This week on The Practicing Photographer, I want to talk to you about being prepared for those times when you're not prepared. My name is Ben Long, and I am very fortunate to get to work with this incredible Lynda crew that's always prepared for anything. It's really fun to just watch, they always have exactly the right mount to pull out for something, or bracket to pull out for something else. I'm not like that. I routinely head off to go camping in the middle of nowhere and I forget my tent poles. Or I go driving and I forget my map. Whatever. So, it's not unusual for me to get out to shoot something and lack a critical piece of gear.
I want to talk about some very quick and easy things you can do if you get out and you're trying to use your flash, and you find that you don't have what you need to get your flash mounted on a flash stand. I have a stand here, and I have a flash. The stand, though, only has a quarter inch screw on the end, because I forgot to bring the thing that gives me a shoe to put the flash in. There's no there's no socket on the bottom of the flash, so there's nothing I can do, until I go back to my flash case, and remember that the flash came with this little foot.
These things are really cool. They go on the bottom of your flash and screw down, and they then allow it to stand upright. So first of all, if I can just find something that's sitting at the same level as, that I want my flash, it can actually just stand there. But if not, if I really need to use the flash stand, that's okay because the foot has a socket on the bottom. So I can actually just screw this directly into the flash stand and have a way of holding my flash. So that's a piece of gear you probably have with you that will work with a quarter inch thread. That means it'll probably work on your tripod, or other pieces of gear that you might have that have that kind of screw on the end.
Now, if you don't have one of these, or if you have one and it doesn't have a socket on the end, all is not lost, you've still got this nice, sturdy, vertical contraption here that you can attach your flash to, you just need a way to attach it. Now, I know you spent a lot of money on your flash, and it's all clean and shiny and new. And so you may be thinking, oh, it's a very sophisticated, high-tech piece of gear, I have to work through its official interface. Nah, that's what duct tape is for. There's no reason you can't just latch your flash to the stand using duct tape or gaffer's tape. And if you think, oh, if I do that, I'm going to leave sticky goo all over my flash.
Gaffer's tape is very expensive, but the great advantage of it is when you pull the tape off, it doesn't leave stuff on your flash. Now when you're taping your flash to something, you do need to give a little consideration to the fact that there's communication with your flash here, that if you're working in TTL mode, you don't want to cover this up. If you're not working in TTL mode, if you're working manually, then you've got the problem of you're going to want to get access to the controls on the back of the flash. So, maybe you want to try and tape it this way. You may have to work at it a little bit. If you don't have duct tape with you, consider the might zip tie.
I'm a big fan of zip ties for all sorts of inappropriate repairs and modifications to things. And for this one, I'm actually going to leave the foot on here because it gives me something to loop the tie around. Zip ties are very simple. They, you just thread them together like this and they, and they lock. Now before you go and put a zip tie on something, be sure you have a way with you to get it off. A pair of wire cutters or a knife or something like that, because you don't want to get it on there and then... I shouldn't have put that on first. Anyway, you don't want to get it on there and not be able to get it off.
So all I'm going to do is stick that on there, thread it down real tight. And it may not be pretty, but it'll stay there. If I've got a couple more, I can lash it on even more sturdy. Now you may be thinking, right, you brought a light stand, but you didn't bring all the other stuff? If I, if I don't, if I, if I have a light stand, why wouldn't I have all of the other stuff? Well, if you're like me, just because. But you don't have to do this with just a light stand, this will work with any tall, vertical structure. You can do this with like stoplight poles and street light poles and saplings and skinny people.
Anything that stands tall and straight in a sturdy manner, you can just try and fix your flash to it. The big lesson here is not necessarily about any of these particular ways of fixing it, but to not think of this piece of gear as so precious that you can't improvise a method to get it stuck to something. This may not look pretty, but it's going to get the light where I want it, and that's what I need when I'm ready to take a shot.
Author
Updated
12/23/2020Released
5/19/2013Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Q: Why can't I earn a Certificate of Completion for this course?
A: We publish a new tutorial or tutorials for this course on a regular basis. We are unable to offer a Certificate of Completion because it is an ever-evolving course that is not designed to be completed. Check back often for new movies.
