External Camera Flash

A little while ago, my husband purchased an external flash to attach to his current digital SLR camera. By using this external flash, he can take brighter, sharper photos than usual, making it possible to capture beautiful pictures even indoors or at night.

SONY HVL-F60RM

It feels like professional gear, so I asked him, “Why did you buy something like that?”

Until now, photos of our beloved car under cloudy skies or in shadowy spots, or indoor shots of the kids, didn’t come out very well. But with this, I can take perfectly clear photos. Plus, it has an LED light function, and there’s a shooting technique I want to try out.

That’s what he said.

My husband has always been quite particular about photography, and we often receive compliments on the car photos featured on this blog. Beyond photography, he’s also particular about recording the engine sound of our beloved car and shooting videos, so over time, his gear collection has grown quite a bit.

SONY α7Ⅲ / SONY SEL24105G / SONY SEL70300G / SONY RX100M7 / GoPro HERO4 / GoPro HERO7 / GoPro HERO8 / DJI Mavic Pro / DJI Osmo Mobile 2 / audio-technica AT9943

Still, I wonder what exactly he’s aiming for… lol

Shooting Method Introduced on Porsche’s Official Twitter

A few days later, my husband took his external flash, camera, tripod, and other gear to Kobe Harborland to photograph the 911 GT3 against the nightscape. Here are some of the photos he took.

These photos were taken using a shooting method officially introduced by Porsche. Specifically, he set up a tripod and used a slow shutter speed on the camera. This time, ISO was set to 100 and the shutter speed was about 30 seconds. While the shutter was open, he quickly ran close to the car and moved the LED light on the flash by hand to illuminate the car. Once finished, he quickly moved away from the car.
Because the person not illuminated by the light doesn’t appear in the photo, the car looks as if it’s spotlighted, creating a stunning image. One important point is to avoid pointing the LED light directly at the camera, or else light streaks will appear in the photo.

I’m not very familiar with these techniques, so even after hearing the explanation, I don’t fully understand how it works, but there really are many ways to shoot. Regarding these photos, my husband said,

The photos came out better than before, but I’m still a bit concerned about the framing and details. It was cold, so I wrapped up early, but I wanted to stick it out for another hour or so… I’ll definitely go for a retake. ……….

So, when he manages to take photos he’s truly satisfied with, I’d love to share them here on the blog again. lol