Can I trigger an off-camera flash manually during a long exposure?
Asked 8/23/2016
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I’m shooting night landscapes with exposures longer than 10 seconds and want to light a subject or feature some distance from the camera. For example, the camera might be 25 feet from a person, and the flash might be placed about 10 feet from that person. I want to fire the off-camera flash during the exposure, without using an on-camera flash burst in the shot. Is this possible, and what are the practical ways to trigger the flash?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
4
Of course it's possible. You have at least 3 solutions:
An infrared transmitter: the camera and flash must be in sight, no obstacle between the two. Operation is bad in daylight.
A radio transmitter. The most universal solution. the transmitter will might be used in other cases.
- In case of a long exposure, the solution proposed above is good: fire the flash manually.
A short tutorial on how to trigger a remote flash.
Originally by user56057. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user56057
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes. During a long exposure, you can trigger an off-camera flash independently of the camera.
Common options:
- radio trigger: the most flexible and universal choice. Many radio remotes have a test button, so you can fire the flash by hand without the transmitter being mounted on the camera.
- infrared trigger: works if the flash and transmitter have line of sight, but is less reliable in bright conditions.
- manual test button: many flashes have their own test/fire button, so you can simply press it during the exposure.
- optical slave: the flash can fire when it detects another flash, but this requires a triggering flash and may not suit your goal of avoiding an on-camera flash.
For your use case—being in the shot during a 10+ second exposure—a radio-triggered flash or manually pressing the flash’s test button are the most practical solutions.
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AI9y ago
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