13 Great Examples of Slow Sync Flash Images
This week I’d like to feature a series of images that all use a fun and striking technique called Slow Sync Flash. This technique combines a slower than normal shutter speed combined with a flash during the exposure.
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Here’s the next 12 Slow Sync Flash Images:
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49 Responses to “13 Great Examples of Slow Sync Flash Images” - Add Yours
September 13th, 2007 at 2:15 am
Great pictures!
September 13th, 2007 at 2:53 am
Some great shots. I think this is a really nice feature, gives people a chance to have their work seen by a lot of people and makes for a nice piece on a ‘slow news day’ (as it were)
September 13th, 2007 at 4:00 am
Great images. That technique lends itself so well to action shots.
September 13th, 2007 at 5:29 am
Cool stuff! The knife through the apple tops my list!
September 13th, 2007 at 5:56 am
The applie is cool alright, but the image of the world passing by and blowing the woman’s hair by Russell is also great. Frankly, I liked them all.
September 13th, 2007 at 7:28 am
Great stuff… love the one in Prague (think it’s Prague??)
Paul @ http://www.photographyvoter.com
September 13th, 2007 at 10:05 am
Oh the fun time we had with light painting: http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=50&paged=3
September 13th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Who is the girl in the photo “by Russell”
SHE IS BEAUTIFUL!
good picture too.
Dave
September 13th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
http://picasaweb.google.com/black.horizons/Donegal2006 !
September 14th, 2007 at 12:11 am
That’s very cool
September 14th, 2007 at 2:52 am
Nice collection!
I espacily like the one by aumbody images with the “flying” drops of water and I must agree with Dave that the girl captured by Russel is very beautiful
These photos reminded me of another slow sync flash photo with a beautiful girl:
http://nemoblack.deviantart.com/art/Falling-angle-12076524
Have a good day everyone
September 14th, 2007 at 8:21 am
was going to put one on the back burner but the back was at the front,so i put it on the front one as the front was at the back.
September 14th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Love these techniques!…….Great photos! Thanks for sharing!
September 14th, 2007 at 10:00 am
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1433/734327079_aca4d3d945_b.jpg
September 14th, 2007 at 11:24 am
By the way, this technique is also commonly called “dragging the shutter,” though I am not exactly sure why. So if you hear someone talking about “dragging the shutter,” they are talking about leaving the shutter open for longer than necessary while using the flash.
If you have a sufficiently featured SLR camera, you may also be able to select between “first curtain” or “second curtain” modes, which defines whether the flash fires just as the shutter has opened or just before it closes. This has the effect of placing your flash-lit subject at either end of their motion trail in the final image.
Cheers!
September 15th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
I love the drummer shot and the knife through apple. definitely something to practice doing for the next few weeks. thanks guys!
September 15th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Just got a new Canon D30 and happened upon this link the same day. Here’s what I managed to snap.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/designisgood/1385262492/
Thanks DPS!
September 19th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Great collection! I especiall like the photo with drops, the one with a monumenta and the one with a knife. And the musician is just hilarious!
October 21st, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Hi!
I like all great shots taken in slow sync mode.
Actually many digicam have slow sync mode but
generally people really don’t know the use.
More work can be done in this mode. Congratulation for great work.
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
This is an awesome effect for band photography — thanks.
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Some really amazing pics. Got a thumbs up on StumbleUpon and a Digg from me.
Best Wishes,
Shinil.
@shinils on Twitter – http://twitter.com/shinils
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:50 am
My all time favorite use of the technique: http://grantgunderson.ifp3.com/
Can’t link directly to the pic because Gunder is still making the wicked big bucks off of it, but you are looking for the Alta Star Trail pic.
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:05 am
Here are my photos…i think they are on par with what is posted above
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015639&l=d3e9e&id=1586130794
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
how about posting some new stuff? all of this is just reposts of old stuff.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Those are fantastic! I always wanted to know how that kind of effect was created. Looks like I need to break out my SB-600 and get playing. Thanks again!
January 3rd, 2009 at 7:33 pm
i love the water drop
January 5th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Awesome photos, I feel inspired to have a play.
