How to Use The Exposure Diamond to Balance Flash and Ambient Light | Mark Wallace

Perfect. Thank you. That was great

I've watched so many flash exposure videos from other big names and all that and was still confused, it seemed so complex but this is great it made me understand a whole bunch it's so simple with Mark's explaination. Now to actually do trial and error. I only have on camera flash at the moment. But it seems much simpler using off camera flash since it's much more controlled (ie the distance you are to subjects are consistent every time) so handheld in like event photography seems a little trickier!

I have been watching ambient light and flash videos most of the day and this video is by far the best, All I need now is that $600 light meter. Ha

Mark - that explanation is poetic simplicity of a complex topic. Thank you

Can’t you also use the aperture to control the ambient as well ?

Veryy nicely explained... Thnx

If we bounce the flash indoor, will it affect ambient light?

But i tryed this method. When i chnge shuttr speed its effect my subject alos..when my shutter speed at 1/125 i i got proper expoesd to my subjejtc when I raise the shuyttr speed 1/500 but my flash powwr in intact its effcet my ambiance and my subjet also

This is one of those videos that deserve a bookmark

As always, clearly spoken and demonstrated. I also applaud that you speak the language of your models.

Good teaching

Brilliant!
I now understand 👨‍🎓

This is fantastic information . Made so much sense.. Thnak You.

the flash has another parameter - pulse duration

The best explanation on balancing ambient light and flash.

Easier than 1+1 = 3

This is by far the most complicated thing in photography.

Can this technique be applied when using OCF outdoors???

Which any photo shoot good camera ?

Amazing video 📸🎥

Using Sekonic manual meter. To get the outside exposure time take a spot meter outside background compensated to middle grey or a tad darker. Let’s say it’s 1/60”. With this hand held manual time exposure set to the 1/60th” that you had already determined measure the strobe f/stop and flash%. A good fill flash (strobe) percentage on the meter is from 20% to 40%. Season to taste.

I learned something from you this morning...balancing flash with natural light (ambient light).

Best explanation I found and very helpful. Thank you!

Thanks Mark for this video. I wasn't aware of an exposure diamond. great help thanks, Davy

Great video

I've watched several videos on this subject, and read a few articles "the old fashioned" way too. This is the best explanation I've found! Great work. The graphic overlays are massively informative. I wonder though if you could tell me how this same theory applies to "traditional" flash heads? I have a Metz 45 CL-4. It has "auto" modes, where you match the aperture on camera to the aperture on the head to get a "balanced" light. There's TTL to achieve the same of whatever aperture is chosen. And then there's Manual (full), Manual 1/2, and Manual 1/4. My question is : if my ambient says f8 with ISO400 at 1/125th and I want it to be darker by a stop or two than the subject, so I set my camera to say 1/250th instead of 1/125th. What flash setting do I then use? Manual, M1/2, or M1/4? If so, how do I know how much light that is pumping out? Or do I use the Auto mode on the flash by setting the dial to f4 or f5.6 ?

how did you get f16 ? how was that calculated

This is the simplest most concise explanation I have ever heard! Thank you!

Thanks for the very useful video.

When I shot film, I only used my flash units at full power because some of the color film I used had problems with reciprocity failure if I decreased the flash intensity by decreasing the flash duration. Therefore, I used the flash to subject distance to decrease the flash intensity.

The animation of the diamond is amazing. Makes it so intuitive.

Seriously... Thank you so much for this. You explained this in a way that made it finally "click" for me, so, rather than just cranking dials on the camera and pushing buttons on my flash to trial-and-error my way into learning, I actually have an intuitive understanding of how to make changes now.

This was new to me, thank alot

Clear, short and concise. Thumbs up

one thing i dont understand is, the shutter speed controls ambient light, but the subject is also affected by that ambient light, so the shutter speed does affect how the flash contributes to the exposure. tested myself.

So what if you didn’t have a light meter

Best information on the subject

Great lesson!

This is the most useful video I have seen and it's easy to grasp the concept

Omgosh I finally understand after years of just hiitting buttons dragging strobes out to shoots omggg ty

This was brilliant. The David Bergman video on How to balance ambient light is also a necessary watch. These two videos should be combined into one.

THIS cleared up so many questions I had about flash power, this is the first video I have seen that shows the effects of each variable, I didn't know that the flash once set would remain the same as you varied the ambient light via shutter speed to this level. I always thought there was only so far you could shorten the shutter time before you had to bump up the flash power. INTERESTING!!!

You are the Best Mr Wallace!

👌👌👌

Such a technical matter explained simply by demonstrating the examples. I always enjoy watching and learning from Mark’s videos as they are never boring.

Awesome stuff

This info is mind blowing!! Thank you so much! omg. What a powerful tool and resource. I feel so much more confident for my sunrise photoshoot tomorrow yayyy

Hi. When you mention "flash power" that means you are modifying the exposure compensation of your flash?

EXCELLENT explanation. Well done. I love ALL your inspirational videos.

Your diamond needs some room for nd filters also.