heads when I was 18 (I'm in my 50's now), and got a very basic kit of two 160w heads to learn with. I soon bought a soft box and a very poor quality boom arm, and set about learning to use them. I still remember having a friend pose for me when the weight of the soft box on the crappy boom arm toppled over and started falling towards my friends head. I can still remember the look on her face as it started tipping towards her......luckily I caught the stand in time........but it still makes me laugh, all these years later. I was always tripping over the cables too, because space was limited in my kitchen......so that bit at the end cracked me up.

Wow this video helped me out immensely thanks JG

Hey John how are you getting the ambient light reading?

Thanks for that clear explaining John!

Wait a second.. the light starts at 0.1 power... doubles to 0.2... and then doubles again all the way to 1.2? this is so confusing lmao

A tight script... no rambling war stories -- which is refreshing -- and you didn't jump cut the hell out if it -- also refreshing. Nice indeed. Thank you for taking time do to this. This is my first time on your site and I will likely be back. Oh, I did learn something is this short example of your teaching style. Again... nice video work and straightforward style.

Zzzzz

Super useful to see this test with numbers vs power outputs, I'm facing a mixed light situation and not super happy with freeze mode (Profoto D2 1000ws), cause the ambient is still leaking in and blur the further details. I went to freeze mode instead of Hi-speed cause I can't have the subject available for a long time (sport celebrity) and needed to take as more shots as possible without him repeating the action vs me shooting only a few frames per action (hi-speed can't recycle as fast as freeze mode but overpowers ambient ofc). Still, in this extreme case, next time I would probably rely on Hi-speed with a slower but more syncronized pace between my finger and the ideal pose. Or go for a battery pack (Pro10 or 11) so I can freeze at a proportionally higher output capability from the unit.
Does it sounds correct to you?
Thanks, great video as usual!