Tips for getting better flash photos



We've all seen those shots with flash: too bright, colors washed out, frozen expressions. Flash photography has a pretty bad reputation for being so ugly, that many photographers call themselves "natural light photographers" in order to either promote themselves as someone who wouldn't dare destroy photos with bad flash, or because they don't want anyone to assume that they use it. 

However, flash photography doesn't have to be bad. It does take some time to learn to use properly. Although the topic of flash photography can take many days to cover (hmmm, maybe an idea?), I will touch on some key tips to help out those of you who would like to give it a better attempt.

1. Take the flash off of the camera: If you have one of those larger flashes that attaches to the top of your camera, you can often remove this and fire it off-camera with the use of a remote trigger or even with your pop-up flash itself as a trigger. Your mileage will vary, so read your manual to figure out what is possible. If buying triggers or new equipment is not possible, read on.

2. Bounce the flash: Direct flash from the camera can look harsh and give us that expected "deer in headlights" look. If possible, putting an index card in front of your flash to angle the light up to the ceiling can often improve the results of the light, by making it less of a direct light source. Depending on where your flash is on your camera might make this difficult, so it really depends on your camera to make this possible. If you own a dslr, it is much easier to do this.

3. Lower your flash power: Almost every camera gives you the option to control the intensity of light coming from your flash. This is generally called "flash exposure compensation", and you can usually find it on your camera somewhere represented as a lighting bolt with a plus and minus. By lowering the light output, you can give a smaller blast of light that works better with the environment you are in. Your camera manual would be able to explain how to do this in detail.

In conclusion, we see that there are a few options of how to control your flash or to get better results. In future articles, we will look into these techniques in a bit more detail. Thanks for reading!

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