Flash

Flash can be something of a devil in disguise when it isn’t used properly. I’m not a fan of pop of flashes in any way shape or form. I know they serve a purpose by providing light in a pinch. But generally speaking on camera flash( the kind built in) generally washes out the image and leaves it feeling quite fake and honestly to me, rather ugly.

But in some cases it is a necessary evil. If you don’t have the resources to afford a speedlight, or the ability to travel with a large lighting kit( and lets be honest, not many of have the ability to lug around a ton of equipment on a day to day basis) then the pop flash can be your best friend when a high iso and slow shutter speed just won’t do.  I myself own a Canon 580ex ii speedlight which I love. It differs from a pop up flash in a plethora of ways. The biggest of which is that it isn’t actually apart of the camera. The speedlight slides into the hot shoe on the top of DSLRs. For those not familiar with the hot shoe it is the little metal bracket located on top of a camera. Multiple lighting devises can be placed into there and used to control lighting for your camera, from a speedlight like I own to a radio transmitter that allows you to control off camera lighting from the camera. This can be great for studio photography, you can avoid the hassle of having cords and wires laying all around the floor waiting to be tripped on and knock over all of your equipment.

Another beautiful thing about my flash is that it has the ability to control various other off camera flashes. Therefore when I fired my speedlight it can trigger other mounted (slave) speedlights in the room to go off at the same time. This can provide dynamic lighting and beautiful images. The speedlight also has the ability to rotate and revolve. This allows you to bounce the light from the flash off of a ceiling in a low ceiling room or diffuse the light a bit by not having it pointed directly at the subject.

Flash doesn’t always need to be used when it is dark out though.  While I wouldn’t using a pop up flash in the daylight because it won’t be strong enough to really have an effect, using a stronger flash can be a blessing in the bright sun. When used properly the flash can over power the sunlight and provide a gentle light on the subject instead of the intense lighting that can come from  the bright sun during early afternoon hours.

Using the flash also can be used to freeze and object. Even when shooting action shots in dim light you don’t have to worry about your shutter speed because the light from the flash freezes the subject in that exact moment. Having a slow shutter speed allows to keep the background well lit without sacrificing the crispness from a fast moving object.