Shooting Speedlight Street Photography

I’m doing something today that I always tell photographers never to do, shooting with on-camera flash! I’m in NYC with Jamie and Marissa, a creative team and we are going to shoot some fun street photography! It’s just a fun challenge to see what kind of images you can get using your on-camera flash.

Camera Setting

To get this on camera flash look, I’m going to use the speed light on my Canon using TTL flash. I won’t allow myself to go below 1/60s or go above 1/200s and my aperture, shutter, and ISO are set to manual to give me the proper exposure. I have my speed light set to TTL.

So this is really a lot of fun, we are just walking around pictures with different people. The guy in the produce truck was really happy to be in our shoot. I’m currently shooting at about 1/60s with f4.5 to give me a broader focus array.

Speedlight Setting

On your speed light there is an exposure compensation that allows you to over or under expose your photos by 3 stops, so if the image is too bright then you can easily dial it down a stop. I find that when you get a manual exposure that works great for the setting you are in that you can use TTL and it works great.

Lens Choice

I’m currently shooting with a 24-70mm because it’s more versatile to shoot with and allows me to get a quick zoom when I need it. Using f2.8 – f5.6 works perfectly fine for me because I have a larger depth of field so I can see everything clearly in the frame.

Clothing Choice

As it gets a little darker, the flash stands out a bit more. Since they are wearing white it really doesn’t take much in order for them to stand out.

As the sun goes down, I might use a tripod so I can get a longer exposure time to capture more of the city lights.

Composition Tips

I’m looking for leading lines in the image that are going to add depth and interest in the composition. Color depth is also something to look for when mixing the warm tones of Tungsten light with the cool tones of the strobe flash.

Mixing Lighting

When shooting you can really mix it up, I thought it was interesting to combine the strobe light with more of the ambient interior lights. So that’s it for today, I show you how to balance on camera flash with ambient surrounding lights in order to make your subject light up and stand out!