Today we are continuing my series on Off Camera Flash for beginners. If you missed the first two posts in the series check them out!

Part 1 // Part 2

In this post we are going to talk about what to actually buy for your OCF system. When I first started looking into OCF and speed lights I was INSTANTLY overwhelmed and confused with all of the different options and terminology associated with everything. I couldn't distinguish between a speed light and a strobe and a trigger and a pocket wizard and a slave and a master (<---what the heck?!?!)

I kept putting everything off because I just didn't want to deal with it all.

But then I was going to shoot my first wedding and I KNEW I needed to be prepared. So I dug in, did my homework and figured out a system that worked for me! I've made a few tweaks since I first started but now I am so happy with the system that I use and in all honestly, the investment is minimal for what you end up getting!

A simple and inexpensive OCF system for beginners

First thing to mention...if any of the terminology I use confuses you, go back and reference Part 1 in this series to brush up on the lingo.

Second thing to mention...my set up is mainly for wedding photography, but the system I describe could be used for multiple things. The hardest thing to get your head around is how do you set off (trigger) the flash when its off of your camera? And also...if you also have a light also ON your camera...how does that all work together?

Let me 'splain. (<----10points if you get that reference) ;-)

What I use

Currently I use:

three Yongnuo 560 iii's
one Yongnuo 560 iv
one Yongnuo 560TX (trigger)
Two light stands
Two umbrellas
lots 'o batteries

To make this as simple as possible since this is a beginner tutorial, I want us all to pretend that I actually have FOUR 560iv's instead of a mix between two different types of flashes. In an ideal scenario, that is what I would have, but I had already purchased the 560iii's before the 560iv came out, so I'm just making what I have work. But if you were to buy anything after reading this tutorial,, I would absolutely recommend you buy TWO 560iv's (or three if you think you need two off camera) and one 560TX.

Ok so now that we have that out of the way....let me talk a little bit about how all of this works.

These flashes all have built in transmitters to they can talk to each other without the need of additional triggers. This is SUPER awesome because it eliminates the need to attach other things (pocket wizards, radio poppers etc...) onto your camera and/or the flash on its stand. The flash units will simply talk to each other as is, which just make everything that much simpler.

So you can have a flash on your camera and another on a light stand across the room, and you can control that flash that is far away (change the amount of light it emits or even turn it off all together) from the flash that is on your camera in your hands.

If you don't need or want to have a flash on your camera, the 560TX will also control any of the flashes you have on stands around the room.

In order to make the most sense of this, lets look at a couple of different scenarios.

Scenario 1- The Wedding Reception

In this situation, this is my normal set up:

Flash on camera that I use for bounce light
Two flashes on stands on either side of the dance floor pointed at the dance floor

I can set all of the flashes on the same channel so they will talk to each other and when I click my shutter all three of them will fire.

I can change the light output for the flashes around the dance floor from my flash or turn them off altogether if I end up not wanting them on for a few shots.

Scenario 2 - The Dramatic Shot

Lets say I wanted to take my couple outdoors in the evening during the reception to do a more dramatic night time shot. I want to put them in front of a large tree and light up the tree a little bit as well as light the couple from the left hand side.

I would put the 560TX on my camera, put one flash on a stand and diffuse it with a large umbrella and put another flash on the ground behind the couple pointing up at the tree. Now I can change the flash output settings for the two off camera flashes from the 560TX that is on my camera. I will underexpose the background and make sure my shutter speed is lower than 160 and shoot everything in manual in order to get desired exposure on the couple with the slight backlight of the light on the tree.

In this first video, I talk a bit about the system that I use along with different types of speedlights I use and the one trigger that controls everything!

In the below video I go over the following:

How to change the channel on a 560TX
How to change the channel on a 560IV (the same as changing the channel on a 560III)
How to change the group on a 560IV
How to change the 560IV from transmitting to receiving mode

You would want to use a setup like this (TX on camera, 560IV off camera) when you don't actually need a flash on your camera as well.

In the below video I go over the following:

How to change the channel on a 560IV and 560III
How to change the 560IV to be transmitter
How to change the 560III to receiver
How to ensure the groups are the same on both flash units
How to change the settings of an off camera flash from the flash on your camera

This would be the set up you would likely want to use during a wedding reception when you need both an on and off camera flash.

I know it doesn't look like flash "C" went off in the video, but I promise it did! LOL.

I hope this is helpful to you especially if you are new to the world of OCF and are considering the Yongnuo brand of flash equipment! As always, if you have ANY questions at all...feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email!

5 strategies for relocating your business

The strategies I mentioned in my post about rocking your move before you go were as follows:

Make connections
Research your area
Update SEO on website
Refresh business strategies
Get Legal

Let's take a look at each of these to see how they are playing out. Hopefully some of the strategies I have used can benefit you if you are also in the process of moving a business to a new city/state!

Research your area

This was HUGE for me. Luckily I had a friend who lives in the general area of North Jersey and I was able to chat with her a bit about the area before we got here. I also utilized my real estate agent to find out a little bit more about the area and the demographics.

