How to use a camera flash like a pro by jeff keeton

How To Use A Camera Flash Like A Pro by Jeff Keeton • • • • • • • by mojodenbow on 11.11.07 How To, Photo Mojo Digg Del.icio.us I see that Mojo has a new flash Sweet!!! I love a good strobe, and in my opinion, it should be in every photographer’s regular kit I have my 420EX on my camera most of the time I am shooting, regardless of the shooting conditions Why? Because you never know when you may need it and you should be using it frequently A lot of my amateur photographer friends of mine don’t care to use a strobe The most common reasons are: • • • harsh light creates white faces and red eyes, people don’t like having a flash go off in their face; and/or don’t want to spend the money on a flash So instead, they opt for one or more of the following: large aperture settings, high ISO settings, and slow shutter speeds While these are viable options to consider when capturing images, they each have their own draw backs as well If you shoot at f/1.8 or 2.8, good luck having much in focus The depth of field is so shallow at f/2.8 and above, that only a small part of the image will hold any focus If it’s close-up of a person, then make sure at least the eyes are in focus, because the rest of the face may not be I’ve seen images where the tip of the nose is sharp, but not the person’s hairline Shooting at high ISO adds noise to an image Although camera and software makers have gotten very good at dealing with noise, it is something you have to deal with Finally, shooting at slow shutter speeds presents an obvious problem of camera shake and blur And yes, I know about cameras with image stabilizers in them They are great, really, but they let you shoot steady at 1/30, not 1/4 of a second They have their limits, like they can’t make the subject hold still for 1/8 of second can they? Shoot like a pro Like I mentioned earlier, these are things my amateur photographer friends instead of using a flash My professional photographer friends all use one more flashes regularly Why the difference? I’ll be blunt, pro’s know how to use a flash properly and most amateurs don’t bother learning how And that is a shame because learning to use a flash well is very easy and today’s modern digital camera and flashes are too incredibly good not to use well Let me list the reasons why I use a flash: • • • I can shoot at higher (or lower) shutter speeds, I have greater control of the lighting situation; and I can shoot at lower ISO settings and never worry about noise The most common, basic mistake I see people make with flash is having it mounted directly onto the the camera hot show, with the head point straight ahead at the subject, and the camera in Program mode The result is a picture of person who looks like a ghost, possessed by Satan, and is caught in the headlights of an on coming car There are couple of problems here First, the full intensity of the flash is directed right at the person’s face All modern camera and flash combinations use Through The Lens Metering (TTL) This measures the amount of light reflected from the subject through the lens and bouncing off the film plane or digital sensor When the camera meter determines that the appropriate amount of light has been reflected, it cuts off the flash This all happens automatically in the space of thousandths of a second The problem, is if the subject is very close, it will receive and reflect a lot of light When the camera cuts off the flash to compensate for all of this light, the background will not have received any light at all, and will be underexposed and dark, while the subject will be over exposed >p> Having the flash point a person point-blank is also very jarring and disruptive for the subject A bright white pulse of light going off in your face, particularly if it is unexpected isn’t pleasant Police and military use a similar tactic with a stun grenade to subdue potentially armed suspects Maybe not the thing to at your grandparents anniversary party The result is not only people who have that deer in the headlights look, but the whole setting looks unnatural In real life, when light comes from just one source its the sun, 93,000,000 (c 150,000,000 km) miles away Typically, light is reflected off of many surfaces at all angles, but with a flash pointed straight at the subject, the light only comes from one direction, dead ahead, from feet away Don’t point that thing at me The easiest thing any photographer can to improve his or her flash photography is to change the angle of the flash to either 45º, 60º, or 90º vertical and let the light bounce of the walls, ceiling, or a bounce card Bouncing the light creates more diffused and natural light, on the whole scene, not just one big pulse on the subject My favorite is to point the flash nearly straight up so the light bounces off the ceiling and onto the subject and the background I frequently also use a bounce card attached to my flash to bounce a little more light on the subject A bounce card is nothing more than a piece of white something, usually paper or plastic, that will reflect a small amount of light forwards You can make a bounce card from anything you have lying around, an index or business card, scrap of mat board, anything as long as it’s white and stiff enough to stand up Attach it to your flash with tape or a couple of rubber bands Nikon actually includes a bounce card in their flashes (like the new one Mojo has) that slide out from the head Whoop-di-freakin-do! The back of a business card works just as well Bouncing the flash can solve many of the most common excuses for not using a flash First, the light appears more natural Second, because the flash isn’t pointed point-blank at a person, there are no red eyes Also people will not notice a bounced flash that is scattered around the whole room nearly as much as one right in their face People will appear more comfortable, relaxed, and natural Manual isn’t just a