The Helpful Speedlight Accessory You Might Be Throwing Away

If you have recently purchased a speedlight, you might have noticed it comes with an piece of plastic. Before you throw that away, see what you can do with it.

Coming to you from David Bergman with Adorama TV, this quick and helpful video will show you how useful that piece of plastic, otherwise known as the "foot," that came with your speedlight is. I'll be the first to admit that the first time I bought a speedlight, I left it in the box and eventually threw said box in the recycling without ever figuring out what the purpose of the foot was. What made me particularly dense is that my first speedlight actually had wireless capabilities built in, which would have made the foot all the more useful. Even if you already knew what these are, you might not have known that they also have a threaded bottom, making it very easy to pop your speedlight onto a light stand. As you almost always want to get your flash off the camera to improve the look of your photos, a speedlight foot is the first (and probably cheapest) step to achieving that. Check out the video above for more. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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13 Comments

Your first speedlight had wireless capabilities? Why...you're just a kid, aren't you!? LOL

If you count Nikon CLS as a wireless capability, then technically my first speedlight had wireless too.

I don't know if it was available but my first speedlight, in the 70's, definitely was NOT wireless! :-)

Of course speedlites in the 70's were wire-less, they came with no wires.

:-)

FFS, even the neighbour's dog has more photographic knowledge than some of this sites contributors.

Ooo, I need a new headshot! Think that dog will do mine?

I can recommend an award-winning macaque! :-)

Don't hire that dog if they throw their speedlight feet away, you're obviously dealing with an amateur.

Probably not, but I suspect it is more likely to read a manual than you are, which would have explained what the foot supplied with flashes is used for. If you are going to write about photography I would expect at least basic knowledge, which in your article you admit to not having.

Pst, I said my first flash, as in when I was first starting out. I learned after that. I’m sure you made mistakes too when you were starting out. How cool that your dog can read, though! Have a nice day. 😊

People throw these away? I use mine all the time! :D

Oscar has always used these, calls them paws. Knows how to use a glass of beer. Which is also wireless.