Comments on: Basic Blunders: Flash

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:28:52 +0000

I was at a wedding when I realized I had forgotten my flash batteries (very dumb… I know).
So I did a little quick thinking.
A little tape and an emptied and cleaned plastic creamer on the pop-up flash…
Wham !!!
Mini-diffuser.
Very acceptable shots whitout red eyes or over-exposure.

By: Donald

Donald — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:56:47 +0000

If everybody knew how to use their flash correctly I would miss the twinkly effect of all the flashes going off in a stadium.

A trick I have used to diffuse my popup flash is to take a small paper cup and stick the open end between the bottom of the flash and the camera. It works best with cups that have a white bottom. Never tried a styrofoam cup. It might be to thick but the paper ones work well.

By: whos_beccles

whos_beccles — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:25:34 +0000

“When you are at the Zoo with Animals behind the Glass partition (especially the aquarium) turn the flash off”

Dinesh – I agree mostly about turning your flash off at the zoo, but when you’re at the aquarium you can actually use your flash providing you have it pointed at an angle to the glass. I was able to get some excellent shots using this technique without any flare/reflection on the glass.

By: rich

rich — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:34:50 +0000

A couple of tips I read in a flash tutorial that help are:
1: wrap a white kleenex over your flash. you still get light, but less of it, and it reduces the amount that hits your subject.
2: Make a litte diverter out of cardboard or paper to redirect your flash to a wall or ceiling. Again, your getting some of the light without blasting your subject. You can buy these, but they are fairly easy to make.

By: Fred

Fred — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:01:18 +0000

I think auto flash mode should be banned.

Seconded. Even when it doesn’t fire at the wrong time, the results are almost always suboptimal.

Living in Paris, I regularly see tourists taking shots from atop the Eiffel tower with their flash.
A facepalm moment if there ever was one.

(why yes, my flash can light up an entire city ! Can’t yours ?)

By: MaryAnn Luedtke

MaryAnn Luedtke — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:58:31 +0000

Great article. . . you might add one thing though – it’s not always easy to hold the camera steady – using a monopod (there are plenty of nice collapsible ones) when you turn off that flash helps you get those crisp sharp shots.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:37:38 +0000

Try using the night portrait mode in the camera. I used it to take some picuters in a large church. I focused in on a statue and allowed the shutter to remain open a bit before the flash. I got a great picture of the statue and the rest of the church in the background.

By: tom

tom — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:44:28 +0000

Oh yes don’t forget to set your white balance to the correct lighting condtions. READ YOUR MANUAL

By: marc littmann

marc littmann — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:24:48 +0000

For those of you looking to expand their knowledge of off-camera flash, check out “Strobist” blog at http://www.strobist.blogspot.com. David Hobby does a wonderful job explaining light via many well-written and humorous on-assignment posts. Worth a lot and has helped me greatly in my wedding photography business.

marc
marc littmann photography
http://www.littmannphoto.com

By: Karunagaran

Karunagaran — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:15:38 +0000

Your article was spot on. In the beginning i didn’t get a good clean shot using flash. Nowadays i choose when to use a flash & when not to. Very often Flash can “spoil” the shoot, the trick is to balance within +/- exposure, with digital experimenting is the best way to learn.