Flash Photography – How to Use It To Your Advantage In Photography?
Flash Photography – Use of flash is an excellent way of creating the right light for your images. But people get worried at the very mention of flash with thoughts in the mind that they will require lots of expertise to use it. Flashes nowadays are simple to use and are very accurate. Light from the flash is highly directional and can be diffused in many ways. Flashcard diffusers can be used which reflects the flash onto your subject thus sending the light not head-on but after reflection.
Flash Photography –Diffusing Light
Another method of diffusing light is by placing a diffusion cap onto the flash. The ceiling of the room can also be used as a reflector, all you have to do is aim your flash head at the room’s ceiling while shooting. Such a technique of diffusing light is called bouncing. Keep in mind for such a case color of the ceiling should be white or you will get shade of wall colors in your photographs.
The simple principle for diffusion is greater the source of light more diffused the resulting light. The diffusers and reflectors are used to take your flash photography to a very advance level. Here are some of the modifiers required essentially to take flash photography to new heights. External Flash Modifiers are small diffusers to be used externally. They soften the light given out by external flash of your camera. This is done by spreading light over a wider area.
Flash Photography –Materials
Made of translucent material when fitted over the flash, external flash modifiers diffuse the hard shadows created due to direct flash. They are mainly of two types, hard plastic shells and soft plastic frames. The hard plastic shell is cheap in cost and adds diffusion to only one external flash unit. Soft plastic frame diffusers are of different shapes and sizes. One such diffuser can be used for several different flash units. Also, they spread light more than hard plastic shells.
Softboxes are diffusers which are in the shape of a square. They are fitted over the flash head. Huge softboxes are used to photograph a big group of people with each one appearing evenly lit. Snoot structurally is a long tube which is placed over the flash to convert it into the spotlight. Snoot focuses the light from the flash into a narrow beam to light the subject in a precise manner.
Flash Photography –Perfecting your subject
Another accessory is a grid which decreases the range of output light from the camera’s flash and hence controls the area of light landing on your subject. Not always you will have white-coloured light from the flash. Gels are pieces of coloured transparent material used in front of the flash head to adjust colour in photographs.
When you are outdoors and the sunlight is the main source of light, you need a flash to fill in darker areas due to the bright sun on the subject, which is called fill flash. In case the subject is placed in the shade all you need to do is focus the camera turn on the flash and take a shot.
In the next section of tutorials, the focus will be on the qualities of the lens in a camera. How these qualities can best be used for getting quality pictures?
Tutorial Seventeen – Mastering Camera lenses Choice – Photography Tutorial
Tutorial Fifteen –Proper Utilization of Reflectors – Photography Tutuorial
Main Image Source : Pixabay
Also See : Depth Of Field – Know In-Depth About It For Quality Pictures
