Foreword by David Hobby

Twenty-five years ago, when I first became a professional photographer, I scraped together $650 (which went much further than it would today) and bought a specialized Polaroid back for my Nikon. It was ridiculously expensive, but it did one thing very well. For just two dollars and a two-minute wait, I could see a tiny, near-instant photograph from my 35mm camera.

And I did it for one reason: to help me improve my flash photography.

The device was painfully expensive to buy and to use, but it was worth every penny. I finally had the instant feedback I needed to adjust my lighting on the fly. I could see what I was doing wrong and fix it immediately. Or, more often, see that my lighting was too boring and kick it up a notch.

Fast forward to 2009, and everyone has Polaroid backs, disguised as small screens, on the backs of their cameras. Instead of two minutes and two dollars, the result of your just-taken photo is displayed instantly, and for free.

Combine that with the availability of small, powerful and sophisticated flashes, and the result is literally hundreds of thousands of new photographers around the world experimenting with light in new and interesting ways.

But even though we have the feedback from the screen, flash is intimidating for many of us. The process is somehow mystical in that it happens all at once, which makes it harder to understand than a continuous light source.

Though it can be a bit of a hurdle to overcome, learning how to use your flash—both on-camera and off—is worth the effort. Photographers write with light, and there is no small light more versatile and/or more powerful than the small flash built for your DSLR.

When we shoot with the flash on the camera, we see the world as if we are walking around with the sun behind us. Sure, the detail is recorded, but all three-dimensionality is lost. It is as if we are taking pictures of our world with a photocopier.

But move the lights away from the camera, and shape is revealed. That difference between what the camera sees and what the light sees creates form, texture, mood, and feeling.

Light is the single most important element that determines the feel of a photograph. And yet so many of us are held captive to whatever available light is provided. Taking the leap to learn how to control your own lighting opens the door to a completely new world of photography. Your vision—your creativity—becomes limitless. You can create any look you want.

And all of the magic happens in less than a 1/1000 of a second. All you have to do is understand the principles well enough to start to experiment and play.

If you were a painter, you would take the time to learn about paint: how to color it, how to mix it, how to apply it, and how to shape it.

You are a photographer. Make the same commitment to learn those things about light.

David Hobby

Strobist.com

Columbia, MD, USA

August 2009