Slow Sync Flash
One camera function that can be a lot of fun to play with (and that can get you some interesting results) is slow sync flash.
Low Light Photography Options
When shooting with a subject in low light situations you generally have two options; either to shoot with a flash or to shoot with a slow shutter speed.
1. Flash - When shooting in low light with a flash in auto mode your camera will choose a relatively fast shutter speed. This means that your subject will be well lit and that if it is moving it will be frozen and as a result will be sharp. The problem with this is that it can also leave your subject lit up too brightly and can leave it’s background looking very dark as there is not enough time for the camera to collect any ambient light.
2. Slow Shutter Speed - The other option is to turn your flash off and shoot with a longer shutter speed in order to collect enough available light from the image to get a well exposed shot. This can be an effective technique if you’re shooting landscape or environmental shots where everything is nice and still - however if you’re shooting a moving subject it means you’ll get motion blur which could ruin your shot.
Both of the above options are legitimate technique but both have their weaknesses. Another options to consider is slow sync flash.
What is Slow Sync Flash?
Slow Sync Flash is a function found on many cameras that tells your camera to shoot with both a longer shutter speed as well as firing the flash. This means you get the best of both worlds above and can both get a relatively sharp shot of your main subject as well as get some ambient light from the background and foreground.
Some cameras allow you to access slow sync flash manually and set exposure length and flash strength but on many compact cameras there is a little less control given and it’s presented as an automatic shooting mode, often called ‘night mode’ or even ‘party mode’ where the camera selects the slower shutter speed and flash strength for you.
Rear and Front Curtain Sync
If your camera gives you some manual control when it comes to slow sync flash you might find yourself presented with two options called ‘rear curtain sync’ and ‘front curtain sync’.
These two modes sound a little technical but to put it most simply they are the way in which you choose when to fire your flash during the longer exposure.
Rear Curtain Sync - this tells your camera to fire the flash at the end of the exposure. ie when you press the shutter your lens opens up and starts collecting light and just before it closes the flash will fire to light up and freeze your main subject (see the card shot to the left for an example where you’ll see the card trail ending in a nice crisp shot of the card).
Front Curtain Sync - this tells your camera to fire the flash at the start of the exposure. ie when you press the shutter, the flash will fire immediately and the shutter will remain open afterwards capturing ambient light.
You might not think there’s much difference between these modes but when you’re photographing a moving subject it can have a real impact. You’ll find many action/sports photographers will use Rear Curtain Sync when shooting with a panning technique.
Tripod or Handheld?
When using either slow synch in either mode (or in the automatic ‘night mode’ you will want to consider whether or not to use a tripod. Traditionally when shooting with longer shutter speeds it is accepted that a tripod is essential in order to stop any camera movement. Even the steadiest of hands will not be able to stop a camera moving over even a 1 or 2 second exposure. So if you want to eliminate blur from your cameras movement definitely use a tripod (and consider a shutter release cable).
However in some circumstances hand holding your camera while using slow sync flash can lead to some wonderful effects. For example if you’re at a wedding or party and are out on the dance floor the results can be great at capturing the mood of a night with those you’re photographing largely frozen by the flash but the lights on the dance floor blurred from you moving your camera during the shot.
Of course hand held techniques won’t work with every situation so experiment with both methods at different shutter speeds and by using both rear and front curtain sync and find the best methods for your particular situation.
Post your Slow Sync Flash Shots over at our forum assignment on the topic.. Also check out these 13 great Slow Sync Flash images.
This post was previously posted in January 2007 but today has been reposted with updates.
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I just love that technique and as luck would have it I posted a picture of swans in a local pond yesterday using a long exposure and flash. Love the movement and they look a lot more menacing!
http://inphotos.org/the-swans-they-are-a-coming/ (in case the above link gets eaten by a filter)
Thanks for tip, I bought new flash this week for some project, but flash is more usefull…
I was looking for some information to give to a friend of mine about how to use ISO/ASA in her camera because it was much better to provide her with rather new information than the one I had on a book by Michael Langford, “The step by step book of photography”, and I’ve found dPS. What a great site.
Already subscribed.
Looks like I’ll be using my camera more often. Or even buy a new one.
Thank you,
Filipe
fantastic tut, any idea on where these settings are on a 400D ?
On a 400D you could try either AV/TV or manual modes. Manual is probably the best one to go for because you can adjust the speed and aperture.
Try a speed of about 1/4 second to get a nice blur on moving people or animals in your image!
Rear curtain sync generally gives the more natural effect, but if you’re shooting with a timed shutter speed (instead of bulb mode, where the exposure ends when you say it ends), it’s really hard to judge when the flash is going to go off — imagine if your camera had a two-second shutter lag.
Totally cool, THIS is the type of stuff that makes me want to get out there and fill up my memory cards.
