The more I use them, the more I am coming to appreciate the versatility and speed that working with small flashes can give. Take my recent shoot with Alana for example.
We had a small break in the weather last Sunday and were fortunate enough that it coincided with the time we planned to shoot. I was travelling very light. It was far too windy and wet to fly a softbox on a lightstand without inviting an expensive accident so I was working with off camera, hand held flash.
Over the ensuing 90 minutes (including an outfit and make-up change) we worked the location and lighting, on no less than 8 sets and created several different styles of image. Most of these were with the extremely hard unmodified flash but we also used soft, natural light and the gridded speedlite too. Three very different types/qualities of light and extremely quick to use.
The softbox would have produced a different style of image yet again but would only have slowed us down in the race against the weather. The lightstand would have been very useful too but given the wind, threat of rain and volume of people at the location I honestly believe that leaving it behind was the right decision. Besides, it took me out of my comfort zone slightly and made me think through each shot which is always a good thing.
BTW – the concept for the image above wasn’t my idea. I gleaned it from the amazing Mr. Zack Arias Believe or not though it is a street shot and wasn’t done in the studio or PhotoShop.
