Off camera light control

When using flash or strobes the shutter speed controls the light source and the Aperture controls the ambient light?

If this is correct I cannot go above 1/250 with my shutter speed so if I need to tone the light down even further how would I do this?

You stop down the aperture (higher F number).

Just because you are shooting flash does not mean that the same exposure rules dont apply. Closing the aperture will always reduce the ambient.

mdaddyrabbit wrote in post #16747927
When using flash or strobes the shutter speed controls the light source and the Aperture controls the ambient light?

If this is correct I cannot go above 1/250 with my shutter speed so if I need to tone the light down even further how would I do this?

I thought it was the other way around. That the shutter control ambient light.

What flash and does it have HSS?

Nope, you have it wrong, or at least scrambled.

Shutter speed controls the ambient, aperture controls both flash and ambient. So if you want to manipulate ambient shutter speed is your best tool. Shutter speed is best for ambient control because flash is dumped in one brief burst, so it doesnt care if your shutter speed is 1 second or max sync. So can darken or lighten your ambient in a given scene by adjusting the shutter speed while ISO, flash power, and aperture remain the same.

However you bring about a different element. Once you hit max sync on your flash you lose that ability. I assume you understand why the max sync on your camera is limited, if not read up on the limits of two curtain shutters. After you hit max sync, then your main option would be to close down the aperture to make the entire scene darker and within your desired range. But that makes your depth of field deeper than you might like. So what would you do? Add an ND filter to bring your shutter speed down while staying in the aperture range you desire.

So when I am setting up a shoot and I liked the surrounding light I would keep my shutter speed as low as possible. To brighten up my subject I would lower my aperture?

mdaddyrabbit wrote in post #16748608
So when I am setting up a shoot and I liked the surrounding light I would keep my shutter speed as low as possible. To brighten up my subject I would lower my aperture?

No. Not necessarily. You set your base exposure using the aperture you want for creative purposes, then adjust the flash power to match. It can be a fast shutter speed or a low one, obviously slower than your max sync speed for your camera, otherwise you have to have HSS or some other high speed flash solution like hypersync.

Here s a great example of how shutter speed effects ambient while the flash and aperture remain the same. Dragging the shutter just means a slower shutter speed.

http://neilvn.com …ues/dragging-the-shutter/