because "snoot" is a fun word | Week 2 of learning to use on-camera flash | Mobile AL family photographer

I mentioned that I'm currently in a 4-week workshop learning to use an on-camera flash (otherwise known as a Speedlight.) If you missed Week 1, you can head over here to see how that went!

So in Week 2, we learned about a fun concept called a "snoot." Admit it, you want to just say "snoot" a bunch of times in a row! I'll try to throw it into this post as much as I can just because.

 Basically it's a fun word that means an attachment to your flash that allows you to block some of the light from spreading in all directions. This lets you give some more direction to your light for those awesome highlights and shadows.

So Week 2 had us practicing with snoots, half snoots, and reflectors to attempt to give certain direction to the light.

Here's a first attempt with A while he's doing his homework. You can see how there's both highlight and shadow on his face. Thanks, snoot!

Then another evening when it was dark outside, I practiced with C while he was working on his next masterpiece.

I love that these are shots I would not have been able to take pre-speedlight. Well, without them looking super super "flashy" anyway. Definitely used a snoot for these!

And then our assignment for the week was to attempt to create certain types of light on our subject, using our flash (and possibly a reflector or snoot).

These first 2 of B are examples of short light. It's called "short light" because the part of the face that is towards the light is the shorter part of what you're able to see. I lllooovvee some short light!

This last one is close to being Rembrandt light. See how he's got that little triangle of light on the right cheek? It's not a perfect Rembrandt triangle, but it's really close, which I'll take. Because it's trickier getting this right with a flash than with natural window light.

Anyway, I learned a lot in Week 2 of this workshop and had fun practicing things in a new way. I knew how to create this light using a window, but it's a whole different thing trying to do it with a flash! Kind of like trying to write a letter using your non-dominant hand, I guess. Except more fun because of the snoot. ;)