The other day while shooting a wedding a shot developed which I felt would somewhat show you the effects of changing the MM settings on your wireless flash. On your flash units (both Canon and Nikon) you can adjust the MM settings of the flash, this works much like the MM on your lens with the lower the number the wider the output of light will be and of course the higher the number the tigher or more "snoot" effect the flash will have.


So with that said here are three of roughly the same images taken at three different MM settings with the wireless flash.


The Master/Commander flash unit was turned off to flash and only on to transmit the signal so the only flash you see in the images is from our wireless unit which exposed the bride.


24mm (Note how much of the back wall is seen but nothing very bright, the flash simply did not have enough output to expose everything well.



70mm (Note how you can start to see the outline of the flash "circle" on the wall and the bride is getting brighter



105mm (Note the bed in front of the bride and the bride herself is nice and bright, almost as if I did a dodge and burn effect around her in Photoshop.) Effective if the light is placed correctly!



These settings are ones which the MASTER/COMMANDER CAN NOT adjust so it must be done mannually on the wireless flash when shooting.

I hope it helps you understand the true power of wireless flash shooting and why I love teaching our workshops on this subject and of course using them so much. So much power most of us never even use!

Bingo! And using a snoot will yield even more control! Great shot man! Love it!

Oh AWESOME!!! I am just now starting to use my pocket wizards and I am so excited to do much more with flash. Thank you for taking time to show this.

No problem, while I do not use Pocket Wizards since it limits my images in ways I do not want to be limited by, the same concept works no matter how you "trigger" the wireless flash. Our workshops are all about using the built in system eTTL and iTTL to its full advantage. Knowing its limits and working around them when you need too. Fast, Easy, Effective, the foundation on what TriCoast was built on, this little trick falls rigth into that area.Remember it next time you think you might need it and I hope it helps.I agree, I have made my own snoot out of material and velcro, cost was cheap and results are very effective. I just try and use the flash units as-is most of the time and learn everything I can so when we travel overseas I do not need to carry all of my equipment. Thanks for taking the time and posting!

cool! thanks for the information. we are trying to add more flash creativity to our shots.

would you mind posting the exif data on the camera, lens, exposure.

thanks!

NO SECRETS, that is something I truly try and live by so of course!

ISO: 400
SHUTTER: 1/1000
F/STOP: f/2.8
ESPOSURE MODE: Auto
FOCAL LENGTH: 16 mm
LENS: 16-35L II USM
METERING MODE: Pattern
WHITE BALANCE: Auto
TEMPERATURE: 4700 K

All shot within a few seconds of each, just long enoguh for me to change the MM on the wireless flash unit so all will be the same rough data.

Sweet and very generous of you to share. I grew up in Houston. I would love to sign up for a class one day.

Jennifer Grigg...man that name sounds familiar...I grew up in Houston too...

Married name.

I was Jennifer Smith, Dulles High School, actually in Sugar Land.

I'll have to do some testing because THAT'S awesome information

Thank you for sharing this Mike.

You completely rocked at NOLA. I love my tricoast DVD's!!!



Linda

I hope to see you in Tampa in Jan.I will be mentoring for DWF and of course speaking at the Eastman Kodak Photographer to Watch thing on Tuesday, but besides that, Suzy and I and you should meet up for some lunch.I have workshops right now but not in your area, I am planning one in Tampa soon or at least Florida so hope to see you again some way or some how :)Thank you for the nice words, means a lot!

Glad you enjoyed it! All I ask is you post your findings so others can learn and share also!

I'll do my best

mike you rock!! thanks for the illustrated explaination!

That really is a great example. It almost looks like all 3 are the same setup with some different adjustments in photoshop - seeing you can get "it looks too good to be original" lighting just by adjusting the throw of the flash - that's powerful stuff. I adjust the MM up and down all the time on my remotes but have never really done a test like this to see the "snoot" action. Cool!