Learning how to use and abuse your flash, on-camera or off, is a photography skill that we all embrace eventually.
It’s like a level up on the ladder in the photo toolkit, but so many people are afraid of their flash or think it’s cheating or something.
What using flash does though, is set you apart from the slog of other photographers out in the world.
A huge pet peeve of mine is when photographers brag about being ‘available light’ photographers.
Do you know what else is available? A flash.
What that statement says to me is that you are new to photography and are not equipped to handle difficult lighting situations. You probably rely heavily on post-processing the image and your images look just like everyone else’s.
When you learn how to use a flash, everything changes with your business and your photography. Flash ups your game, big time.
Use off-camera flash for wedding photography
Learn how to use your flash on and off-camera so you can capture dynamic images and bring your wedding & portrait photography up to a professional level.
Have you ever seen Fearless Photographers?? Seriously, check out the award winning images from that international group of photographers. It will give you complete awe and inspiration!
I use my flash in just about every situation. Sometimes it just fills in the subject’s eyes and sometimes I use it to brighten an interesting background.
More often than not, I’ll use my giant (and old-school) QFlash to over power the sun on a bright July wedding day.
One of my favorite tricks is in taking the flash off of my camera for a quick and dirty off-camera trick for dynamic lighting on the fly.
–>> It turns out that the pop-up flash on a Nikon d750 will trigger Nikon flashes!
It turns out that the pop-up flash on a Nikon d750 will trigger Nikon flashes off-camera!
I learned this nifty trick a few years back at a Nikon Speedlight workshop and it has been my go-to flash technique ever since.
Nikon d750 built-in flash as commander
So, you are ready to take that flash off of your camera, but you don’t know where to start.
It’s simple!
–>> With the d750’s built-in flash, you can put your Nikon in commander mode to trigger your Nikon Speedlights.
The camera even lets you control the output of light from the flash.
I used to get so annoyed when setting up lighting for the first dance, toasts, etc. and hated having to cross the room to adjust the power of a flash. Then I’d have to shuffle back to where I was going to take the photo to test the light again.
Now I can stay put and adjust each flash as needed.
Getting that light off of your camera is what will really set your work apart from the stream of other photographers and will also help you add light for any situation.
When you are ready to figure out how to photograph a wedding alone, check out this cool trick for QUICK professional lighting results using a D750 and one Nikon Speedlight.
This trick is how I work quick and fast during the prep part of the wedding day, as well as when I’m capturing the reception details and other moments.
{examples shown in the video, so check that out}.
Prior to this commander trick, I’ve used Pocket Wizards (still do) & the Nikon Commander (sold it!).
Off-camera flash for Nikon d750 tips
Another hot tip is to add the commander menu to your “my menu” on the camera for easy access. Now that I use the pop-up flash to remote trigger my Nikon SB-700 flashes, I can hit one button to get into the menu to adjust each flash’s output. Score!
Examples of off-camera flash with Nikon d750:
Where off-camera flash with my Nikon really works well is when I photograph my albums and books.
I have one speed light in my living room to fill the background a little as well as add a rim light to outline my albums. The primary flash is in my dining room where I’m photographing the books to fill them in and show off the cover options.
So now you know how I photograph weddings without a second photographer and still get really interesting lighting by taking my flash off of my camera.
How can you add off-camera flash to your wedding photos? Share below!
Does the pop up flash go off when you are in commander mode?
Yes, it is a super short tiny flash burst just to trigger the main flash. So, clients won’t even notice it.
Hi. I can’t stop the on camera flash from firing on my D750 ever when it’s set to – – Can anyone help as I’ve tried everything.
Hey Pete, are you still using it to trigger the off-camera flash? It should stay on if that’s the case.
Won’t the flash that’s fired from the popup flash on the camera affect the lighting on the photo?
Great question! No, the d750 meters everything for you and balances the light perfectly. The only time it has affected my image has been when I’m taking almost a macro photo using an extremely wide-angle lens.
For some more tech info on Nikon’s website, visit: https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/products-and-innovation/advanced-wireless-lighting.html
Do you know if using Commander Mode to trigger an off-camera speedlight also works if the shutter is triggered with a remote, like an ML-L3?
Hey John,
I haven’t tried that myself, but I’m sure it would work. It’s a line of sight/optical trigger, so it shouldn’t matter what’s pushing the button. Great idea. Let me know how it turns out.