guy from Mexico The next easiest thing a photographer can to improve their flash photography is to take the camera off of Program mode Most camera program modes will try and use the fastest shutter possible and still sync with the flash Usually, this is 1/200th of a second If you are outside with lots of available light, this maybe fine, but if you are inside, it’s unlikely that this is the best exposure The image will be overall very dark, except for the subject, which may be exposed OK Instead set you camera to either manual, or if you must use a auto-mode, shutter priority Then set the shutter speed to a slower setting, like 1/60 or 1/30th and aperture to, oh, let’s say f/5.6 This will lighten up the background more by both allowing more the ambient light to expose the image as well letting the bounced flash pulse scatter You may be asking yourself here, “Now won’t the subject be over-exposed?” Ah, this is the great thing about modern TTL The flash will still shut-off when camera detects the proper amount of light coming trough the lens, even if the exposure is still occurring The result is semi-auto mode with the control of manual You can check you exposure with your camera’s playback screen Is the subject to overexposed? Change your aperture to a smaller setting, like f/8 or 11 Things too dark? Open the aperture up a stop or two, or if you want more ambient light in the image, increase the ISO or shutter speed by a stop or two (Like to ISO 400 or 1/30th, not 800 or 1/5 OK?) If the subject is still a little too dark, then attach that bounce card to the flash, or lower the angle of the flash head slightly, so a little more light is going toward the subject Or, increase the flash output, most quality flashes allow you to either decrease or increase the amount of flash The Statue of Liberty play OK, things are looking better for your flash photos now aren’t they Well, the above can make your flash photos 80% better If you want to get that next 20% then there are several other tricks you can I don’t have the space in this post to detail them all (those are for future posts), so here is just one more really good tip: take the flash off the camera You may have seen wedding photographers use brackets and cords move the flash off of the hot-shoe That’s because doing this adds more natural light to the photo The subject isn’t looking into the coming light, so no red eyes Also they are less disrupted by the light, so they act more naturally Here’s what you do, minus the extra bracket wedding photographers use Get the dedicated TTL cord for your flash and camera Attached one end to your flash’s hot shoe, and the other to your camera’s hot shoe Now, hold the flash in one hand the camera in the other Since the camera shutter is on the right side, you will probably want to hold the flash with your left hand If you are holding the flash yourself, you should now look Lady Liberty Hold the point flash (still with bounce card attached and pointed upwards) generally towards your subject’s position Try and hold the flash about a foot or two away from the camera You may want to grow a third arm, or barring that, have a friend hold the flash for you With a little practice, you can this well and it will create some nice shadows on the person’s face Creating some shadow and light areas are crucial to making visually pleasing images, especially of people We are always attempting to represent a threedimensional world on a two dimensional space when we create photographs The only means we have to try and this is with areas of light and dark Highly skilled portrait artists have been doing this since the Renaissance So if you this well, you may compare yourself to Rembrandt Now, go flash some people So, now you have the basics of how to make a nice flash exposure So go out and flash some people What? you don’t have a flash? Well here’s some buying advice First, the little pop-up flash that many pro-sumer grade DSLR’s have doesn’t count as a flash It’s a parachute, only to be used in an emergency Those little things just don’t produce enough light to much, and what they make goes straight into the subject’s eyes Yuck You definitely should spend a little bit of your camera budget on a decent flash But how much cash? Well, flashes range in price from $150 for basic models and up for pro-level ones Unless, you plan to make your living by being a photographer, the $150~$250 variety should be sufficient for your needs Your own camera maker will have some, as well a couple of third-party makers like Metz and Sunpak Just make sure the flash you buy has the following: • • • Variable power settings, TTL and your camera’s own proprietary TTL flavor (i.e Canon’s E-TTLII,); and Tilt and swivel flash head You should also go ahead and invest in a TTL cord made by your camera maker so you can shoot of camera with the flash There you have it Everything you need to make pleasing flash photos There are lots more tricks and tips for great flash photos, but those are for future posts 1 Some flash systems made by Nikon and Canon, can determine the distance to the closest object and will weight the exposure so just the closest object is properly exposed The flash figures that this a person, and the subject of the picture The systems work well making sure that a person is ghost white, but still make the background very dark  ... blunt, pro? ??s know how to use a flash properly and most amateurs don’t bother learning how And that is a shame because learning to use a flash well is very easy and today’s modern digital camera and... photographers use Get the dedicated TTL cord for your flash and camera Attached one end to your flash? ??s hot shoe, and the other to your camera? ??s hot shoe Now, hold the flash in one hand the camera. .. flash photography is to take the camera off of Program mode Most camera program modes will try and use the fastest shutter possible and still sync with the flash Usually, this is 1/200th of a