Photography Tips - Slow Sync Rear Curtain Flash

Slow Sync Rear Curtain flash is a bit of a mouthful and sounds complicated. It's a technique for capturing movement blur within an image whilst still maintaining subject sharpness. You do need to know the basics of on camera flash control but it's not rocket science.
So from the top, slow sync means firing the flash during a slow shutter speed. Rear (or 2nd curtain) means setting the flash burst to fire at the end of an exposure just as the second shutter curtain is about to close. The sequence is shutter opens - light burns onto the sensor and some movement records as a blur - flash fires and lights the subject at the correct exposure freezing motion on the subject only - rear shutter curtain closes.
So what will the image look like? When done correctly the subject will have hints of motion around the edges but still be sharp and the background will be a bit dark but still have loads of detail and some movement blur. Oh just watch the video because that will explain it all much better...
If you like the way we teach photography and would like to improve your image making please come see us at www.photography... for lots of courses, DVDs and free photo training videos too.

[@ayhancapan]

Finally i found a real photographer, who explains that so good. Thanks to you both guys...

[@MikeBrowne]

thank you Ayhan, please do share it too so we can make more ! - Melissa pp Mike

[@aloksharmaonline]

Mike, I would have been selfishly wading through your videos as I do for most part of youtube, but your passion for teaching us such complex stuff with such ease, and sooooooo much passion... is just outstanding piece of unconditional love for learners and art of photography. I can't thank you enough for the efforts you make to make your work so fun, so friendly, and so unbelievably humble. You have more respect in my eyes than most pro photographers out there.

[@AruNilTRails]

Oh! Mike! You are not only a great photographer. You are just true researcher of light... My all time teacher..

[@Sinodel]

This what you get when someone loves photography: polite and full of passion explanation of great tips and tricks. Thank you for the time and effort you put in this!

[@premsaggar]

The best tutorial I have ever seen. Terrific. You need to have your own TV show. Fabulous!!!

[@chinmayasinghrawat4622]

I actually came here more for the theory behind the image than the technique itself. You explained it beautifully, thank you!

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you Chinmaya Singh Rawat. You're very welcome!... MIKE 🙏😊

[@savithridheena7789]

Hats off for your hard work in the freezing night Mike & James. Very clear tutorial about Rear Curtain Sync

[@MikeBrowne]

thank you for the kind words Savithri - Melissa pp Mike

[@mudurumlanben]

After I saw all the blurry and noisy images I got, I was about to loose my mind because of the idea of spending all that money on a camera and lenses which doesn't work or give me the images I wish to see; then I came up with your videos..! And thanks god I did.. Brilliant presentation, very informative for sure. Thanks a lot!

[@nathaliewoodruff1496]

You are a great teacher. I really appreciate you explanations on the details of how things work...or don’t!

[@MikeBrowne]

thank you for the kind words, please do share the vids too so we can make more! - Melissa pp Mike

[@ultrayungyt]

Mike, your channel has become my favoutire on KZbin. Thank you for the quality videos!

[@MuhammedNoushad-cr8xr]

Today i was scrolling through KZbin and saw your video and spend the whole day in a dark room. Great video Thank you so much ❤

[@MikeBrowne]

You went down the rabbit hole!! Thanks for joining me ;-)

[@daverowlands9405]

Mike, your videos are just fantastic, proper informative and I love watching them some many times over, I done a 2 year national diploma in photography in 1999, I think I've learnt more from you videos than I learnt in 2 years at collage lol. Keep them coming please :)

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you Dave Rowlands - great to have helped. Please help me make more complimentary videos by sharing them on forums, Facebook etc..

[@OhCrazyEggs]

These little tutorials are truly awesome! Very informative and practical, no messing around!

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you HelaS. If you'd like us to let you know each time we publish a new one, pop over to the link below and leave us your email address... MIKE www.photographycourses.biz/new_video_notification.html

[@patsygonzalez5203]

Wonderful video! You make it clear and easy to understand, as well as being fun to watch. I have learned a few good tips from it. Thank you and congrats!

[@MikeBrowne]

thank you patsy, please do share it too so we can make more! - Melissa pp Mike

[@kanchanmanawa2521]

I love watching all your videos. simple and so easy to absorb all the knowledge. love the sense of humour.. please keep the good work going.. thanks and respect alot..

[@AshwinRajasankar]

You are the best youtuber for photography. I have seen almost all your videos within a week, keep making more!

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you +Ashwin Rajasankar Please share them around, it help us make more.. MIKE :-)

[@toyarj37]

I said the same thing.... This guy took me from a point and shoot to a dslr in a week. A true gem

[@MikeBrowne]

toyarj37 Thank you - MIKE :-)

[@robertchadwick5732]

Ashwin Rajasankar cc

[@DavidWilliamsTR]

I have learned a great deal from your videos over the past several years. I appreciate your down to earth, real world approach. While I read a great deal about photography; seeing it done makes the information much more accessible to me because the tips are concrete and applicable immediately. As an added bonus, watching your videos brings back some very vivid memories of growing up in the New Forest (Blackfield, to be precise), and school in Bournemouth, but with modern overlays. Thanks for both.

