Using flash

What exactly is a maximum flash sync speed and how can it cause problems Maybe you're already aware that your camera's shutter speed is limited to (usually) around 1/250th of a second when using flash. But why is that, and what happens if you ignore it, (assuming your camera allows you to ignore it?) Have you ever noticed, when you pop up your flash or put an external one on top of the camera, the settings sometimes change without you actually doing anything. You may have a shutter speed of say 1000th of a second dialled in, but then you pop up the flash, and suddenly it changes to 1/250th of a second. All DSLR cameras and most mirrorless cameras have what’s called focal plane shutters. The reason for the change of shutter speed that I just mentioned, is that these cameras have an inherent maximum shutter speed limit when shooting with electronic flash, and that limit is called the maximum sync speed. It’s usually 250th of a second, sometimes a little slower than that, 180th or 200th of a second. If you have a flashgun attached, many cameras won’t even allow you to set the shutter speed faster than the max sync speed, although some may allow it in the manual exposure mode, my Nikons don’t allow it. So here's the problem, there are two main parts of the shutter mechanism (called 'curtains'), and with shutter speeds faster than 250th of a second, the first curtain starts its journey to cover the sensor even before the second curtain has time to complete its movement. Shutter full open Shutter closing when at 500th of a second This results in a large black bar [...]

External flashguns are great aren't they? As well as being far more powerful than the built in pop-flash on DSLR's, they usually come with a head that swivels, like in the above photo. This allows you to bounce the light off a nearby wall or ceiling. But why is it important to bounce the flash? The smaller the light source, the harder the light. Or to be more accurate, the smaller the light source in relation to the subject, the harder the light. Consider the light when he sun is shinning, you get strong shadows on the ground, and then when there is cloud cover, the light source spreads out and becomes larger, and consequently the shadows become much softer. When you bounce the flash, instead of the small flashgun being the source, the wall becomes your light source, consequently the light is much softer. What's the problem with hard light For portraits, hard light is not very flattering as shadows on the face and on the background will have a very hard edge, plus hard light creates highlight on noses, cheeks and foreheads. Not what you want! Compare these two photos of my wife Jane Guess which one used bounce flash! How to bounce the flash. For individuals or small groups, the best way to bounce the flash is to turn the flash head around 30-45 degree (depending on distance your subject) so that the light bounce off a nearby wall. It doesn't have to be a wall, could be a pillar, a building, or even someone wearing a white shirt standing close by. Just make sure that whatever you're bouncing from is white or has a neutral bright colour. If there are no [...]

Flash Photography TipsAlthough I much prefer to use natural lighting, sometimes there's no getting away from using flash indoors at family or friends get-togethers, parties, evenings out etc... If you have an external flashgun, you'll get far better results if you swivel the flash head to bounce the light off a wall or ceiling, but that's a subject of another tip (see ) Most people will just put their camera in one of the auto modes and hope for the best. Generally speaking you'll get a good exposure whatever exposure mode you use as the auto mode of the flash will help to keep the flash output just right. But the settings used in any of the auto modes can be improved upon, so regardless of whether you bounce or not, what are the best camera settings for flash photography? In this, the first of my flash photography tips, I'm going to assume you want to take a photo indoors when little or no daylight coming into the room, that's fairly typical for parties and get-togethers. [do action="TL-linktocurriculum2"] [/do] Avoiding the 'taken in a cave' look Quite often, these type of flash photos have a reasonable well exposed subject, but the backgrounds are typically quite dark, and that's because the camera sets the flash exposure to only light up your foreground subject. Here's a shot of my wife Jane, taken in a local pub the settings used are typical auto mode settings:- Auto mode, 1/60th sec, f4, ISO 100, pop-up flash fired Even if we use aperture or shutter speed priority, you wouldn't really get a better exposure than this because f4 and 1/60th are pretty good settings for this type of shot. [...]