Off Camera Flash Settings Without a Light Meter: The Breakdown with Miguel Quiles

In this episode of The Breakdown Miguel will show you how he dials in his off camera flash settings without using a light meter in the studio. You can use this same technique with speedlites and strobes from any brand!

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Miguel Quiles
Snapchat @MiguelQuilesNYC

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Like, share, and comment on the video below...let's get the conversation started!

If you have questions, please share them below.

[stanc]

Thank You for this video. Could you compare the difference outcome between using a clamshell diffuser and the setup you used in this video?

[barkyvonschnauzer]

As always you truly are the professor of recipes. 😎

[richardmendoza]

Miguel, great breakdown video. You make me feel as though I'm not in front of an intimidating presence, but more like a good friend showing me the ropes without all the jargonistic language. As in, approachable. Thanks for that. Keep up the fantastic work!

[eringervais]

Do you have a video showing how to do “option 2” using a light meter? Thanks

[Orions_Journey]

Can you do a video where you compare and non photography monitor vs a photography monitor for editing. Does it make a difference when color grading. Thanks 😊

[dexxg]

excellent tutorial. Can a constant light be used as the fill light while still using a strobe for the main light?

[PQPhotography]

Great video and although I have a light meter I honestly don't use it.. I get the lighting the way I want it and do so pretty quickly indoor and outdoor. It's definitely your taste. Thanks for educating.

[imaginecreationz]

Great Miguel! Surprisingly, this is what I do for my studio portraits without light meter.

[uhhaher]

Thank you so much. As someone who is new to studio lighting, it answered a lot of my questions. Most of this is what I already thought, but it was super helpful to have someone reiterate and reinforce the information. I found it super useful to know once you have killed the ambient light, to only adjust the strobe power. Much appreciated. This short video has potentially helped me to avoid some silly mistakes on my upcoming shoot.

[herlingadventures]

thank you for this great video. I noticed that during testing each strobe the light was very warm did you change the light temp?

[ezzathanna]

Thank you learned a lot, What about the white balance?

[bjarnejohannsen]

Awesome - I have been a fashion & portrait photographer for 50 years (most in my "analog time") and i daily learn a lot off You to day - specially abouth the modern digital gear, but also abouth modern photography. So hereby: Thank You! - with many regards from Denmark.

[arieraharja]

Very nice tutor Miguel, i try it tomorrow at my studio.

[albertw]

Great tips! I follow a similar process. I don't arrive at it that fast. Then again, you said the more you do it, the better you will be at arriving at the proper power settings for your main and fill light.

As always great video!!

[annettebowieab]

Love your teaching. Thxs for taking the time to be detailed with this video!

[dGrSwalla]

Wow this was really well done. Simple and informative.

[truthsayers]

same way ive been trying to learn. had a Gossen Luna Pro once (not the F "flash" model) but obviously it wouldnt have done me any good for flash...

i just play with it until i get it how i like it. im surprised you had to go to 1/6400 of a second. ive got a pretty bright living room and at ISO 200 i can get away with f4 and 1/500th. in your example at 1/5000, i couldnt see any image but i wasnt there...

great video! you come across very clear and unpretentious!

[paigeofstylez]

He's speaks in terms thats easy to understand

[IainHC]

Brilliant! Thank you. I have a shoot tomorrow and, for some reason, forgot about loosing the ambient light in camera. Thanks for the reminder :-)
Great technique though :-)

[RickLincoln]

I often shoot with hair lights, rims and background lights along with a main and fill. Even when using a one light setup I'll move the light or change from one modifier to another. All of these things would take to long using the chimping method in your video. Also, I'm pretty keen on knowing right where the brightness of my fill light comes in to blend with my main. "I'll bring the fill up 2 stops" and other WAG's don't work for me. I'll stick with metering.