[@danijacobsen7275]

Thanks Mike for all your videos. Our photography is much improved from your tutorials.

[@MikeBrowne]

Thanks Dani Jacobsen glad they've helped. Please help us spread the word and grow the community by 'liking' 'G+ing', sharing our videos and linking to us on photo forums, Facebook etc

[@ZRXBILL]

Fantastic video. I am having fun using theses tips getting photos of people and Christmas lights.

[@fidodido77ify]

Just found your videos Mike - so good and watching one after another! Thanks for explaining so well everything there is we should know.

[@MikeBrowne]

thank you Lynda Mc , please do share it too so we can make more - Melissa pp Mike

[@alexisentonfire]

I had no idea of this, thanks for waking me up to this trchnique

[@MikeBrowne]

No worries Mike. Please help me make more videos like it by sharing it with other photographers on forums, Facebook, ClickASnap, Flickr etc. - MIKE :-)

[@EskildFors]

EXCELLENT video! I really enjoy your calm and clear presentation (enhanced by your great British accent). You clearly got a passion and talent for both photography and presentation. You got yourself a subscriber. Great work, I learned a lot =)

[@MikeBrowne]

thank you +Eskild Fors pleasure to have you here, please do share the free videos too so we can make more - Melissa pp Mike :)

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you +Eskild Fors - MIKE

[@xar1fx]

Really great video Thank you.

[@MikeBrowne]

Glad you liked it!

[@attilavida4696]

How's this guy have not broken the Internet yet??? This versus all the modern geeky gear heads.... this guy means business :)

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you so much Attila. Really apprieciate that my friend... MIKE 🙏🙂

[@oc2phish07]

How did I miss seeing this video before tonight in November 2021? My favourite KZbin presenter and I missed a great and very informative video. Sorry Mike.

[@MikeBrowne]

Hey no worries.. Glad you found it in the end... BTW all my vids are indesed on my website and searchable by filters (light / composition / exposure etc) so please pop over and have a browse. Link below... MIKE 🙏😊 www.photographycourses.biz/videos

[@prakashtailor]

This is a fantastic tutorial! I understood the concept of slow sync flash very anyway however this video has inspired me to use a lot more this Christmas. Thank you

[@MikeBrowne]

Pleasure :-)

[@TheHom]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to demonstrate that. Very helpful indeed

[@kaiserpeter0]

awesome. every time i watch your videos, i find something new to tinker with on my camera

[@kchachalove]

Great video! Thank you for playing with the differences between tripod/no tripod, speedlite/built-in flash, and linear/horizontal movement. I also appreciate the advice for stopping down to capture more background ambient light. Also, it's so funny because I accidentally took a shot like this as a wedding years ago and had no idea there was a name for this technique. I was just grateful to have had the subject in focus, which proved extremely difficult in such a low-light setting.

[@MikeBrowne]

Thanks Kaila (I got there eventually!)

[@neutrofilosegmentado]

Thanks for your answer. Starting in amateur photography and, although my mind aperture is wide enough and light conditions are not bad at all, I need very long exposure times and knowledges tend to blur a little. Fortunately I'm using the '3P tripode' (patience-perseverance-practice) and that improves the results. About you tutorials, they are the powerful flash that helps the light impress the sensor at the back of my head. I hope not to sound too cheesy :) Good job Pere in Barcelona, Catalonia

[@MikeBrowne]

Thanks for taking the time to let us know. Best wishes... Mike

[@stevejames7189]

Today I've learned something new. Thanks Mike.

[@MikeBrowne]

Cool Steve James - There's always more to learn for us all.

[@MikeBrowne]

Wow. Thank you so much for your kind comment. Please help us spread the word and grow the community by 'liking' 'G+ing', sharing our videos and linking to us on photo forums, Facebook etc

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you. You have to balance aperture and iso to give you a shutter speed that'll blur background a bit and not the flash lit subject. It'll vary according to how much light you have to work with. The only way to learn it is to do loads of practise and don't be afraid to get lots of them come out wrong. It takes time to learn this one...

[@DocJay81]

Mike, I've watched a LOT of photography instructional videos in my time but your's are among the very best. I learnt more in the last few days than the year before. I immediately, or as soon as possible after, practice the techniques you teach and that helps me to remember. Big thank you from a fan in California :) Jay

[@sreekanthrs4836]

Mike you are making things more simple.... Great

[@Rusticpixel]

Hello Mike! I just found this video and am impressed! Thanks so much, I will be back to watch the rest. Sandra from Canada.

