From grasslands to deserts, from glaciers to coasts, from street scenes to high-rise buildings... On every beautiful journey, you can see scenery you have never seen before, and greet interesting people from all walks of life. But for every outdoor shooting, the most important factor that photographers need to consider is light. Without the right flash, it can be challenging to achieve high-quality results in a short period of time.

Effortless Portability for Outdoor Photography

In terms of appearance, most high-power flash in the market are cylindrical and have a low space utilization rate. NEEWER Q4 outdoor flash is meticulously crafted with a square body and rounded edges, which provide high-power illumination of up to 400W while reducing the size for enhanced portability. The handle is also ergonomically designed, sparing you from repeated collisions between light fixtures and accessories during light setup or scene transitions.

 

NEEWER Q3 pocket outdoor flash adopts a rectangular shape that can fit in a pocket or be easily handheld for light setup. With an output of 200W, it is definitely a portable outdoor flash that accompanies you anytime and anywhere, and is particularly helpful for those without lighting assistants.

Automatic Lighting Metering for Reduced Dimming Time

In the studio, the subject position and lighting environment are fixed, giving photographers enough time for manual light metering. However, during outdoor photography, everything changes in a split second, and the photographer has to complete all the work quickly enough and consider how to strike a perfect balance between natural and artificial light. In this regard, the TTL mode of the Q4 and Q3 can be of great help as it automatically measures light according to the environment and determines the flash output for shooting. It also supports ±3 stops of flash exposure compensation, which greatly improves work efficiency. With the perfect exposure for every photo, the photographer can focus on creativity and think about how to present it in the picture.

 

Natural Light Simulation & Sunlight Suppression

In many cases, different weather conditions all require flashes to solve different problems. For example, on cloudy days, the lighting is usually dull, monotonous, and lacks layers. However, with the help of Q4 or Q3 outdoor flash, by adjusting to the appropriate output (avoiding maximum output to shorten the recycling time), the natural light can be simulated to brighten the shooting scene, enriching the details in the picture and making light and shadow ratio more natural and harmonious. In addition, when using the HSS high-speed sync mode (which has a faster shutter speed than a normal flash sync speed), the ambient light in the sky can be suppressed, allowing for a large aperture to focus on faces while still retaining the color of the blue sky.

 

When shooting in strong sunlight, equivalent to shooting against the light, the subject and background can become pitch black. In this case, the flash can be used to spotlight the subject while suppressing the ambient light from the sun, resulting in a perfect work with enhanced light and dimension, making it easy to distinguish the subject from the background. To achieve this, the Q4 or Q3 flash should be placed directly above the subject's head as the main light, while using sunlight as a fill light. At the same time, using the high-speed sync mode increases the shutter speed, weakens the intensity of the sunlight, and unifies the brightness of the subject and background.

Capturing the Moment in High-Speed Photography

Catching the moment is often referred to as high-speed photography. It doesn't simply mean using a fast shutter speed on the camera, as increasing the shutter speed can easily result in a too-dark image. Rather, it refers to using a flash with a short duration, also known as a high-speed flash, to produce visually dynamic works, such as capturing the moment a water balloon bursts, an athlete frozen in mid-air, or powder floating in the air.
To capture these moments, after enabling the high-speed sync mode, the Q4 and Q3 flash will freeze the moment with durations as short as 1/10989s and 1/15380s respectively.

 

Continuous Shooting for Thrilling Process

During outdoor shooting, the themes are not always outdoor scenes. There are also fast-paced shooting scenarios, such as e-commerce and fashion shoots. In addition to an outdoor portable flash with automatic metering and high-speed photography functions, it also requires continuous shooting to increase the output rate.
Q4 and Q3 outdoor flash both use a lithium battery design with a fast recharge speed of 0.01 seconds. They can synchronize with the camera's shutter at a maximum of 20 flashes per second in high-speed continuous shooting while maintaining stable output and color temperature. This greatly reduces post-production time.
In addition, the Q4 outdoor flash also has a masking function, creating a shoot-and-use workflow without excessive post adjustments, ideal for e-commerce photography. The masking function works by dividing multiple flashes into two groups, N1 (highlighting the subject) and N2 (highlighting the background), and triggering them alternately. The camera is set to continuous shooting mode (as there are only N1 and N2, setting continuous shooting for two shots is enough) to obtain two photos with separate exposures of the subject and background, allowing for quick extraction and replacement of the background during post-processing.

Wireless Triggering & Multi-Light Control

If a single bare light is directly used on the subject, the light may be too hard, resulting in a monotonous effect. The Q4 and Q3 outdoor flash both have a built-in Neewer 2.4G wireless Q system, which can be used as a subordinate unit to collaborate with multiple flashes and TTL triggers currently serving as the main control unit of the Neewer Q system. Therefore, whether for indoor fashion or outdoor portrait photography, photographers can wirelessly control multiple lighting fixtures for light shaping, making the light and shadow richer and more diverse.

The Q4 adopts a standard Bowens mount, highly compatible with a wider range of professional light shaping accessories, making it easy to switch between soft and hard light and unleash the unlimited creativity of the photographers.
In a word, neither outdoor nor daily life photography is an easy task for a photographer. However, with the proper equipment, anyone can easily capture stunning photos in any complex lighting environment.