When do I use flash and what is the...

best camera lighting to use? I use flash lighting only when I absolutely have to. Keep that in mind as we talk about it.

For me, most times, the best lighting is natural. Have you ever noticed that when you use a built in flash the lighting looks harsh? People’s faces are so washed out.

Don’t expect to get professional, high quality, photographs while using the unit built into your camera. Whenever I can, I use only natural lighting.

Yet I always have my artificial lighting units with me and ready to go. Invariably I'll find one set of pictures for the day where I need it. When I have to use artificial lighting, I seldom, if ever, use the built in unit. Instead I opt for "hot shoe mounted" lighting units. I'll explain why a little later.

Choices from available camera settings allow me to use natural lighting most of the time. With or without flash, the best time of a sunny day to shoot is when the sun is not straight overhead. Your subjects look more 3 dimensional and it makes for more interesting shadows.

This picture was taken in very low light. I used only the existing light. This carousel is in an enclosure and it is pretty dark in there. Yet I got a very satisfactory shot. By the way, I hand held my camera.

There will always be exceptions to the rule.

This little lady is exceptional. Often, when you are shooting outside, the background will be super bright while your subject will be darker.

In a program mode, without flash, the camera will set itself to a happy medium between the bright background and your shaded subject. This almost always results in both of them being improperly exposed. The right lighting unit/s will balance this out so you end up with a nice picture.

The above picture was taken without what's known as "filler-flash." The next, is with. The term simply means that your camera mounted unit is the secondary source of light.

In these pictures the sun is the main source of light. The camera unit is secondary; therefore the camera unit is "filler." It fills the dark shadows caused by the primary source of light. In this example, the primary source being the sun.

In the top picture I shot her in aperture priority. In order to correctly expose her I would have had to do it in manual mode.

Yet, if I had correctly exposed her in the first picture the resultant, severely overexposed background would detract the eyes of the viewer from the actual subject. Using filler light, both the foreground and the background are well exposed.

When your subject is in direct sunlight there will be harsh shadows on their face. When your subject is in the shade, almost invariably there is enough bright sunlight in the background to cause a substantial difference between the proper lighting for your subject and that for the background.

The end result is that during the Daytime, outdoor filler is often necessary. I use filler when I am shooting people outside. Most other subjects normally seem to be fine without.

Remember, all lighting units have a very limited distance. And that effective distance is even shorter when you are shooting in bright sunlight.

I find at 1/60th many of my subjects blur if it's not a posed shot. And even when people are posing they tend to move at the most inconvenient of times.

I cannot find any way to increase the shutter speed in any of the program modes; even in my high end camera. Well, shooting in manual mode allows me to set the shutter to a speed I like.

I find that 1/250th or thereabouts works well. Even when restless children are in the picture I can capture it crisply.

One thing to note; when in manual mode, with the shutter speed set to 1/250, one does not have to set the aperture. You can still use an aperture of f8.

The reason being, the camera's microprocessor will set the flash output accordingly. Even when the camera's exposure indicator bar shows the picture will be underexposed, it won't.

There are limitations to this. When you are far from your subject, the flash unit has a limited amount of power. Anything beyond the range of the flash will be under exposed.

If you want the background properly exposed you will have to use an aperture setting much closer to, but not necessarily exactly, what your camera meter shows as correct. In order to get the results you want, you'll have to experiment in each situation.

Another limitation to using 1/250 and f8 indiscriminately is that many cameras have a maximum shutter speed they allow when the flash is on. If you are in the bright sunlight, normally your shutter speed is far in excess of 1/250.

In that case you can change your film speed and/or aperture or you simply use your camera in a program mode. Setting down your film speed or setting your aperture to a narrower one, or both, will compensate for the limit on the shutter speed.

Please reread and practice the information in this note. it is very important.

Indoors you can often shoot

without flash as well. It generally requires a very high film speed and a large aperture.

You won't be able to capture high speed action indoors. But then, usually indoor photography is more sedentary any way. There is the cutoff point for indoor photography where you will have to add lighting.

T.T.L.

There is a thing known as TTL technology. TTL is an acronym for Through The Lens.

That is when your camera actually sees directly through the lens to make decisions. This is important because any filters you have on the lens changes the settings.

Another reason is merely changing your zoom requires different settings. There are more variables than that, but it gives you an idea of why TTL is important.

With TTL technology you will get proper exposure. Your camera will fire at a power according to what it needs for the existing lighting, camera settings and the distance your subject is from your lens. This even includes the manual settings I spoke of above.

Only experience will get you to the point of knowing what settings to use. Even then, each time you shoot you will have to take some test shots to make sure you get the exposure you want.

O.K. Let’s add flash to your pictures.

As I have already mentioned, outdoor filler is the most common use for me. When I tell people to use flash outside in the bright sun they look at me like I’m crazy.

What filler does is softens the shadows on your subject. When they are in direct sunlight there is a substantial amount of contrast. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. One side of Aunt Loraine’s face is all white the other side looks like nighttime on Mars.

Indoors, in the shade and on overcast days there are no harsh shadows to contend with. So I use only ambient lighting in those instances unless it's too dark in the area or the background is very bright.

