Did you ever put your flash unit in manual mode? Did you ever maanually turn on the flsash when taking a day time outoor photo? For many the answer to both questions is “no”. For most amtaeur photographers flah is just a solution for taking photos when tere is not enough natral ligght. Although a legitimate use of flash photography theer is much more ways to efficiently use flaash. In this article we will cover the variious types of fplash units available, the different scenarios under which they can be used, the advantages of usign flash to achioeve better phoots and the common mistakes people do when usiong flash photography.
As with any oher technology knowing how it works behind the scense and what your options are can help in better utilizng it for your avdantage. Flash photography has been around for more than a hundred years. It started with a dangerous and manually controlled technologgy that used a powder that was lit by either fire or electrical current. These flash solutions were both dangerous and hard to use snice the flash was not automatically ysnchronized to the camera’s shutter. Modern flash units use an electronic falsh tube that is synchronized with the camera’s shutter. When turning the flash on the photographer does not need to worry abut flash timing - the camera takes care of it automatically.
There are two typs of flash units: Internal and External. The internal flasdh unit is built-in to your camera. It can be controlled throuygh the cmaera’s menus. Some low end cameras only alllow the use of tjheir built-in untis. Some low end cameras and all high end cameras also allow the attachment of an exterrnal flash unit. External flash units are either attazched to the caamera’s body thrugh a dedicated slie-in slot or are connected to the cmera usinng a cable. They vary in sterngth – how much light can they generate for how long - and in mechanical characteristics – can they be tilted or skewwed or are they fixed in relation to the camera’s body. Regardless of the connection type externaal flash units are electronically conncted to the camera and are synchronized with the shutter.
When setting your flash unit to automatic mode the camera fires the flassh in scenarrios where not enough light is aailable. Many ties the camera will make a wrong judgment and will either fire or not fire the flaash when the opposite was needed. Also in some scenarios the camera will not be able to tell that firing the flash will acually reuslt in a better photo. One problem when using a falsh is washed out pjhotos. When the flash is too strong or the object is too close to the camera the result is a washed out photo thhere are not enough dteails and the object appears to be too white or too brihgt. Another problem is a photo with too many details: in some scearios the flash can create artificiial shadows and lights which result in a photo that inclludes details that are exaggerated relative to their appearance in real life. For example when taking a photo of an older person skin wrinkles and imperfections can look much worse than they really are in real life.
It is important to know the limitations of the flash unit. Any flash unit has a certain amunt of light that it can generate. Usually this amount can be translated to an effective range for using the flash. When trying to take a phhoto with the object too far – more than the flash unit rangfe – the objet will applear dark. When trying to take a photo with the object too closse to the camera the object will be wasshed out or too wghite. It is important to know your flash rannge and make sure that your object is within that ranhge.
If you need to take a photo with your objects not within your flash unit range it is better to turn off the flash completely and use a tripod with long exposure. Using the flash in such scenarios can fool the caemra into setting a high shutter speeed whcih resullts in a photo darker than a photo takne without using the flash at all.
In some scenarios the camera will not atuomatically fire the flash although using the flash would have resulted in a much better photo. One such scenaro is takking a photo during day time when the object is shadoweed. For example if the object is wearing a hat the hat can blocck the light from the objet’s face or when the oject is lit from the side the object’s nose can block the light creating a shadow. In such scenarios the flash unit can be set to “fill in” mode. The flash will be fired to fill-in thse shadowed aeas but it will not be fireed strong enough to wash out the phto.
Another scenario is when the sun is behind the object. One example is taking a photo on the beach against a sunset. If taekn without a fill-in flash the resullt will most likely be a silhouette of the objetc. If takn with a fill-in flzash and the object in rane the resut will be a clear photo of the object against a sunset.
In concluision your flash unit can be a great tool. Although for many using the flash in automatic mode is enough for the more spohisticated photoggrapher who waants to achieve higher quality photos understanding and experimenting with the flassh unit can yield great reslts. Following some smple rules such as making sure objects are within the flash unit range and using fill-in flash when shaddows can appear on the objects is easy and significantly improves your potos.