Multiple Flash - Work Diary

For my Multiple Flash shoot, I decided to use the studio instead of on location, due to being able to control my light settings more and not having flash equipment that I can bring to a shoot on location. I used spotlights as my flash, which had to be triggered manually, meaning I had to borrow somebody else to trigger it.

This is my favourite photo from my multiple flash shoot. This was taken with an exposure of 6" and an aperture of f16. One of the thing I like about this photo is how it's framed; there's not a full face shown in the frame, which I feel goes with there being several faces in the image in creating a very surreal atmosphere. I also like the use of colour and tone; there are not bright colours in the image, with almost the entire image consisting of black and white, barring the pale muted shades of the faces. The small range of colours creates connotations of fear and sadness. There has also been effective use of tone in this photo as there some very pale and light tones shown in my subject's face, as well as very dark tones shown in his shirt and the background. This creates a wide tonal range.

This is an image from my shoot that I feel didn't go well. This was also taken on 6" and f16. One of the main thing I feel went wrong with this photo is the framing; some of the wall is visible next to background, which ruins the effect of complete darkness shown in the other photo, meaning there is less of an atmosphere of sadness made. I also feel I used too long an exposure for the movements I directed my subject to do in this shot. I shot on a 6 second exposure, and my subject had extreme movements, therefore the resulting image couldn't quite capture strong snapshots of stages in his movement. The fact he moved so much meant there were not any points where you could clearly see him in shot, which I feel takes away from the effect the photo should have had.

I am unlikely to use this technique in my project, because although it interests me, I don't own equipment that will make this possible on location, and getting access to it may be expensive. However, if I am able to access this equipment, I may be able to incorporate this into some of my shoots in Urban areas.

Multiple Flash - Straight Images

Multiple Flash - Technique

A multiple flash image is a type of long exposure image. It involves taking a photo with a long exposure, but you trigger a flash multiple times during the exposure of the photo. Because of this, you have to use some kind of external flash, whether it's an on camera flash gun or triggered studio softlights. If you use an on camera flash, It will need to be one that you can set to fire multiple times, which can be expensive, therefore I used normal studio softlights and triggered them manually.

For multiple flash photography, you will want to shoot on a tripod. This is because you will shooting using long exposures, and a result, there will be dramatic camera shake at the slightest movement. You will likely be shooting on an exposure of anything over a second; the longer the exposure, the more times you will be able to fire the flash, therefore the more stages of movement you will be able to display. Because the exposure is long, you will need to use a high f stop in order to limit the amount of light that enters the shutter. As for the flash, unless you have a flash that you can set to trigger several times during the exposure, you will need to trigger the light manual during the exposure.

Multiple Flash - Image Bank

This multiple flash image has used lots of flashes; 16 to be exact. Because of the amount of flashes, this has likely been shot on a very long shutter speed, perhaps 6". This image creates the effect of a person walking.

This image also has had the flash fire many times, as there are a lot of stages of her movement shown. This was likely to be a slightly shorter exposure, perhaps 3 or 4 seconds, as this was likely a fast movement.

The image above is a multiple flash image with considerably less flashes taking place than in the other two. you can see around eight different positions in which the flash has fired. This has likely been taken on an exposure of around 3 seconds

This image captures a very large amount of movement; it also differs from the previous images by having four subjects instead of one. The fact they are moving within a small space has created a blur effect, as each snapshot of movement has merged into the others

The image above is a much simpler multiple flash image than most; there have only been three flashes during the camera's exposure, which I would guess is around three seconds. This is different in that you was not moving large amounts during the photo; she moved from position to position, freezing each time, which means there are three clear images of her in the photo

Multiple Flash - Definition

Multiple flash is a technique that incorporates several flashes within one exposure. You will need either one flashgun that will fire several times, or several flashguns to fire at intervals. The resulting image will show several stages of movement, each lit up by flash.

Here is an example of a multiple flash image. From this image, you can see how she moved; starting with her arms by her side and moving them up before putting her hands together above her head. You can see four different positions in her movement, meaning the flash has been fired four times during an exposure of around 3 seconds.