On Camera Flash

Whether you have a Point and Shoot, one of those camera between a DSLR and a point and shoot, or even a DSLR. Most cameras have a built in flash. You might think it's fine for taking casual pictures, and it can be if you want your pictures to be washed out and overexposed. But if you want something that looks more professional or at least want to get rid of some red eye, and make your subject look the right color than you can't use your on camera flash the way it is.

I have a Nikon D40 which is a DSLR but these tips work for Point and Shoot users as well. In fact, I learned these because of the need to tone down the on cam flash from my point and shoot.

Method One: Bounce flash
As of now all I have is a pop up flash not a fancy hot shoe flash like you see pros use. These types of flashes can usually tilt so you can bounce it off the celling. You can achieve a similar effect using a piece of white paper and a celling (celling must be white or close to it). You must make sure the paper and the celling are white because if not the picture will have a colour cast easily fixable in Photoshop but easier to do it right the first time.

take a square or rectangle of paper larger than your flash and hold it under the flash angled upwards towards the celling but not straight up. Take one picture with the card and one without the difference (in my case anyway) was outstanding. It made my picture have color! Something I had not yet achieved with an on cam flash.

Method two: Diffusion
Diffusion is the second method I use. Take the same piece of standard thickness paper and put it a ways in front of the flash just enough so that the flash does not spill over the piece of paper but not so close that it is touching the flash. Take a shot and see the difference. This makes the light softer similar to a softbox what a lot of pros use to shoot models and most other subjects.

Last Method: Turn down the power!
This method is one that only recently I have been able to do. My previous cam could not do this but my D40 can. I've been turning down the power to 1/32 power and shooting as a kind of fill flash. It works well in daylight but not night because it is still too bright, in which case I employ one of the other methods on top. This will not cut down on the harshness and sheer fake quality of the flash. Only the output power, or brightness.

I hope these will help you take better pictures in low light. My advice is avoid flash when possible. It does help the subject stay sharp but I prefer natural light. It make the scene seem more real and to me when I use flash, it makes everything flat and I don't like that. I take pictures to show what I think this subject looks like or how I feel about the subject. And quite honestly I don't usually see an object as a flat washed out thing.I see it as a three dimentional abject one that has different colors and textures. For me flash ruins this. You may thing otherwise, these are just my opinions.

Please keep reading, and please leave comments. I would like to here advice on what type of stuff you would like to see here. Whether it be how to photograph a certain subject (eg. food, sports, landscapes, anything) Or something about trip planning, doesn't have to be Disney any place. If I think it's a good idea I'll bolg about it. I may not get to it right away but I'm sure I will use it sometime. If I don't know about how to photograph something, or don't know something about trip planning I'll learn and that can be fun, an informative for both of us.

Thanks for reading.