Pop up flash = yuk! Functional, yes. Attractive? Never?
Pop up flash will NEVER produce a natural result. If the goal of taking photos is to capture the world as seen by the eye, then the pop-up flash is an enemy to photographers. I don’t even know why DSLR cameras have them other than functionality (it certainly isn’t for the sake of art).
The first time I discovered the flash-off mode, it was like a lightbulb in my head (instead of on my camera). You can take photos of just about any situation without a flash if you understand your camera settings.
{CAMERA SETTINGS}
Shutter speed - The slower the shutter, the more light will be allowed into your camera and the less fake light will need to be added via the flash.
Aperture – Again, the more open the aperture (lower the number exe f/1.8 vs. f/5.6) the more light will be let in. The lower the aperture, the faster the shutter can be if you’re concerned about camera shake or moving subjects. But beware because lower apertures (wide open) are also meant to be useful for very shallow DOF (depth of field) meaning that whatever is the the foremost ground of your shot will be in focus. So for example, you’d want to place people side-by-side, not one on front of the other.
ISO – ISO refers to film speed and, although the need is obsolete, the name remains. Using digital cameras means we don’t have to consider film speed anymore. Remember buying 400 for inside, 200 for outside? Sidenote: Strangely, ISO stands for ‘International Standards Organization’. Founded on 23 February 1947, “the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial standards” according to Wikipedia. Um…ok? Back to the point…the higher the ISO, the more sensitive the sensor is to the light that hits it. So indoors, you can use higher ISOs to shoot without a flash. Now, every time a new camera comes on the market, it boasts outrageously high ISO capabilities and they are always completely outlandish. I don’t care what camera you have, nothing looks good above ISO 800 (1000 if necessary). Why? Higher ISOs come with more and more grain known as ‘noise’. Noise is little dots or grain in the picture which make the image just plain yucky.
Triangle – I’ve mentioned the exposure triangle a million times and it will keep coming up. When you set your camera to manual and decide to be the brains of the operation, remember the triangle: shutter speed, aperture, ISO. In any given situation, there is a perfect balance between the three to produce a perfect result. Indoors when I want to avoid flash, I use a lower shutter speed (but not too low incase the kids are moving), a wide open aperture (but not so wide that I lose the ability to focus on all that needs to be in the shot) and ISO (I don’t go above 800 because I hate noise). When the combination of these three isn’t enough, I then (and only then) enter the flash but it is NEVER a pop-up.
Your Surroundings – I love taking photos in my front room. There’s an enormous window opposite the sofa. The light is always perfect on the kids’ faces and the window creates a great catchlight in their eyes. Before taking a photo, just think for a second. Where is the best light in the house/room? Can I move the floor lamp to help the lighting?
{WHEN YOU MUST}
Sometimes, you either can’t get around using a flash or you want to use one for creative purposes. When I say never ever use a flash, I’m talking about the one attached to your camera. It just doesn’t make sense to hit your subject head-on with a flash. It would only look natural in a world where we walk around with spotlights attached to our foreheads.
External Flash – The first accessory I bought for my DSLR was a Canon Speedlite. It is a flash head that attaches to the hot shoe on top of the camera. It’s a great option for flash because it can be moved around, not just pointed straight at your subject. Light waves bounce around. Like in the way you can shoot a ray of light in a different direction with a mirror, you can bounce your light off of nearby walls, floors, ceilings. I find that when I’m in the kitchen with my kids, pointing the flash at the white cupboards gives a great bounce.
Curtains – If you must use your flash at a party, during fireworks or a night-time event, you can set the shutter to a slower speed (1/30 sec or slower) and set your flash to ‘second curtain’. This is known as slow sync photography. In the flash settings, there are two options: 1st and 2n curtain. With 1st curtain, the flash fires when the shutter opens and that’s it. It only has time to light up what’s in front of the picture (exe: the people and not the trees behind them). With a slower shutter and second curtain flash turned on, the shutter remains open long enough to let in enough light and the flash fires twice. Once at the beginning of the exposure (when the shutter opens) and again just before it closes. This shoots enough light into the surroundings to get the whole photo lit properly. There are so many cool effects to be obtained with slow synch flash. You can learn more about it here.
Outside – You could be surprised by the result of using flash outdoors when you think you don’t need it.
{ACCESSORIES}
There are loads of great accessories/solutions for pop-up and external flashes.
- Light Scoop – I’ve never used one, but there’s this amazing and cheap(ish) solution for those stuck with a pop up flash. It’s called a light scoop and it’s just a little bit of plain old genius.
- TTL Cable – A TTL (through the lens) cable is a cord which attaches to your camera’s hot shoe and then attaches to the flash unit so you can keep it off the camera and point it in any direction you want. The ‘TTL’ part just describes the manner in which it keeps the flash still connected to the camera so that the light metering and flash settings are still set automatically by the information coming ‘through the lens’.
- Shower cap – There’s this little puffy, white fabric piece which attaches to the external flash head like a shower cap. It softens and diffuses light like a soft box and only costs about £6.
- Mini Soft boxes – Speaking of soft boxes, you can actually get proper soft boxes to go around your flash for portraits and things – very handy.
I would LOVE to see before/afters you can come up with as a result of reading this post and turning off your flash. Upload and post the link in the comments.
