No flash - is it possible?

[sarahgirl777]

I personally don't like the look that the on camera flash gives, so I try to avoid it if at all possible. I try to use natural lighting as much as possible. You can see some of my recent pic's here of the babies with only natural light. However when I did my Special event recently, it was indoors and it was poorly lit. Without the flash a lot of the pictures were blury because the shutter speed had to be slower, I took a lot of double pic's, with and without the flash to experiment (it was a good practice event for me). Anyways, I had to end up using a lot of the photos with the flash. I just purchased a flash I can use off camera and I'm hoping that will give me more of the lighting effect I'm looking for.

[pfje photography]

You use lens that have Aperture setting of f1.1 to f1.8 and use the White Balance to play around with without having to use the Flash, or to use the Flash with the setting on 'red-eye-reduction' or 'fill-in' as it's all depanding on the subject.
HTH.

[Osprey]

Originally Posted by ALSto

IMHO high ISO, no matter how good the camera, will produce graininess in dark areas and many background situations.

Guess you haven't seen the latest images at ISO1600 and especially ISO3200 from the Canon 5D MkII. Not a grain, spot or smudge to be seen in the shadows.

[steelese]

Okay so my on opinion is this. Yes and No.

It all depends on how you want to shoot. When I shoot weddings I use natural light, and reflectors (if one of my voice activated light stands is available. Ah... interns). However, when it is dark and I am at a reception trying to get some dancing, available light doesn't work. I have yet to see and iso that can make it work, even on a D700. I can get a fast lens, but even that doesn't always work. So at that point I switch to a diffuser on my on camera flash.

Now this is a general rule, and I don't always use it. I actually sometime use my on camera flash to chip in a little light because it adds a little something to the photo.

Now for art shots, I use a flash all the time. I usually have two sb800's on light stand with umbrellas and softboxes and an on camera flash that I can remove and have an assistant use it. This allows me to do much more with the artistry of the shot. Hell, if the couple is right, I might even do this at a wedding shoot for part of the time.

I do real estate photography as well, and I have to use flash there, and usually all three off camera. I have to balance exposing exterior view properly with exposing the indoors, and making any interior light work. But there it is a special circumstance, and you could probably make something passable using a no flash.

So the real answer as a new photographer is simply your question. Do I need a flash? It would be good to ask yourself every time you hit the shutter, what do I want this to look like? If natural light is going to make you vision come true, use the tools you have at hand; flash, reflections, ambients or reflectors.

[PRH]

Originally Posted by Osprey

Guess you haven't seen the latest images at ISO1600 and especially ISO3200 from the Canon 5D MkII. Not a grain, spot or smudge to be seen in the shadows.

Hahaha from the look of the sample images I've seen, "high ISO" on the 5D2 is 6400-25600

About flash...
If you're using the on board flash that just about all camera's have then you would be justified to avoid it where you can since in most cases it has unappealing results. But I remember a post in the DPS Blog where the flash images produced were indistinguishable from those taken with ambient lighting. They did this using a flash gun that could be angled away from the subject and bouncing the flashlight off walls or the ceiling. This is something I'd love to learn to do. The downside if you like to travel light would be that you're carrying around another piece of equipment.
.

[sybren]

I often shoot with flash, balancing it with continuous light. Because of the difference in nature of those two types of light (flash and continuous) you can get good control over the lighting situation.



In the above picture, the natural light can be seen in the shadows. The nice warm sunset-like light comes from a single Speedlite 430EX with an orange filter on it. By playing with the balance of continuous and flash I can exactly determine the darkness or depth of the shadows. By introducing some extra light, I was able to get this shot on a completely overcast day while it was slightly raining.

99% of the time I use flash it's off-camera, because I don't like the on-axis flash look. I know that even David Hobby recently posted about on-axis fill, but I still don't really like the effect. By the way, if you don't know David Hobby, you should definitely check out his blog if you want to read up on lighting.

Many people write that baby photos cannot be taken with anything except natural light. I tend to differ. These photos of baby Anaïs I shot with a combination of natural light and one or two flashes, simply in her parent's living room and the baby's room.



In the end I don't think it's about whether or not you want to use flash. I think it's all about the final picture you want to get, and what you can use to get that picture. If it's a drooling, nearly raining day, you can't make a picture like the top one with just a golden reflector, you'll have to introduce some extra light. The shot of Anaïs nibbling on her toe will probably have worked just fine with natural light and a large reflector. It's all about what you want, and how you can get it to work.

[Rex]

Check out the flashmaster - the Stobist - to see what can be done with camera flashes. Though he almost always uses them off-camera...
http://strobist.blogspot.com/

Cheers

Rex

[ekrimen]

I rarely use the flash, as I usually take landscape photos. But I recently shot some photos of a bathroom without a flash, and they turned out great. I wrote about it here:
http://www.photobird.com/daily/2008/...ly-and-easily/

[dannyrod]

In my early photography days I used to be a no-flash nazi . . . I hate the look of flash and was determined to always shoot available light.

. . . and then I discovered bounce.

And shoot-through, and off-camera, and all that good stuff (thanks Strobist!). I discovered the "flash" look I hate was the straight-on white light nuke look. You can use flash in a number of ways to produce (or better yet, add to) soft, flattering, natural-looking light that will greatly enhance your work.

[AlicePalice]

I hardly ever use my flash, but there have been times when thats bitten me on the bum because sometimes the available light isnt enough, and I dont know how to use my flash 'properly'.

Now it's something Im going to have to learn, as Im shooting a wedding next year.

I think it depends on your type of shots and time of shots really. Have a look at my flickr page (link in sig) 99% of those pics are taken without flash