Photography Tips | PocketWizards

I just got a MiniTT1 and a FlexTT5 PocketWizard set from B&H, one of the best wireless triggering systems for off-camera flash. The MiniTT1 (transmitter) is mounted right on the hot-shoe of my Canon 5D Mark II Camera and the FlexTT5 (receiver) is fixated right between a tripod (or you can use a light stand) and my Canon 430EX II Speedlite Flash.

When your camera’s sync speed is only around 1/250th, shooting fast-paced action in locations with lots of ambient light means working around some tricky problems, like balancing color temperature and dealing with motion blur. Photographers are usually forced to use smaller apertures, taking away an element of creative control.

PocketWizard’s HyperSync technology allows you to fine-tune the timing of your flash to achieve the maximum possible sync speed of your equipment, which could be as fast as 1/8000th of a second on full flash power. Real life example: if you would like to light your subject with a flash while using a wide-open aperture to keep distracting background elements out of focus, high speed flash sync can solve this problem! Your flash unit can provide the light to properly expose your subject, and the high shutter speed will allow a correctly exposed (or even underexposed!) background to dramatically separate your subject from the background. Check out Mark Wallace’s video about the HyperSync Technology.

My beautiful sister, Katherine, modeled for me while I did my first practice shots with my new PocketWizard. Having an off-camera flash allows for great control of ambient light and can also create really pretty pictures and drama by not having the flash directly pointed at your subject.

We thought it would be funny (although Lincoln didn’t find it too humorous) to throw my puppy in the air. He did this weird pose every single time we tossed him in the air, he would put his front legs straight down in front of him and his back legs right out to the sides to balance him. He surprisingly never freaked out… he just acted like he was really pissed at us after we did it each time. Oh well.. it was fun! And Cody had fun treating him like a basketball throwing him several feet in the air.I love when my husband, Cody, let’s me photograph him.. since it’s once in a blue moon. His main motivation though was because I could make him look like he’s an alien dropping down from the sky, which turned out pretty cool! hahhaha