Drained faces, pitch-black backgrounds, red eyes, harsh shadows: many amateur photographers have a love-hate relationship with flash.
However, it is usually not that difficult to take pleasant-looking flash photos. You can use ISO 800 with most system cameras and DSLRs without major loss of quality. And image stabilization helps you further delay turning on your flash. But let's not bash the flash too much. With current camera and flash technology, the flash can be used very subtly and that makes it fun.
Flashes and the background
Backgrounds that are too dark are the most common complaint with flash photos. The explanation is simple: the flash adjusts the amount of light to the subject. The background is further away, therefore receives less flash light and therefore becomes darker.
Conclusion: the background should not rely on the flash light. If you want to show the background well, you have to use the available light. Therefore, simply choose a higher ISO setting. The backgrounds will naturally join in nicely. Remember: a high ISO value is not only good in place of flash, but also when using flash. Because the background will usually be illuminated by artificial light, a warm color cast is created. This usually gives a photo a pleasant atmosphere.
A high ISO value is not only good instead of flash, but also when using flash
In a pleasant flash shot, the subject in the foreground has just enough light. The background is a bit darker, which focuses attention on the subject, but it still shows enough detail.
How high should you set the ISO? That depends greatly on the camera you use. Once you know your camera reasonably well, you will know the highest ISO setting that still produces acceptable results.
A dark background can also occur when you shoot in A mode and use too small an aperture. If there is no specific reason to use A mode, choose the camera’s P mode instead. The camera will then balance shutter speed and aperture to render the background as well as possible, without selecting shutter speeds that risk motion blur or camera shake.
If you have deliberately chosen a certain aperture, for example f/11, to achieve extra depth of field, check again whether it really makes sense. Of course, you can choose a small aperture to get the background in focus as well as the subject, but if the small aperture makes it too dark, it won't be of much use.
If you want to make it easy for yourself with flash, use the P mode.
Flash with a longer shutter speed
Another handy, direct way to lighten the background is flash with a long shutter speed. Normally a camera in P mode (and often also in A mode) will not choose a slower shutter speed than approximately 1/60 second for flash, but with this function it will. How long the shutter speed is depends on the brightness of the background. You quickly get 1/15 or 1/8 second. That is actually too long for sharp photos taken by hand (unless your camera or lens has image stabilization), but because it often involves an already blurred background, the disadvantages are not too bad.
At really long times you get extreme motion blur in the background; It is certainly worth experimenting extensively with this, but the effect caused (sharp subject with often clear streaks of light in the background) can also be undesirable.
Flash with a long shutter speed (also called slow sync) is also used in the night portrait mode that is found on many cameras. If you want to make it easy for yourself, use this setting.
Subject too light
Most digital cameras are quite intelligent. They adjust their flash light to the subject. And the subject, yes, that's what was focused on. If you are a bit sloppy with your aim, or the subject is very mobile, the background may be in focus. The camera then adjusts the amount of flash accordingly. Everything in the background becomes too light, including the subject. If you first ensure that the camera focuses properly, the problem may already be solved.
There could also be something else going on. The duration of the flash determines how much light the subject receives. The shortest flash can sometimes be too much if the subject is too close. This occurs, for example, with very high ISO values. Then the flash still gives too much light, even with the smallest light dose. This doesn't happen all that often anymore.
In any case, there are some solutions for this:
- Use lower ISO value.
- Go back and zoom in. The brightness of the lens often also decreases, which is also beneficial in this case.
- Use a smaller aperture: set - in A mode - a smaller aperture (higher f-number).
The subject is too dark
If the subject is too dark, it did not receive enough flash light. The distance between flash and subject is then so great that the flash does not provide sufficient light even at full power. If the camera is used in fully automatic mode (P mode, Auto mode, scene mode), there are two options:
- Increase ISO value.
- Reduce recording distance.
The latter yields a double benefit: A. due to the shorter distance, less light is lost, and B. by going closer you probably have to zoom out, and when you zoom out the lens usually becomes brighter (it then has a lower f-number).
If you use 1 and 2 together, you can master many situations even with the built-in flash. If you had set the aperture yourself, choose a larger opening (low f-value). If you lack light, installing an external flash is the best option. You need that extra power if you work in large spaces and if you want to use indirect flash.
Flash correction
The subject can also become too light or too dark because the camera's flash control can be misled. In such a case, apply the flash correction. Also use this setting to adjust the flash dosage to your own taste. For example, set it to -2 if you only want a little bit flash light to add to the subject.
With modern camera technology, a scene like this is no longer a problem. Often in night portrait mode (used here), the camera automatically selects a flash correction (for example -1) to ensure that the subject does not look over-flashed.
Atmosphere gone
Atmospheric photos with Christmas trees, fireplaces, candlelit interiors: nothing is as deadly as flash light. If possible, work without a flash light. And otherwise set the flash correction to –1 or an even higher negative value, so that the relatively cool flash light does not drown out the ambient light. This correction option is rare on compact cameras.
Red eyes
If the axis of the lens almost coincides with the axis of the flash light, the chance of red eyes is high. The camera then sees the reflection of the flash light in the eyes. If the flash is a little further away from the optical axis, the red reflection will no longer be visible in the photo. What helps against red eyes?
- Increase the distance between flash and lens. With reflex cameras, the flashes already go up quite far; the distance is much greater than with compact cameras. With an external flash on a reflex, that distance is even greater.
- Do not increase the distance to the subject unnecessarily. If the recording distance is large, both axes run almost parallel. The closer you are to the subject, the smaller the chance of red eyes.
- If possible, work in a well-lit area. The darker it is, the wider the pupils are open, and the more likely you are to get red eyes.
- Activates the pre-flash, which reduces the size of the pupils. This pre-flash method is usually quite effective, but because the moment of recording is delayed, this function is unsuitable for serious applications.
- Correct red eyes afterwards in the recording. Instead of using the pre-flash, consider simply letting the red eyes happen and removing them afterwards. In many image software this can be done completely or partially automatically, and it usually works well. With some cameras, red-eye correction can be performed in-camera, i.e. after the shot. Handy, because then the photos basically come out of the camera ready for printing.
Many image editing programs have a function for quickly and easily correcting red-eye. Clicking or circling the red pupils is often enough.