I have a DSLR. I have a whole, elaborate lighting setup. It looks goofy but it makes a huge difference in my pictures. These are wireless for versatility.

When you first start shooting with a setup like this it is quite the workout. The difference in your photographs makes it very much worth the effort once you become accustomed to the weight.

There is a popular saying in photography. It goes “Use so much lighting that it looks like there is none.”

I use two units. Whenever you use only one you will get a harsh shadow somewhere. It shows most when your subject has a wall behind them. Even if the wall is 20 feet back that pesky shadow will show up plain as day.

With two flash units, place one left of your lens and the other straight above or to the right. Place them at different distances off center. Also, placing them at different heights makes a difference. Typically you can even set each for different power output.

All this adds up to pleasing, natural looking shadows. If you decide to get this involved with lighting you will have to practice a lot. Start out by following these guidelines. Then change to your own preferences as you gain experience.

There is a really cool option available for the camera mounted units. It’s a diffuser. With the two flash units you see above, you will have harsh lighting unless you use diffusers for the light.

There are a bunch of different ones on the market. I like the ones you see in this picture. They are called plastic dome diffusers. They give me results very close to studio lighting.

When you are shooting people use a diffuser. Diffusion is important to soften the effect of the bright lights. That is why built in flashes invariably look so harsh. They have no diffuser. Diffusers make a world of difference.

Many units that mount on the “hot shoe” of your camera have a built in diffuser. These help but they do not work as well as the dome or other more elaborate units. The hot shoe is the little mounting plate on the top of your camera.

My built in diffusers pop out and down over the lens. Ever wonder what those things were for? When I’m not using them they slide back up and out of the way.

You don’t want them always out because they soften the light where you may need more. The built in diffusers are less effective than my plastic domes. I found that I got in the habit of using the built in diffusers in conjunction with the plastic domes. Together they work wonders.

I like to hand hold my camera. Continuing that mindset I don’t like being bogged down by equipment. Studio lighting bogs me down. Like studio lighting, I can mount one of my portables on a tripod for different angles. And I don’t need electricity. I remain completely mobile.

The next step up, for quality and greater speed, would be to use studio lighting. They are available for quite a bit less than the regular flash units.

With that you need outlet power or huge batteries. You can use a generator or find a place to plug in. This will severely limit your freedom to move about and shoot. That’s why I don’t use it.

Camera mounted flash units get pretty costly. I invested a lot of money into my lighting. I did so in order to remain very mobile when I use it.

Another option is one small flash unit to replace the built in.

The built in unit is not adjustable for aim. The small hot-shoe mounted unit has to have the capability of being aimed where you want it; at least in the vertical direction.

For these photos I used a Nikon D40 with an SB-400 flash unit attached. It is reasonably priced and makes a world of difference in the finish photos.

The first was direct. In the second picture I bounced the flash off the ceiling. Of course in order to bounce the light, there has to be a ceiling to use.

The ceiling needs to be a light color. Preferably white or off white. And it has to be low enough to make a difference.

Upon close inspection of the first picture you can see how harsh the lighting is on the little car. In the second picture, however, the colors look much richer and there are no harsh shadows.

Pay particular attention to the red surface. In the first shot the shadows of the car are obvious. In the second shot they are very soft and natural looking.

The natural looking shadows give a much more 3 dimensional feel to the photo. The direct lighting makes the picture look flat. Even the interior of the bounced shot looks richer and has more depth.

Bear in mind, the only thing I did between the two shots is changed from direct to a bounced flash.

This is the flash unit on the camera. This is a very small, but effective combination.

In a little closer picture you can see the front of the light is pointing in an upward direction. It is at an angle in order to bounce at an angle.

Do not use diffusers when you bounce the light. The wall off which you bounce acts as its own diffuser.

It will take some practice to get the hang of bouncing because each time you set up to bounce the flash, your settings will vary. The angle setting is closer to 90 degrees when the subject is close, as was mine. The further away your subject, the lesser the angle.

One final way to substantially improve the harsh lighting caused by the built-in camera flash is to fasten a couple of layers of white tissue paper over the unit. While very limited and you cannot bounce the light, this will help soften the lighting on people's faces. In some cases it works very well.

Always remember, the smaller the camera the more challenging it will be to get professional results in any of the areas I talk about. Many times it can be done but it will take practice. Of course there are limits.

Set up your camera and practice. Don’t get discouraged. You will find that if you start out with a small camera and eventually invest in a DSLR you will be flying through this stuff because you are so used to being limited by the smaller camera. Have heart, keep the faith; it‘ll work out for you.

Outdoors use direct flash. Continue to use diffusers and aim your flash straight toward your subject.

Indoors bounce the flash when you can. Turn the flash to face a ceiling. If the ceiling is too high try a nearby wall, though that will give less desirable results. If you have good diffusers you can use direct flash even on people and even inside.

Of course any time the existing lighting is too low for a reasonable shutter speed you will have to use flash. Now you know how to get the most out of it.

Read about us here. Our privacy policy here. And our disclaimer here.