Related Courses
-
Photography Foundations: Composition
with Ben Long5h 29m Intermediate -
The DIY Photographer
with Joseph "PhotoJoseph" Linaschke2h 39m Intermediate -
Photo Tools Weekly
with Chris Orwig26h 18m Intermediate
-
The Practicing Photographer - New This Week
-
16-bit in Photoshop6m 23s
-
-
Introduction
-
Previous Episodes
-
Choosing a camera5m 27s
-
Let your lens reshape you7m 26s
-
Working with reflections1m 26s
-
Exploring mirrorless cameras7m 25s
-
Using a tripod3m 33s
-
Wildlife and staying present5m 58s
-
Why Shoot Polaroid11m 12s
-
Seizing an opportunity4m 4s
-
Shooting wildlife7m 24s
-
Using a lens hood4m 48s
-
Working with themes2m 48s
-
Setting up an HDR time lapse7m 55s
-
Processing an HDR time lapse7m 55s
-
Scanning Photos5m 37s
-
Jpeg iPad import process3m 17s
-
Warming up3m 26s
-
Taking a panning action shot10m 17s
-
Shooting a silhouette3m 9s
-
Using Lightroom on the road6m 28s
-
Shooting level2m 42s
-
Photoshop and Automator8m 54s
-
Softboxes vs. umbrellas2m 55s
-
Working with hair in post3m 28s
-
Exploring how to use Bokeh5m 38s
-
Shooting stills from a drone6m 57s
-
Working with models2m 40s
-
Tips for shooting panoramas7m 16s
-
Dry sensor cleaning6m 23s
-
Composing in the center2m 48s
-
Vignetting9m 56s
-
Inspire3m 29s
-
Minimizing camera baggage4m 24s
-
Working without a tripod4m 11s
-
Printer options6m 51s
-
Exploring lo-fi printing options11m 58s
-
IOS macro photography gear12m 25s
-
IR Conversion Part 27m 27s
-
Raw editing in Lightroom mobile10m 35s
-
Shooting a macro insect shot13m 5s
-
A brief history of photography12m 19s
-
Shooting with a Petzval lens9m 49s
-
What is a low-pass filter?4m 35s
-
Teleconverters and lenses5m 12s
-
Media card care7m 19s
-
Dual slot4m 2s
-
Exploring smart previews9m 12s
-
Flying and photo batteries5m 41s
-
Partial vignettes on photos8m 38s
-
360 image editing plugins6m 59s
-
Using a gimbal with an SLR8m 13s
-
Choosing a lens6m 27s
-
Switching camera systems7m 42s
-
Using 360 drones5m 41s
-
VR gimbals4m 16s
-
Working with a photo subject14m 26s
-
Posing a photo subject12m 53s
-
Framing and safety7m 7s
-
RAW converter options3m 59s
-
Drone flight7m 19s
-
Basic abstract photography8m 51s
-
Aspect ratio3m 40s
-
Focus lock on your camera2m 11s
-
Using the Astropad app6m 33s
-
Working with dim sunlight6m 33s
-
Configuring dual cards2m 52s
-
Long lens options4m 45s
-
Moving images from catalogs7m 47s
-
Photography education11m 7s
-
In-camera focus stacking9m 52s
-
Exposure isn't everything4m 17s
-
Why shoot film?8m 55s
-
Culling4m
-
Choosing a film camera8m 38s
-
Analog workflow9m 9s
-
Easily produce giant prints10m 15s
-
Luna Display4m 19s
-
Choosing film7m 50s
-
Photo fads4m 46s
-
Portrait lighting techniques8m 32s
-
Diopter control2m 56s
-
Loupedeck for Lightroom6m 48s
-
Printing small3m 37s
-
Lens flare removal6m 28s
-
Paper choice for prints7m 39s
-
Aspect ratio for portraits2m 33s
-
When in doubt2m 24s
-
Looking vs. seeing2m 44s
-
Do you need a carnet?5m 23s
-
Scan large items6m 17s
-
Create an honest portrait5m 34s
-
A portrait assignment3m 23s
-
Am I good?5m 59s
-
Boredom4m 13s
-
Clichés4m 29s
-
Finding inspiration5m 42s
-
An everyday project5m 47s
-
Learning from students4m 56s
-
Life as a project5m 27s
-
Why take a workshop?4m 33s
-
Photographic honesty2m 52s
-
Up to interpretation3m 27s
-
Photographic style3m 40s
-
Photography drills6m 31s
-
Digital chores4m 23s
-
Photos and words4m 11s
-
Stay-at-home exercises3m 45s
-
Understanding your medium2m 28s
-
Darkroom for iOS5m 15s
-
iOS image editing extensions2m 58s
-
On set: Simplicity4m 5s
-
On set: Corners2m 19s
-
On set: The build4m 30s
-
On set: Same pieces, new set3m 18s
-
Choose a price first3m 20s
-
Rewind: Choosing a camera5m 41s
-
On time and in tune3m 3s
-
Avalanche for aperture4m 8s
-
Evaluating a wide-angle lens6m 14s
-
Auction catalogs4m 56s
-
Get out and shoot (safely)3m 45s
-
Do ruts exist?2m 24s
-
- Mark as unwatched
- Mark all as unwatched
Are you sure you want to mark all the videos in this course as unwatched?
This will not affect your course history, your reports, or your certificates of completion for this course.
CancelTake notes with your new membership!
Type in the entry box, then click Enter to save your note.
1:30Press on any video thumbnail to jump immediately to the timecode shown.
Notes are saved with you account but can also be exported as plain text, MS Word, PDF, Google Doc, or Evernote.
Share this video
Embed this video
Video: Using duct tape and zip ties in the field