[@Noahronquillo]

Wow Mike, U make photography so fun and I can't wait to try out Slow Sync Curtain Flash

[@MikeBrowne]

glad you like Mike's style - please do share our vids so we can make more- Melissa pp Mike

[@productguru8323]

Nice job and video. Very interesting one to watch!

[@MikeBrowne]

🙏 Thank you AI G. Please share it (and any thers you like) around - it helps me make more... MIKE

[@meltdownman1]

I have actually been trying to do "Spin Shots" underwater by shooting overhead of tube sponges where I rotate the camera with a slow shutter speed. However, I never understood why the center subject (in this case the sponge when looking down upon it) was always in focus and the surrounding areas were a blur. The fact that your flash is extremely fast (milliseconds) verses that of the shutter (say 1/8th of a second) and lights up the center of the subject and freezes its motion now makes sense!

[@GRAHAM9677]

yeh i have now left it in r c snyc for most work. should have used it years ago, thanks for the video very easy to understand regards graham

[@HarryProudlove]

Great source of info and great tutorials, Thanks Mike!

[@MikeBrowne]

thank you +Harry Proudlove - MELISSA ( for Mike )

[@trinhk]

Thanks again Mike. I started trying this and some did come out quite nice. Thank you. Again, awesome video.

[@NaeemJigsaw]

Mike loved your videos, they are extremely helpful and inspiring... i have moved to Istanbul recently and with your help now i am able to take great photos, thanks alot again.. take care now :D

[@MikeBrowne]

Hi and thanks for your comments. James was lit by light spilling away from the flash head which is called 'feathered' light and is much softer than direct flash which is hard and nasty looking. Speedlights are controlled by the camera's TTL metering which will cut the flash burst when it thinks the correct exposure has been reached. (There's more to it than this but that's the basics of what's happening.) - Mike

[@MikeBrowne]

I used TTL in this example, but you can use rear curtain sync in any flash mode. I keep my camera set to second curtain all the time because with faster speeds it makes no difference.

[@jammer29]

Thanks! I really like your presentation style and your ability to use terms I can understand as an amateur photographer. Great job!

[@stercus]

Mike,you are amazing at explaining the lesson!

[@SandyDeJong]

this was top notch. The explaining of this was very clear thanks so much Ill be trying this myself now practice practice practice thanks heaps

[@MikeBrowne]

A camera shutter can't open and close again faster than about 1/250th second or less so it has 2 'curtain' shutters which set off across the sensor one behind the other creating a slot of light which paints across the sensor. 2nd curtain sync means you're telling the flash to fire just before the 2nd curtain closes off the sensor. In other words at the end of the exposure instead of at the start.

[@penjit4]

Thank you, Mike, I have got lots of tips and ideas from you. Last night I did my first ever 2nd Curtain/Slow Sync as a direct result of watching this particular vid. I used it for pics on a balconey with city lights behind and friends in foreground ... then got some fantastic shots when the fireworks went off. It was a blast and all thanks to you :o)

[@dsdigitalgallery2940]

Thanks again. Most enlightening tutorial. Cheers!

[@MomentphotographyCoUk]

@BeugelPhoto: Just had a go at it and yes knocking it down two stops does look better. I was thinking not enough light from the background would show up. I was wrong. Can't quite work it out, but when I tried it the shots look good. Cheers Mike

[@yabba234]

you're a great photo guy :) thanks for sharing your expertise with us !!

[@pappi3]

great tutorial...something new to give to my 550D.. thank you

[@1BlackSwordsman1]

Thanks for the reply and really great videos, all the explanations and the way they are delivered is superb.It's a real pleasure to check out the topics You might already know just because of the lesson quality.

[@MikeBrowne]

Thanks - Crowd blur needs a slow speed so shoot on a dull day and use a polariser or neutral density filter to remove light.

[@cecylemus912]

Amazing video like always best teacher 👨‍🏫 ever .

[@ShahrulAzwanSahbudin]

hahahaha...finally u show me a very good use of my flash. this is what i'm looking for for a very long time

[@paulbarrett423]

really like that movement tip, just had my first speedlight and going to practise this

[@MikeBrowne]

Thanks Paul. Have fun... MIKE 🙂

[@kamatchinmay]

Kudos. You are a great teacher.

[@alfasih]

Great tutorial and very informative! Thanks.

[@AlphaCentauri24]

Thanks for the tutorial. 🙏🏻

[@MikeBrowne]

You're Welcome ... MIKE 🙏😊

[@MikeBrowne]

When the light meter says it's correctly exposed the marker is on 0 in the middle of the row of dots. To underexpose the available light by 2 stops increase the shutter speed until it moves down to -2.

[@zbruch66]

what a clever explanation!) thank you, Mike, thank you, James

[@MikeBrowne]

🙂🙏 ... MIKE

[@andthesunsets]

you explained it really well. thanks!

