Being a fitness photographer, Matt Korinek sometimes needs to shoot in difficult conditions that requires shorter flash duration than the so-called x-sync, typically 1/250 of a second. He was then of course extra excited when we released HSS for his Profoto B1 Off-Camera Flash. Matt decided to try it out in three different situations.
First off, a shoot up on the roof of a local parking garage. Matt wanted to get a good look of how the system would operate in full sun.
“As you can see, the flash makes a big difference in the scene while still keeping it realistic.”, Matt writes and compares the two images seen below.
“The Profoto HSS system was up to the task and I didn’t see any banding that you would usually see if you exceed your camera’s flash sync speed limit. The TTL system also worked as advertised and provided an acceptable exposure.”
“The biggest benefit was that I could shoot at high shutter speeds fast enough to capture action and add artificial light to give the image a more premium look.”, he continues.
For the second location, at Light Space Yoga, he wanted to test HSS in an indoor situation, a space with large, bright windows.
“When shooting yoga, I’d ideally like to shoot at least 1/500 of a second. That allows me to let the yogi flow through their practice while I’m there to capture authentic moments. Slower shutter speeds can introduce some motion blur depending on how fast the yogi moves through their poses.”, he writes.
For the third and final location for his Profoto HSS test, he did a run shoot on the coast near Brighton.
“Being able to use artificial lighting at any shutter speed allows light to be created even when it is not there. In the example of the run test shoot, I could get the look of sunlight peaking through the clouds on a dreary, overcast day.”, Matt writes.
So, what was Matt’s conclusion about HSS? Head over to his blog for the complete review.
Learn more about Profoto HSS here:
Download the free firmware version here:
