My photographers Christmas gear list

When I’m teaching photographers how to get better pictures with the photo gear they have, I use a range of photo gear. So in this Christmas season here’s my list of seven top photo essentials. 1. Camera Everybody needs one to take photos, or make movies. I’ve been a long time Canon user, since the …

Multiple flash and multiple exposure photography with EOS 5D Mark III

EOS 5D Mark III multiple exposure mode EOS 5D Mark III includes a multiple exposure mode that makes in-camera composite images simple to do, and very importantly it allows each of the component images to be saved as a RAW image as well as the final composite. Taking a simple subject and lighting them with two …

Stop your Speedlites sleeping when using pocket wizards

Pocket Wizard & Speedlites that don’t sleep on the job! Just yesterday I got a call from a photographer friend asking for my advice on stopping his Canon Speedlite from sleeping. He was using a Pocket Wizard plus II to trigger his Speedlite set to a manual power level. The problem was the Speedlite kept …

Zoom if you want to go further

One of the questions I often get asked is how to make multiple Speedlites communicate reliably outdoors. Canon’s flash system uses pulses of light to transfer commands from the master flash to the slave flashes. The slaves don’t send communication back, but they do flash and pre-flash as requested by the master. Canon’s manuals give …