Why use flash?

[sashakvor]

Dear all,

I am confused as to why flash is ever needed, for when I do so, the pictures come out bright and unnatural. I have been content with using no flash and haven't seen any reason for its use. How truly beneficial is it? In what scenarios would flash be better? How can I effectively use flash and not get an unnatural image?

Thanks!!

Sasha

vorlickyphotography.org

[Carl in Louisiana]

Hey Sasha, http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/ is a good place to start and don't forget the tutorials https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...mera-flash.htm.

[JR1]

Difficult to advise as you don't say what you soot, what gear you have etc

[JR1]

The best Canon flash guide anywhere

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index.html

You will rarely see a pro without a flash for when needed, I use flash 30% of the time, have two Metz 45 CL4 Digitals, 2x Nikon SB910s and a number of others, along with many different diffusers for outdoor and indoor, and advice for anyone who uses a Stofen outdoors, that is NOT what they are intended for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5p58aitTgM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZvMWmCFYmk

So the next time you see a so called pro use a stofen type outside, chuckle

[Manfred M]

Sasha - All that tells me is that you have not mastered flash yet. Bright and unnatural results suggests that this is the case.

Flash plays a significant role in portraiture and product photography. I use it a lot, both for indoor work and outdoor work. The little built in flash in cameras are generally pretty useless, but larger units, especially when used with light modifiers, off camera give you results than cannot be accomplished any other way.

Flash can be your primarly light source, can be used as a fill light (think of those "raccoon" eyes of image taken in bright daylight with the sun beaming down on your subject), or accent lights to give the image some "punch" or to create separation.

[Shadowman]

When you want to emulate a night time setting and don't want to have to wait until dark, use flash.

[Geoff F]

Once you learn to control your flash, Sasha, and use little tricks like flash output compensation (in a similar manner to exposure compensation) you will use it a lot more. And not just for night time shots, as Manfred mentioned.

Probably I use flash most often when the camera is in manual settings, to suit the scene, and then I rely on the flash unit in ETTL mode to auto set itself according to the ambient light levels; subject to the amount of flash output compensation that I dial in to the settings.

But getting the best from flash does require a bit of experimentation and a fairly long learning curve, although the basics are relatively easy to grasp.

[sashakvor]

Thank you everyone!! I really appreciate all this input!