Weekly Poll: Flash or Natural Light?

[porterd2nz]

I don't have much choice as I've not got an accessory flash for my camera and the on-camera flash is very much a blunt instrument. At least with natural light I can use mirrors, deflectors and diffusers from common everyday things around the house.

[Bo_]

As most of you I also prefer natural light (100% right now) - but because of my NOT so light sensitive camera sometimes I need to use my build-in flash. I tried to learn how to use it when there's a lack of natural light - but still - if I had the possibility I will use natural light - maybe with the help from a reflector!

[PRH]

Natural light when ever possible. I guess this poll follows on from the indoors outdoors poll. If most people are shooting outside, then they are mostly shooting with natural light.

I've been taking a lot of photo's of social/family events lately recently so and most have been indoors. Even in these situations, nothing beats natural light for its subtlety. Flash photography is so harsh but often unavoidable if you want to eliminate motion blur.

Here are some examples.

PS I probably should have moved around to the other side of the table to avoid the backlight from the window (DOH!)

[mdwsta4]

i can see this poll will be dominated by natural light here because more than 95% of the members don't understand how to use flash nor do they have an off camera flash which is a shame.
once you learn how to use it, it will make a huge difference in the quality of your work because of the newly created light.
check out strobist.blogspot.com as well as some reader's photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31454864@N00/favorites/

[Nicole]

Originally Posted by mdwsta4

i can see this poll will be dominated by natural light here because more than 95% of the members don't understand how to use flash nor do they have an off camera flash which is a shame.
once you learn how to use it, it will make a huge difference in the quality of your work because of the newly created light.

Yeah, it seems like it. And here I was hoping to get some tips on good lighting techniques. I don't have the gear yet, but I've seen what a difference good flash / lighting work can make.

As for me, I'm trying to learn to work with what I have and what I can make to make the lighting work for me, even if all I have is the built in flash and a worklight at the moment. So I'll be different and choose flash.

[Saralonde]

Yeah, I think I'll be contrary, too, and choose flash. If all conditions are perfect, natural light might be best, but it often is not. The fact that you can control lighting to create different moods and effects, fill in dark areas, and construct shadows where none exist make flash an invaluable aid to artistic images.

[Tiberius]

photography isn't about accurately capturing a scene. It's about accurately capturing what people expect a scene to be.

For example, if you look look at a person outside on a sunny day, you might see their face clearly, and a vivid blue in the sky. however, this is because your mind plays tricks on you. When you take a photo of this, the photo will never be the way you see it with your own eyes. If you can see their face, there will be a washed out sky. If you get a nice sky, the subject will be in silhouette. Flash eliminates this.

Natural light is fine for landscapes, but for many other subjects, natural light alone can't give photos the look we expect them to. Flash is just a tool we can use to make our photos better. It's fine to use natural light (in some cases like landscapes we have no choice, unless you have a flash you aren't telling me about!), but to reject flash altogether is a bit shortsighted I think.

There's nothing more important than the final image, and if flash can imporve it, then it should be used.

[thekevinmonster]

I like natural light because it looks, well, natural. It's also there all the time (except at night, duh) so you can 'just take a picture' without having to fiddle around with lights.

That said, flash gives you so much more control.

[Nicole]

I see a lot of people talking about how "blunt" and unnatural flash looks. Just to point out the second link in my original post, if you know how to use a flash well, you are definitely able to make it look natural. I was blown away by how natural these shots looked when I first saw this website, which has a whole section on making flash look natural.

[PRH]

Originally Posted by mdwsta4

95% of the members don't understand how to use flash nor do they have an off camera flash

Can't argue there! I'm one of the 95%. I wouldn't change my vote but I agree with Nicole, tips on how to use a flash properly would be nice.