I also googled the area, my city and neighboring cities and checked it out on google earth just to get a feel for the layout etc...I checked out other photographers sites that I could find through google searched and tried to see what they listed on their website as locations etc...

Coming into an area completely cold was challenging. I had really no frame of reference of New Jersey aside from Jersey Shore so it's actually been kind of fun learning more about this state that I would never have imagined living in. You may have the luxury of knowing more about the city you are moving too than I did, but I would still recommending doing as much research about the area as possible!

Make Connections

THIS ^^^^

I can hardly describe how instrumental this ONE aspect is when moving your business. While the first few months here were slow since we were in temp housing and then in the process of moving...the past few months have been an absolute WHIRLWIND of meetings, collaborations, lunches and get togethers.

Being an introvert, networking is not a strong natural draw for me. I will ALWAYS choose staying at home with my cute husband over getting dressed and going to a get together where there is tons of mingling and small talk involved. That is so exhausted and draining for me. BUT...I have challenged myself to network in ways that work for me and I have been so blessed and amazed at the results of making these great connections.

strategies for relocating your photography business | North NJ Wedding Photographer

I have been a part of two instrumental groups since coming to New Jersey. First, the Rising Tide Society. I truly believe God’s hand was in me finding this group right at the exact time I needed it. Some results of me being an active member of the Rising Tide Society (on a national and local level):

I met my friend Jillian from Bella Carta Boutique randomly on an instragram comment section for RTS. Jillian is an amazing designer, overall amazing person and she literally lives like 15 min away from me. She is going to do some big things this year and I am blessed and honored to be a part of some of those things!
I met my friend Laura from RTS and also from the Academy. She has been an amazing partner and resource for lots of different things! She took me along to a wedding and took a chance on me 2nd shooting. She has sent me TONS of wedding referrals, a few of which I have already booked. She is also going to have me shoot for her quite a bit this next year and I am thrilled to work with her.
I met my friend Jennifer from RTS and from the first meeting, even though we hardly spoke, I KNEW she was a kindred spirit. We had an instant connection and have become very close since then. She sent me a wedding inquiry only a few months after I moved here and I booked them and shot my first wedding in NJ back in October. She is an amazing photographer and the sweetest person I know and I am so blessed to call her a friend.
I met Michelle in the larger national RTS group when she reached out looking for NJ vendors to do a styled session with. We also had an instant connection and ended up working great together to do both of our very first stylized wedding shoot! So blessed to have found her!

Some other connections I’ve met through various other channels be it The Academy or other facebook groups: Chelsea, Brittani, Nancy, Amanda, Marissa, Christina and Debbie. Whew!! I feel more connected to the photography industry than I ever did before and feel so lucky and blessed to know all of these amazing people.

Another awesome way that I have made some connections is through the international networking group, BNI. My mortgage broker invited me to a meeting and even though the meetings are once a week at 7am (yikes!!!) the first time I went, I knew this could be great for me. I have already had business from this group and quite a few referrals and I just might write another blog post all about it. ;-)

Update SEO tags etc...

The difficulty with the area we moved to is that it's basically a huge area that is comprised of a thousand little tiny towns and townships (seriously!). So I couldn't SEO target ONE city per se. In Albuquerque, Seattle, Ridgecrest...that was a different story. Here if I would try to target Budd Lake I would pretty much get no where. Photographers here serve clients from literally all over New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York! Yikes!

With my friends help however, we narrowed it down to Morris County and North or Northern New Jersey. That was the area that I decided to focus on and so far I have made some really great strides when it comes to the SEO that I desire to show up for.

Refresh business strategies

Moving your business is an absolutely ideal time to make potential changes to your business model without affecting past clients. While I have changed my business model drastically in my portrait offerings, I kept things pretty similar with my wedding collections. I have seen success with my wedding collections and have booked a few brides already for 2016, however, due to the timing of our arrival I missed out on the "family portrait" busy season right before the holidays.

I do have plans to do a few portfolio sessions for the area in an effort to get set up for success for the fall of 2016. My goal is to photograph 10 family sessions this year and I think I am on target to meet that goal.

Overall, I feel confident in my business strategy and feel like I have a strong why behind what I am doing. That really keeps me on point when it's tempting to change direction when I see nothing really "happening".

I have to remind myself that it takes time and diligence to build momentum.

What I have accomplished in 6 months has been fantastic and I can't wait to see where I am at in another 6 months.

Get Legal!

I was able to get this taken care of rather quickly. Figuring how to exactly to get legal is not always easy but luckily I was able to find some good resources online for how to officially start my business in New Jersey and get set up to pay the state their sales tax. I was able to do all of this a few months after we got here, but also before I had any paying clients!

Moving your business is no easy task. It can be very daunting in many, MANY ways. But with some good strategies in place and the drive and desire to put in the work, you CAN make it work!

Have you moved your business? What have you found to help in your success? I'd love to hear about it!