Learn How to Use Off-Camera Flash for Professional Digital Photography Results

Rick: I’ve been doing photography for a while not. It’s the only hobby that has stuck with me throughout all my years. I’ve relied on auto flash all my life but this book gave me the know how to go full manual in portraits/special occasions with confidence.

The explanations are clear and concise. The examples photos shows the explanations. It also shows you what to do in funky light situations so an impossible shot (before) becomes extraordinary. I’ve bought and read a few “flash” books but this is the only book where the concepts really stick. It has taken my photography hobby from blasé to good (great/excellent is really for people who spend a lot of time honing their craft and get paid for it). This book lets me take pictures where people think I know what I’m doing lol,

It’s a great technical book on flash photography for budding and amateur photographers. I wish this was around when I started many moons ago, who knows where I would have wound up.

United States on May 19, 2023

HawaiianEye: If you are looking for hardware recipes, and layout diagrams of how to set up lights and backdrops, exact f-stops shutter speeds, ISO, including flash settings, and posing instructions in order to produce foolproof, beautiful portraits, may your photographic journeys be happy and satisfying as you blissfully pass by this book. Honestly, this is not that path.
For the average "consumer" photographer, this book will probably encourage you to avoid serious flash photography, and stick to the popup, or that same brand automatic TTL flash. Though the book does address TTL flash control.
For someone serious about learning what's involved, this will open up a whole new world of knowledge.
It is not a comprehensive encyclopedia of artificial lighting reinforcement, but a gateway to open your brain wide.
If you are new to these concepts, you may need to reread sections, and include personal notes like I enjoy doing.
The author takes the path to help you understand what's going on with your camer's, specific setting, and the flash unit.
Ambient, reflective, incident light are explained. How each aspect of your camera's exposure settings, effect and control the specific...

United States on Oct 05, 2016

PRAVIN THAKRAR: Excellent book with lots information on techniques for digital photography.

Canada on Jun 09, 2015

Harry T. Dubetz: I should have given it 3 stars because of numerous errors, but the book otherwise deserves 5 stars. The author is an excellent photographer, very well known in professional circles, and an expert on flash gun/strobe lighting. There are other books on this topic but the ones I've seen do not deliver the detailed explanation that this book gives. For example, there is "Understanding Flash Photography" by Bryan Peterson. Seems to be error-free, unlike this book, but it does not live up to the title. It would be most useful for those who shoot in program mode. Van Niekerk',s book is excellent in giving details, lucid explanations, and superb, real world examples. It really is a pity though that there are very annoying and confusing errors. These cover a range of about 7 or 8 pages. Each error involves a mix-up of photo & caption as it relates to text. So, either text is wrong, or photo and caption is wrong. To the author's credit he is trying to list these on a portion of his website, though not all errors are currently listed there. Alas, there was a time when these things were very rare. I was born in 1940 and I remember the time. We used to have competent editing at the...

United States on Mar 03, 2014

airamoigroig: È uno dei migliori libri in circolazione per l'utilizzo del flash distante dalla fotocamera (off-camera). Moltissimi esempi e situazioni diverse per capire le impostazioni migliori.

Italy on Sep 13, 2013

patrick: Pour qui s’intéresse à la pratique du flash cobra, je vous conseille les 3 livres de Neil (il y en a bien 3)
certes en Anglais mais relativement simple a comprendre et surtout une mine d'infos et de conseils !!!

France on Mar 11, 2013

Book Junky: I don't know where you got your 'flash education' from, but mine was a bit haphazard because flash pictures didn't play a big role in the kind of pictures I take .You can probably see where this is going with not the right and enough information and the right equipment it's a recipe for frustration.And when you find yourself with a flash that has off-camera capabilities it just compounds the 'problem'. Then I ran across Joe McNally's books , inspirational text and style of writing but still,to my mind, a bit haphazard.

Recently I got hold of Neil's books and it was like the sun started to shine through the fog.Everything fell into place and started to make sense.Intelligent talk at the right level ,like he was standing next to you. Ideally you should start with his first book 'On-camera flash' and then move on to this one. Best money I ever spent on flash equipment. If you have a love-hate relationship with your hot-shoe flash and you are done with all the frustration, get these books. Admittedly he uses professional Canon and Nikon flashes but you cannot fail to walk away from his books and see the sun shine.

United Kingdom on May 15, 2012

Becki1965: Da ich mit anderen Büchern zum Thema "Fotografie" aus dem Amherst-Verlag eigentlich sehr gute Erfahrungen habe (gutes Preis-Leistungsverhältnisse, meist gut bebildert) habe ich mir dieses Buch gekauft. Vorweg schon soviel. Das Buch ist eigentlich o.k. und seinen Preis wert. Der Grund warum ich es trotzdem nur mit 3 Sternen bewerte ist das es sowohl aus dem Amherst-Verlag zum gleichen Thema Besseres gibt ("Just one flash" von R. & R. Deutschmann) bzw. es zu diesem Thema auch sehr gute deutschsprachige Literatur gibt (z.B. "Entfesselt blitzen" von Roggemann). Man muss hier also nicht unbedingt auf englischsprachige Literatur ausweichen.

Germany on Jan 15, 2012

Jaziey: I own quite a few books on photography. "Off Camera Flash" is one of three books that I use as reference material. Neil Van Niekerk describes the technique of combining ambient lighting with flash and his photos depict the result. I do a lot of studio work but was somewhat reluctant to move my strobes (now I use speedlights) outdoors. The book clearly explains how to approach lighting setup when using speedlights set to manual, TTL and automatic. The author is very knowledgable (a characteristic many authors have). But he has a way of showing how to use the lights that can immediately be put into practice. I have tried it and like the results. If you are a novice to location lighting ( or new to any flash/strobe lighting) this book can be very useful right away.

Other great books are:

Captured by the Light; David Ziser ( he has steps for crying out loud)
Light Science and Magic; Fil Hunter

United States on Dec 02, 2011