Learning about off-camera flash: A landscape photographer’s first portrait session

Coming from a landscape photography background, I’ve shied away over the years from learning about off-camera flash. I told myself that I didn’t need it. But if I’m being honest, I was just overwhelmed at the thought of learning a whole new skill set. I had convinced myself that I was a “natural light” photographer and didn’t require supplemental light for my work. For some unjustified reason, flash and strobes intimidate me.

This personal ruse worked well until last year when I started growing my business and diversifying the types of shooting I was doing. Suddenly, I was seeing the need for added light in various photographic situations. I’d be in the forest shooting mountain biking and wouldn’t have enough ambient light to freeze my speedy subject. At a commercial gig they wanted my outdoor photography to be supplemented with a head shot in a dark location.