Light Touch

Joe McNally on how to use multiple speedlights to capture eye-popping portraits 

- Jack Neubart

JOE MCNALLY LEARNED THE VALUE of supplementing available light with flash early on in his career as a photojournalist. Currently a Nikon Ambassador who works mainly as a commercial/editorial portrait photographer, McNally has become a staunch advocate for the use of Nikon Speedlights on location, often using these small flashes off camera in multiple lighting setups. McNally even mixes his Speedlights with studio strobes on occasion when the situation warrants.

In our interview with McNally, we ask him about his lighting techniques and how photographers can capture striking portraits using small strobe flashes in a variety of setups.

WHY USE FLASH? 

Shutterbug: What motivated you to use flash on a regular basis? 

Joe McNally: I was always curious about light and was always motivated to shoot the lowest possible ISO I could for quality purposes. When I started and was just learning the ropes, I would occasionally shoot with on-camera flash but didn’t like the look of it. So I started to experiment with off-camera flash. My real motivation came when I’d secured a position as staff photographer in 1979 with ABC television in New York. My boss at ABC informed me that “we shoot Kodachrome. And we light things.” And he expected me to get onboard, so I had to do on-the-job training very, very quickly. 

SB: What Nikon Speedlight accessories do you normally use? 

JM: The diffusion dome that comes with the Speedlight is something I use a great deal. Speedlights are small light sources, so whatever you can do to broaden the light output is a good thing. I leave my dome diffusers on even when I put my Speedlights into a softbox or an umbrella.