Today’s easy photography tutorial with photographer David Bergman is about how and why we would use two or more flashes inside one modifier.
Mr. Bergman shares: “Most photographers will tell you that to get serious with lighting you’ve got to get that speed light off of your camera, which allows you to use an infinite number of light modifiers. Sometimes you’ll find you want to put two or more flashes inside one modifier.”
“The first reason to use more than one flash is to increase the amount of light that’s hitting your subject. The main thing you need to know is that ever time you double the number of flashes, you get one extra stop of light. So, if for example one light gives you f/4, two lights will give you 5.6 and four lights will give you f/8.”
“Another reason to add a speed light to your setup is that you can shoot at lower power levels. So if you’re shooting one flash of full power – you can shoot two flashes at half power and get the same amount of light. This will give you a much faster recycle time and also give you more pops on one set of batteries.”
“Now that we know why we want to add more lights to our setup, how do we do it? There are a lot of different great products out there but I’m going to show you a few of my favorites. One of the more expensive options is the light with the foursquare. This mounting block is built like a tank and can take up to four flashes! I like their system because they also make soft boxes that fold up really small for travel.”
“A much cheaper option is the flashpoint triple shoe mount bracket. This thing will hold up three speed lights and it has a tilt holder built in so you can pivot your umbrella up or down without any extra hardware.”
“Lastly, if you want to use multiple speed lights on the cheap setup – get some good old fashioned gaffers tape and stick those suckers together. It’s not pretty but it’ll work in a pinch.”