PatB Photography
January 7th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Great photos, i like the water drop much…, cool!
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:22 am
These photos are great and make me want to try this type of shot now. Thanks for sharing these tips and photos!
March 8th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Russel’s one (#12) is my favorite!!!
April 10th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Slow Sync + slow shutter right? Really beautiful shots!
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Great shots! I never really knew when slow sync could be useful. Now I know; does anyone know when to use first curtain sync? It makes people look like they’re moving backwards.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
The first image of the apple being cut is actually quite clever in that, the effect “appears” to be stroboscopic (multiple flashes fired in succession within the same exposure time) but the photog actually “cheated”. Using one flash and employing rear curtain sync, he/she achieved this effect by actually just stopping 4 times at different heights during the single exposure, with the single rear curtain synced flash, thus creating the illusion of multiple flashes. Brilliant execution.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:43 am
I shoot parties where a laser is driven by the music. I use a slow flash sync to get some fun pictures like:
http://tinyurl.com/nc3f5h
August 28th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
my example
August 31st, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Well, do you think this is a slow sync flash image?
or this?
Because for the first one, I moved my cheap digital camera to the direction of the moving taxi while capturing it. And for the second one, I just moved my camera rapidly while capturing the night scenery.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Oops! I left out the links! Here they are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gloson/3870172933/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gloson/3870975370/
September 7th, 2009 at 11:53 am
pretty awesome photos….remind of the technique exclusively for sports…the movement/action shots. Nice for dance performances and parades with dancing,too!
will apply what you’ve shared in my debut-dance events..they’ll surely like this stuff!
May 8th, 2010 at 6:06 am
what a very nice shots, hope me too can do it..cheers
June 5th, 2010 at 3:57 am
great images! loved the chopping motion
October 28th, 2010 at 7:21 am
To me, the image by Russel is the best image of the set. There is motion blur in the non-portrait portion of the picture, and the portrait is still crisp. Great example.
February 24th, 2011 at 6:54 am
any one say that how can i take this pics?
speed,aperture???
February 24th, 2011 at 6:57 am
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sid4464/
March 22nd, 2011 at 6:16 am
In the 4th image with the water droplets, how were the trails captured? I’ve seen this before and have not been able to duplicate it.
May 1st, 2011 at 6:15 pm
Thx..Gr8 tips. Just used it for vogue fashion shoot.great tip
June 28th, 2011 at 4:45 pm
recently discovered the slow sync flash and its great, I now have to get a lot more practice in and then perhaps I might have something worthy of these photos …
October 13th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
I’m an amateur photographer, just got my first dSLR at the beginning of the year. I’m a musician so I mostly enjoy shooting bands. Shooting big arena shows is a thrill, but I really love the gritty low-lit bar scene. It’s more of a challenge and allows me to play around more. I absolutely LOVE slow-sync flash stuff, and my friend that’s been my go-to guy from the start with all my questions shoot a LOT of it. The thing is, we shoot a lot of the same clubs in the same town, and he wont give up his “secrets” to slow sync flash shots. I understand the idea behind it, but I’m having trouble really nailing it down when i try. I’m shooting with a Nikon d3100 with a Nikkor 50mm 1.4G lens and an SB-600. I’m putting it in shutter priority and setting it down from anywhere to 1/10th to 1/60th and really not having any luck. I’ve got my flash mode on Rear, and my speedlight set to TTL and on the default settings. Anybody have any tips?? Oh, I’m using the built in diffuser on the SB-600 and have also tried using some 1-ply toilet paper as an alternative. I’m just not getting the wanted effect.. any help would be very much appreciated!!
December 29th, 2011 at 3:16 am
http://hansgemacht.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/42/
March 21st, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Great shots!
However I think the tile of “slow sync flash” is a slight misnomer?
Most of the shots do use a slow sync speed & flash but not necessary combined in all of them.
e.g. the water droplets is high speed multiflash?
The firework spiral is there any flash used just slow sync?
Cutting the apple rear shutter bilnd or muliti- flash exposure?
Still not taking anything away from the results.
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