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 Admit it, you're probably using only about 10 percent of your flash's capacity. Do you shoot only in program mode, and use your flash only when the little green lightning bolt in the viewfinder says to?
You should -- and can -- do more. Here are five useful techniques that can significantly enhance the look and polish of your flash pictures. They're all easy to master. While some require a shoe-mount tilt-and-swivel flash, others call for nothing more than a simple built-in flash, like ones you'll find on almost any compact camera.
C'mon, get your money's worth from your flash. Better pictures are waiting.
ONE: BOUNCE FLASH
Bounce is a great alternative to direct flash, especially for people pictures made under low ceilings or near white walls. As its name implies, you bounce the flash off a nearby surface rather than blasting it directly at your subjects. Bounce creates much softer light for highlights and shadows that better convey the shaping of a person's face. Also, when shooting groups two or three people deep, a ceiling bounce can provide much more even lighting front-to-back than direct. Further good news: bounce is an effective way to prevent redeye.
Why does it work so well? The broader the light source relative to the size of the subject, the softer, less harsh and more enveloping the light. Because bounce flash essentially turns a nearby wall or ceiling into your light source, it creates a much, much softer light than your flash's tiny flash tube. Also, when bouncing off a ceiling, your light will fall from above onto your subject to create the same shaping of the human face as a bright, cloudy day in nature.
Textbooks decree that you need a tilt-and-swivel shoe-mount flash to bounce, but we've done it with a popup SLR flash, too. Reflect the built-in's burst off a small mirror onto a nearby wall (and subject). That said, an articulated, tilt-and-swivel or off-camera flash is the best way to go, used preferably in your camera's TTL mode.
While bounced light is almost always more flattering than direct, it isn't right for all occasions. Obviously, when walls or ceilings are distant or not white, you can forget it. Also, if you're trying to conserve battery power, go direct; it requires much less juice. Understand, too, that bounce flash much more effectively lights the background beyond your subject than direct flash -- something you may not want in a cluttered location.
Bounce works well in tandem with some of the other techniques discussed here, particularly dragging the shutter and complementary flash filtration.
TWO: COMPLEMENTARY FLASH FILTRATION
This magic bullet can eliminate the ugly green backgrounds that often plague flash photos made under fluorescent lights. Put an acetate filter over your flash and then thread a second filter of the opposite (i.e., complementary) color over your lens. Get the colors right, and it's goodbye, pea-soup greens.
The trick is getting the right colors. A 30 CC green over the flash and 30 CC magenta in front of the lens often will do the trick, but Lee Filters makes it easier with its Fluorescent Correction system ($65). Everything you need is in one small box. Lee supplies a handful of magenta 4x4 filters customized for fluorescents of different color temps (white, cool white, warm white) and includes the Gel Snap filter holder that fits almost any lens with an 82mm or smaller diameter.
If you'd rather not spring for the Lee set, go back to a 30 CC green for the flash and any filter maker's fluorescent-balancing magenta for the lens. (Tiffen's FL-D filter is a good one.) While these filters cut about one stop of light, the lens filter alone is all you need when shooting under fluorescents without flash.
How does complementary filtration work? The green over the flash equalizes foreand background color temperatures, while the magenta on the lens absorbs the green from both light sources to neutralize the scene. Without the green filter, the subject would appear too magenta. Of course, for this trick to work, your subject must be within flash range.
THREE: SECOND-CURTAIN SYNC
It's about when the flash fires. With inexpensive cameras or flash units, you don't have a choice: The flash is synced to fire as soon as the shutter (i.e., "curtain") opens. With mid- and higher-level gear, however, it's your choice: You can trigger the flash as the shutter opens (first-curtain) or wait until just before it closes (second-, rear-, or trailing-curtain sync).
What difference does it make? For 90 percent of your flash photos, it won't make any difference. But for flash photos of moving subjects shot against dark backgrounds, such as cars at night or dancers flying across a darkened stage, choosing the correct syncing option can make the difference between an image that looks natural, and one that seems freakishly wrong.
The problem? If you use first-curtain sync with a moving subject, the blur that defines the movement can precede the object instead of trailing it. It gives the impression that the object is going backward, not forward. Second-curtain sync places the blur behind the object where it belongs.
Some systems set second-curtain sync in the camera, some in the flash, and some offer both. In most cases, the flash's settings override those of the camera. If the camera is set to first-curtain sync, for example, and the flash to second, you get the latter.
So if movement looks more natural with second-curtain sync, why is first the norm? One reason is portraiture. If you're shooting a child in low light, say, and you're trying to catch a fleeting smile, you don't want the flash to fire a fraction of a second late, do you?
FOUR: DRAGGING THE SHUTTER
Have you ever been at a really cool party and wound up with uncool pictures with pitch-black backgrounds that lack the life and excitement you experienced? You were probably shooting in your camera's auto or program mode. That usually means shutter speeds in the 1/60–1/90-sec range -- too fast to record background detail for indoor flash photos taken at night.
Remedy: Make an end run around program, and set slower shutter speeds in manual or shutter-priority. Pros call it "dragging the shutter."
You can set slower shutter speeds (1/8–1/30 sec are the norm) in fairly dark scenes and not worry about blur, because, in situations where the flash is the primary light source, its burst lasts only a fraction of a second -- far too short for subject or camera motion to record. Result: sharp subjects. These slower shutter speeds, however, will record backgrounds with much more detail and ambiance than those made in the program mode.
Dragging the shutter can be very effective, but use it carefully in situations where the lighting is variable or the subjects are moving. Another caveat: you can set slower shutter speeds in your camera's manualexposure mode, but keep your flash in its TTL or auto mode. Setting the flash to manual too probably will lead to disaster!
Even if you own a relatively inexpensive camera -- one without manual or shutter-priority exposure controls -– you may still be able to drag the shutter. Just set your camera's "night" mode. It will automatically set the slower shutter speeds that can capture background detail. These speeds can dip below 1/8 sec, however, so a tripod may be required. (But be careful: some "night" exposure modes prevent the flash from firing.)
FIVE: OFF-CAMERA FLASH
What's the greatest problem shooting on-camera flash? Your main light is locked into a single location for every picture you take, regardless of lighting or subject conditions. Textbooks say, for example, that when shooting people pictures, the light should fall onto your subject at about a 45-degree angle relative tothe lens axis. This creates great shapingin the forehead, cheeks, nose, and lips. It will also prevent that common portrait bugaboo, redeye, and it can help you "bury the shadows" (of your subjects) toward the floor behind them instead of creating black halos behind each head on a background wall. For 45-degree lighting, however, you must move the flash off-camera.
Other benefits of off-camera flash? You can direct bounce flash with much more freedom and precision. Also, as shown in the pictures here, it lets you aim the flash burst where it does the most good: at the most shadowed area of a scene. In our picture, the darkestskinned person in the group benefits from precise placement of offcamera flash.
The good news? Almost all the major camera makers offer multiple wired or wireless solutions for TTLcontrolled, off-camera flash operation. Some for as little as $60!
Originally published October 2004.
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