[@MikeBrowne]

That's what i'm doing here only i'm underexposing the background so it still looks like night time. You can increase ISO to get the shutter fast enough it balances - but it'll lose that late evening feel.

[@MikeBrowne]

Hi - You need a shutter speed of about 1/4 second to get the ghost blur effect. Use your camera's meter to find out which aperture / iso combination you need for an exposure that's 2 stops less than the camera thinks it should be for the light levels you're working in. The ISO / aperture settings I was using almost certainly won't work for anyone photographing somewhere else at a different time because the light levels will be different. Search our channel for manual exposure if you're not sure.

[@AdrianBigyes]

Thanks for this tutorial! Planning on doing this technique when me and my friends go visit a club. :)

[@MikeBrowne]

Thanks. When I titled the camera I was focusing by placing the single point on James. I always meter in evaluative so i was metering the entire scene.

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you Neutrófilo Segmentado

[@RickHosey]

Outstanding Mike,.... keep up the good work,...

[@carlj1964]

Great video and explanation Mike - but the subtitles are hilarious!

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you Carl Jervis Sorry about that. Subtitles are auto generated by KZbin’s voice recognition system which makes a few mistakes. We’re working through and correcting them but with over 230 videos it’s taking a very long time…

[@carlj1964]

Mike Browne Mike, I've no doubt you're working hard on them. I've turned on the auto generation on other videos - I'm not sure, but I'm certain they're programmed by a 14 year old addicted to "rude" words :D

[@MikeBrowne]

Good idea they work well.

[@MikeBrowne]

You're absolutely right. However having watched the video you should be able to knock up a diffuser and keep it with you. - Mike

[@MikeBrowne]

Slow sync means setting a slow shutter speed to sync with the flash 2nd curtain means the flash fires at the end of the exposure instead of at the beginning.

[@MrBrassman42]

I used the information here in a slightly different context, I had my 4 year old spinning with a led light up fan and using this information and trial and error now have a nice shot of light trails and in focus child… Oh taking a little more thought that seems to be the key.

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you - Mike

[@dumarune]

Sarebbe bello vedere negli scatti anche le impostazioni usate. Ottimo lavoro!

[@BaddaBigBoom]

Great stuff - I'm new to flash photography and this was very informative - thanks. (Thumbs up/subscribed)

[@MikeBrowne]

Thanks BaddaBigBoom

[@igorvrabec7204]

great tutorial! i love your all videos!

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you

[@trinhk]

That's a fantastic video. I have to watch it a few times before everything started to sink in. Might be helpful next time when you post another video tutorial/tip would be to actually display your various settings. I know you mentioned setting it to manual mode, does it matter what aperture or ISO you set or you mainly focused on the shutter speed? Is that also mean that taking night portrait photography, you should always use slow sync rear? Thank you so much for the great video.

[@MikeBrowne]

No worries..

[@rickyny78]

Outstanding! Love my British brothers. Greetings from New York.

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you Andrew. Looking forward to it.. Please help us spread the word and grow the community by 'liking' 'G+ing', sharing our videos and linking to us on photo forums, Facebook etc

[@junialstudios]

super clear explanation--thank you!!!

[@MikeBrowne]

Thanks Juniper Hall Please help me grow the channel and make more free vids by sharing them here, on Facebook, forums etc :-)

[@andrewgerardphotography]

Mike I have learned so much from you man, I owe yo a pint!

[@IainHC1]

Wowwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRILLIANT tutorial!!!! I hate using flash!! BUT THIS!!!! I'm SO gonna try this!! Thanks :-)

[@MikeBrowne]

Glad you liked it Sandra from Canada :-)

[@stilmotionpicture]

thank you for the tutorial! i thought flash does not freeze motion at all.

[@maxrayman]

good explanation and cheer up james

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you 😂

[@Austin_IK]

Magnificent tutorial.

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you

[@godfatherofcinema]

Excellent tutorial!

[@MikeBrowne]

Thank you

[@ramdevineni143]

nicely explained, thank you.

[@MikeBrowne]

Glad you liked it 🙏... MIKE

[@MichaelMusicGamerGuy]

thanks, looking at buying a second hand one :)

[@TheGhanashyam123]

thanks for your inspiring video

[@MikeBrowne]

You're welcome shantanu banerjee

[@CrazeUK]

Hi Mark - Another great video, i love the passion, politeness and friendliness of your vids. Just one bit of advice: When you comment on looking at the other videos it helps to have a clickable box, that directly opens it in a new window. Its a feature i love on instruction videos. My question is, how would you get the crowd blur affect in normal day hours?

[@DutchAussieProductions]

Thank Mike. Great information. I will give that a go.

[@Ace1973ish]

Great video. Thank you very much. Will share..