Scott Kelby - The Flash Book

How to fall hopelessly in love with your flash, and finally start taking the type of images you bought it for in the first place

MANAGING EDITOR

Kim Doty

COPY EDITOR

Cindy Snyder

ART DIRECTOR

Jessica Maldonado

PHOTOGRAPHY

Scott Kelby

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY

Adobe Stock

PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS

Sharma Shari

Julio Aguilar

Kathy Porupski

PUBLISHED BY

Rocky Nook, Inc.

1010 B Street, Suite 350

San Rafael, CA 94901

Copyright 2018 by Scott Kelby

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Composed in Univers and Avenir (Linotype) by KelbyOne.

Trademarks

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Rocky Nook cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in the book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Photoshop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Inc.

Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc.

Nikon is a registered trademark of Nikon Inc.

Sony is a registered trademark of Sony Corp.

Phottix is a registered trademark of Phottix Ltd.

Yongnuo is a registered trademark of Shenzhen YongNuo

Photographic Equipment Co. Ltd.

Warning and Disclaimer

This book is designed to provide information about flash photography. Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty of fitness is implied.

The information is provided on an as-is basis. The author and Rocky Nook shall have neither the liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book or from the use of the discs, websites, or programs that may accompany it.

ISBN 13: 978-1-68198-274-8

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed and bound in Canada

Distributed in the US by Ingram Publisher Services

Distributed in the UK and Europe by Publishers Group UK

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017941598

www.kelbyone.com

www.rockynook.com

This book is dedicated to my dear friend and colleague Anne Cahill, who in the lobby of a small hotel in Vermont showed me how to use wireless flash for the very first time. Ill always be indebted to you for sharing your knowledge, for opening a whole new world to me, and for your friendship these many years.

Although only one name appears on the spine of this book, it takes a team of dedicated and talented people to pull a project like this together. Im not only delighted to be working with them, but I also get the honor and privilege of thanking them here.

To my amazing wife Kalebra: You continue to reinforce what everybody always tells meIm the luckiest guy in the world.

To my son Jordan: If theres a dad more proud of his son than I am, Ive yet to meet him. You are just a wall of awesome! So proud of the fine young man youve become. #rolltide!

To my beautiful daughter Kira: You are a little clone of your mom, and thats the best compliment I could ever give you.

To my big brother Jeff: Your boundless generosity, kindness, positive attitude, and humility have been an inspiration to me my entire life, and Im just so honored to be your brother.

To my editor Kim Doty: I feel incredibly fortunate to have you as my editor on these books. In fact, I cant imagine doing them without you. You truly are a joy to work with.

To my book designer Jessica Maldonado: I love the way you design, and all the clever little things you add to everything you do. Our book team struck gold when we found you!

To my dear friend and business partner Jean A. Kendra: Thanks for putting up with me all these years, and for your support for all my crazy ideas. It really means a lot.

To Erik Kuna: Thank you for taking the weight of the world on your back, so it didnt crush mine, and for working so hard to make sure we do the right thing, the right way.

To Joe McNally: I owe a special debt of gratitude to my dear friend Joe McNally, who taught me more about flash than I ever thought I would know. Thank you, Joe, for helping me see the light.

To Jeanne Jilleba: Thanks for jumping in to help out and keeping me from sinking from the weight of my daily work. Thanks for juggling my crazy schedule and making sure I have time to write.

To Ted Waitt, my awesome Editor at Rocky Nook: Thanks for helping bring this book to life, and for seeing why it could help a lot of folks. You can go ahead and order the next round of pizzas from Tonys Pizza Napoletana. Ill take a Honey Pie, a New Yorker, and a La Regina. :)

To my publisher Scott Cowlin: Im so delighted I still get to work with you, and for your open mind and vision. Can you please help Ted pay for those pizzas?

To my mentors John Graden, Jack Lee, Dave Gales, Judy Farmer, and Douglas Poole: Thank you for your wisdom and whip-crackingthey have helped me immeasurably.

Most importantly, I want to thank God, and His Son Jesus Christ, for leading me to the woman of my dreams, for blessing us with such amazing children, for allowing me to make a living doing something I truly love, for always being there when I need Him, for blessing me with a wonderful, fulfilling, and happy life, and such a warm, loving family to share it with.

Scott Kelby

Scott is Editor, Publisher, and co-founder of Photoshop User magazine, Lightroom Magazine, and host of the influential weekly photography show, The Grid. He is President of the KelbyOne online educational community for photographers, and is the founder of the annual Worldwide Photo Walk.

Scott is a photographer, designer, and award-winning author of more than 80 books, including Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It; The Adobe Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers; Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques for Photographers; How Do I Do that in Lightroom?; and The Digital Photography Book, parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The first book in this series, The Digital Photography Book, part 1, has become the top-selling book on digital photography in history.

For six years straight, Scott has been honored with the distinction of being the worlds #1 best-selling author of photography techniques books. His books have been translated into dozens of different languages, including Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Korean, Polish, Taiwanese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Hebrew, Dutch, Swedish, Turkish, and Portuguese, among many others.