Flash - not just for indoors!

Jumpin Jack Flash.  Flashdance.  Flash Gordon.  Those '80s were just full of flash.  But don't let the neon shorts and the Wham t-shirts fool you - the '80s knew what was up.  Flash is, quite simply, important.   Out of the major pieces of camera gear, flash is likely the most misunderstood and under utilized tool.  I always find this peculiar, because flash is included on nearly every camera made, from paper throwaways to prosumer DSLRs.  The only bodies that don't have a built in flash are the more expensive professional models.   I guess if you are serious enough to drop $3000+ on a camera, you would be serious enough to have a dedicated flash unit.

It's true that most built-in flashes are woefully underpowered, and some professionals would even go so far to call them 'worthless', but truth be told they are better than nothing.   Once you start using flash, the merits are easily recognizable; and once a budding photographer sees the light *snicker*, a speedlite is often the first thing they purchase.

The main purpose of flash, of course, is to illuminate a dark subject.  It is a necessity for indoor shooting in poor light and for shooting people outdoors at night.  Today's cameras have great ISO capabilities, but even in well-lit areas most pros use flash. 

 

The next time you attend a sporting event at an indoor arena (i.e. hockey, basketball), keep an eye out for the strobes.  The whole arena flashes for the house photographer, triggered by a wireless transmitter on his camera.  You may have noticed them before, but weren't sure if you were seeing things.  You weren't, they are real.  If you didn't notice them before, now you will see *flash* ... *flash* .... *flash* every single time something exciting happens.  Please don't hate me.

photo ICCsports.com

You may be telling yourself "Hey, I know this stuff.  Flash used when it's dark.  Check.  Easy!"  But darkness is only half the story.  The rest of the time, we have daylight, and flash is just as useful when the sun is up.  Can you get away with not using a flash during the daytime?  Absolutely!  To truly take your photography to the next level, however, flash is something that needs to be mastered.

So it's a beautiful afternoon, about 3pm, the sun is shining and the sky is a vivid blue at the beach.  You tell the kids to hold up their popsicles, you focus on them, and you snap off a shot in front of the seascape.  Excitedly, you view the image to see your handiwork and you are met with disappointment.  The sky doesn't look the same!  It's a washed out light blue, it looks nothing like it does in person.   This is because the background isn't exposed correctly.  Your subject (the kids) are darker than the sky, so the camera opens up the aperture and meters for a longer exposure.  This overexposes the sky, and when things get overexposed, they wash out and lose their color.

So, having learned this, the next time you go to the beach you are prepared.  You've learned how to manually expose your camera, so you confidently have the kids stand in front of that vivid blue sky again.  You properly expose the sky, the kids break out in wide grins, and you snap the shot.  You check the image, fully expecting a wonderful shot.  Curses!  The kids faces are too dark to see their expression!  But hey, the sky looks great, right? 

These images, while not perfect, are still better than the dreaded back-lit shot.  C'mon, admit it!  We've all taken this shot.  Everyone lines up with their backs to the sun and what you end up with is a bunch of shadow people in front of what appears to be the white, blistering surface of Venus.  Is this a truly impossible shot to capture?  Not if you have flash, it isn't.  I have my flash on my camera for every single event I shoot.  It's that useful.  Here are some examples to help you see the difference a flash can make.

Shooting an e-session for a wonderful couple a while back, down at the beach:

Now, there are fancy meters you can get to help you with all of this, but generally I just fire off a quick test shot to see what I am dealing with.  

Even though it's later in the day, it's a bit bright still.  Being on the west coast, the sun sets over the ocean so that can present a definite challenge.  The shot isn't horrible, but I can see on my histogram and display that the entire right side of the sky is overexposed.  (If you don't know how to read a histogram, that will be covered in a future installment.)  Even without the histogram, it's easy to see how white the right side is.  I want some color!  So, I set the camera to expose for the background.  Ideally this is done in the manual camera setting.

I understand that when I expose for the sky the couple are going to be really dark, so I might as well do a silhouette shot first.  I expose for the background, underexpose a bit more, then fire away.

Hey, there we go, a nice silhouette.  The sky retained its color and the background is balanced.  The couple is dark, but that is what I was going for.  But what if I want the best of both worlds?  Well, I use flash!


Flashes work by reading the scene then lighting the subject accordingly.  You will notice your camera pre-flashes, then the shutter opens with a main flash.  This pre-flash bounces off the subject and back to the camera.  Your camera reads this data and calculates just how much light it needs to light the subject.  Pretty neat huh?  This actually makes the shot I am trying to do really easy.


First, I  expose for the background using the manual setting.  This is very important, because in other modes the camera will automatically change your aperture and shutter speed, and we don't want that.  Once you get the exposure set, turn on your speedlite or pop-up/turn on your flash.  Now when you focus on your subject, compose, and shoot, your camera will notice how dark the subject is and illuminate it with the flash.  The flash will light your subject because it is close.  The sky, however, is a long ways away, and your flash will have zero effect on it.  This is called fill flash, and your result should look something like this:

The couple is illuminated nicely, and we have preserved the background as it looks in real-life.  All we needed to do was manually expose for the background and use a flash.

This becomes more challenging as it gets darker.  Once it starts to get hard to see your subject a tripod is essential, and if the subject is alive, they have to stand very still for a second or two when you shoot.  But with a little practice and patience, you can produce some exceptional images.

Next time you are shooting out of doors, think about if flash could help you out in a particular situation.  Remember, there's really only two things you have to do.

1. Expose for the background

2. Use the flash to illuminate the subject properly.

Happy shooting!