Without a doubt you can take gorgeous and dramatic photos using beautiful natural light. What if you don’t have great natural light available? There’s always post processing to add interest to your photo but getting things right in-camera is always your best bet. It saves time (usually hours) and frustration because many times if the photo wasn’t shot right, there’s no saving it.

If you want to have the option of great light whenever you need it, off camera flash is the way to go. Sounds easy, but is it? Perfecting the craft of light is one of the most challenging aspects of photography. Learning to use light to consistently achieve the creative effect you’re after will be one of the biggest step you’ll take in your photography. An easy way to do that is to learn how to use off camera flash.

The first thing you need to do is REALLY learn how to use your complicated flash. If you have a Canon 600 EX or 580 / 430 EX you can check out my Crash Course Training Tutorials HERE. These videos will take out the guesswork and within a couple hours you’ll no longer feel confused. After that, it’s time to get creative. If you’re looking for a whole bunch of fun and creative ways to use light I HIGHLY recommend my Lighting Crash Course. You can find that HERE.

In the meantime to get a feel for how flash works and maybe what goes into it, check out this quick video by Jay P Morgan where he quickly shows how he balances natural light with flash.