One of the most valuable skills a photographer can learn is how to work with artificial light, as it frees you from relying on the sun and allows you to explore creative ideas that simply would not be possible otherwise. If you are new to working with artificial light, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you how you can use flash to capture captivating sports action shots.
Coming to you from Gary Gough, this great video tutorial will show you how you can use flash to capture fast action shots. As you might notice in this video, Gough discusses t.1 time. This is a very important concept and something you should check the specs of when you are trying to choose the right flash for your work. t.1 time refers to the time it takes the flash to decay to 10% of its maximum value. In other words, it is essentially a measure of how quick the flash actually is. Because you are using the flash, not the shutter speed to freeze the motion, you need to ensure the t.1 time is sufficiently quick to not cause motion blur. The tricky part is that t.1 time gets longer with more flash power, so you often need to carefully balance the need for enough light to illuminate the scene with using a low enough power setting to give you a fast t.1 time. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Gough.