Another name I’ve heard for this technique is “open flash.”
As far as the front and rear curtain sync, how can I control when the flash fires on a Rebel XT?
Robert: The Digital Rebel XT has a Night Portrait option and you can also use Av (aperture priority). To set 1st (front) or 2nd (rear) shutter curtain sync, see the custom function setting of the manual (p. 150).
Thanks for the great tips. This is very helpful.
Great tips, just had a couple of tests, and it does create a nice effect. Never knew what that setting was for, now I know. Thanks!
When I turn on the flash on on my Canon Rebel XTi, the shutter speed automatically moves to 1/100 or 1/200, even in manual mode.
I can’t get Tv or Av to work. Help?
This is very useful information, thanks so much. I have got to try this soon. -NAT
this is one of my favorite ways to shoot. :)
Thanks for the really simple and lucid explanation.
smokingmonkey, would you mind explaining exactly how you got that shot? Looks great! Desiree
New at this, just got my first DSLR (d70s) Any Nikon users that can point out how to set rear or front curtain synch on the d70s?
Press and hold the flash pop-up button, then rotate the thumbwheel. Try having the camera in the “M”, “A” “S” and “P” modes to see the different flash sync options in different modes.
I have a sony A100, and I cant figure out how to get it to flash after the shutter opens. Any suggestions?
How do i get the rear curtain sync with a Canon 30D?
Superb shots - many thanks for that.
- http://www.photographyvoter.com
I did this shot with a long open shutter and a flash at the end in a dark room.
http://gallery.jmaresca.com/photography/11.jpg
Thanks for the tip, I’ll try that out with my Nikon D50 tonight!
Best,
Jakob
I was curious if any one could tell me the settings for this on either a Kodak Dx7590 or Kodak C743, I have tried messing with the 7590 in manual mode to no avail any ideas?
This technique is great in really dark clubs where it won’t get overexposed. I’ll shoot F4, ISO 100, 1 second, front curtain, and then move the camera around after the flash fires.
You can paint streaks out of the lights.. here I made hearts out of all the candles on the tables. http://www.flickr.com/photos/davematthews/330415502/in/set-72157594433785054/
Becca rear curtain sync with a Canon 30D is set in custom function 15
Great tip thanks for that, explained it alot better than most the magazines out there.
Jack.
Check out my link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/black.horizons/Donegal2006
that was using a slow shutter speed, and a couple of mobile (cell) phones that have a LED “flash”. stick on the LED, use a tripod, go “painting”…oh and the longer the exposure the longer you have to draw :)
does anyone knows if on the Panasonic DMC-FZ5 you can set the slow sync flash to fire at the end of the exposure? I checked the manual but it didn’t say a lot about about slow sync flash and I checked their website but couldn’t find the camera.
Not bad, I do some long exposure as well, check it out. I prefer modeling photography though…
So that’s what Slow Sync Flash means on my Canon SD600. I’ll have to try that more often - thanks!
Recycled post :|
It doesn’t seem to work for me, I only have a 1 and 1.6 second exposure choices, is that to short to pull this off.
what buttons do i press to switch between rear/front curtain sync?
never mind previous comment got it working
Thanks mark!
you people must not hear this enough, but RTFM! it’s all in there. I’m surprised that a lot of you don’t even have a basic understanding of your camera, enough to figure out where a simple menu item might be. when in doubt, rtfm first, then ask questions
I have the Panasonic DMC-FZ50 - and reading the manual it suggests that the flash fires first ie front curtain, I would presume that the DMC-FZ5 would be similar - hope this will help Ziv……
A smashing article……
Have a photo of my #4 son’s Formula Vee race car trailing a long, red blur with the front half of the vehicle sharp and wondered how it was taken…thanks for the answer. My Olympus C740UZ offers 2nd curtain flash, so now I’ve just gotta find me a red race car.
Rog Patterson
Great tip!
Anyone knows if where can I set the ‘Rear Curtain/Front Curtain Sync’ on my Canon 10D?
just fantastic info.
very simple yet very rich with information, thanks for sharing
I’m not even sure my camera has slow sync flash. I don’t think its called that exactly but I’ll have to check it out.
Slow speed sync is a cool technique. It certainly opens up a lot of creativity in people.
hey I cant find this on my Canon Digital Rebel.
The original Digital Rebel didn’t support 2nd curtain sync, unless you used a flash that allowed you to set it on the flash itself. The 500EX for instance, will work, but unless you want/need a high-end bounce flash, it’s a pricey solution.
Canon purposefully crippled the original Rebel firmware, to keep it from gutting the sales of their 10D, etc. If you check around, you will find hacked versions of the firmware for your camera that (if you are brave enough) you can install that will restore most of the removed menu settings (like mirror lockup, etc). One of the most aggravating ‘features’ was the way it coupled certain shooting modes together. For instance, the JPEG ’sports’ mode is the only one that uses the predictive focus system, but it forces you to shoot in JPEG, and disables the flash (like I’d never take sports shots with flash?). The Rebel firmware is essentially identical to the 10D, with a bunch of the menus NOP’ed out of the code.
