The flash is often used when there is little light, for example in the evening or at dark venues. But there are situations where flash does miracles to your photo, even in bright situations.
The following pictures clearly show the difference between photos taken with and without flash.
1. To illuminate subjects in backlight
Use a flash in backlight, regardless of whether you are photographing indoors or outdoors. If you don’t use a flash, the subject will be in silhouette. Adding light of the flash is also called fill flash.
2. To fill in shadows
Use a flash if you want extra light to fill the shadow on a subject, for example to expose the driver in this car. The shadow on his face can be illuminated by the flash.
3. To create motion blur
Use a flash to freeze moving subjects to create a trace of motion blur with a slow shutter speed .
4. To create a darker background
Use a flash in order to create interesting shadows on the model, yet underexpose the background.
5. To prevent motion blur
Use a flash to prevent motion blur. As the light of the flash freezes every movement, you can capture subjects in a special way.
As you can see at the images above, the light of a flash affects the whole image, not just the main subject. While the subject is illuminated by the flash, the background can be manipulated by the camera settings.
Are you struggling to get control of your flash and the background? Read the full explanation in the instruction book Flashography – the basics of flash photography. Choose your language below.