I gave up on the original Rebel as hopelessly crippled, and upgraded to a 20D. Much more flexible, for someone that cares about such things as mirror lockup, 2nd curtain sync, and being able to choose which focussing mode to use with which exposure mode, and to always be able to shoot RAW, no matter what.
And for all the folks with Canon EOS bodies (whether film or digital) there is a great FAQ that will help you understand how to get the most out of your flash system at:
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/
why do i have to be “brave” to install that? Is it dangerous or something? Viruses? Crashing the camera? Erasing data?
two more things…..
1. what is RAW? is it really low quality or really high?
2. what is mirror lockup, and what else did they take out of the original Rebel?
3. can you get firmware that supports 2nd curtain flash?
ok i guess thats 3…..
thanks
-Evan
Hey!! i tried it with a friend that was skating, front curtain sync, unfortunately in the shot the background looks awesome but mi friend looks like a ghost. Does anyone know a way i can correct this in photoshop? Should i make it in rear curtain sync??
louis- You cant really fix that in photoshop as far as i know. It happened because when you use a slow shutter speed and the subject moves too much or moves out of the frame it gets faed since it was such little time that the subject was in the position. To fix it:
take the pic again, try using a different aperature setting to make your friend stand out more, and use a faster shutter speed. I use around 4-8(hundredths) for this kind of thing, you may want to bring it to 10 depending on the speed of the subject (in this case, the skater).
but a good rule is if its really fast, make the shutter speed 3-5 stops slower than you “should.” otherwise do 4-8 or so. and to keep the background from distracting from the subject, play around w/ the aperature to control whats in focus and whats not.
Another cool thing you can do that might have been mentioned here earlier is to turn off the flash, put shutter speed to 4-8, and move the camera around while exposing. Try rotating, steaking across, up, down, anything. my personal favorite thing to do is zoom in while exposing. gives it a great motion. its awesome.
Really Cool snaps alex mcroberts cud you share how you took those . Really amazing… Can anyone tell me how to do this in Canon IXUS 800 IS
Yuva. Get a mobile (cell) phone with an LED light “flash”. Go on to manual settings. Set iso to your second highest number. Set the exposure time to something like 5 seconds, and I usually use f8.0 too. put the camera on a tripod. Set the self-timer to 5 seconds. Setup your phone to put the LED light on. Click the button. Draw the shape. The Longer the exposure times the more complex the photo you can get. Use more than one phone to draw big things - like the “Revolution” photo - it took three phones at 15 second exposure.
Have been trying this last weekend with my 40d, it’s a great techniques to try - am loving it :)
For owners of the Canon XTi (400D)- Check out page 106 in your instruction manual. All is revealed there.
how do i make my subject clear and bacground blur I have a 400D canon
Mike:
You need to set your camera to rear curtain sync, set a shutter speed slow enough to record a bit of action and click away, everything you need to know is on this page!
This helps a lot… I’m buying a flash this weekend, because I have to take pictures at a wedding next week. I’m a horrible flasher and thought it was no fun. But looking at these pictures, makes me wanna grap my cam and go play. Thanx, really helpful.
Greetz, Bojoura Stolz
My point-and-shoot has the front/back curtain option and i never knew what it is. unfortunately my brother just broke the screen so i can’t see what settings I’m on, or else I’d try this out. Only a week until my new Digital SLR arrives though, so this will be one of the first things I experement with!!
Loving the rear-curtain sync stuff, will try that, thanks :)
Amazing tutorial. One question though, how do I get the rear curtain sync on my Canon EOS 5D with a Canon Speedlite 580EX?
Many thanks.
i started with a E-500, and upgrade to a D200 and im really happy with it. but when i had my E-500 i when to the Colorado spring air force base and did a few pics of the church and i would like you opinion on my work. where is the is the website http://picasaweb.google.com/xthefrenchmanx/ColoradoSpring/photo#5082757806182616306
it goes for a few pics.
Thanks
Dorian
Hi i want the information about how to take pictures in low light areas in last month i purchased the Digital camera of Sony Cyber shot 730 having 7.2 mega pixcle camera but while shooting in low light areas picture are not very clear please Guide me how i can used my cam in low light areas to give me best picture
Thanks
Sameer Bhoite
Holy cow, are there so many people who dropped massive amounts of money on cameras and have no idea how to use them? I’m waiting for someone to ask how they set rear curtain sync on a 1DsMk3 or D200…
no need to be cocky. a lot of people know most of the easy-to-find functions on their cameras. since you know, just help them out. no need to lash out.