On-camera flashes, despite their simplicity, possess surprising capabilities. While many photographers prefer working with natural light or off-camera strobes, relying solely on natural light can be unpredictable, and off-camera strobes can be cumbersome and inconvenient. The beauty of an on-camera flash is its portability; you can carry it in your bag at all times. In my experience, when used correctly, an on-camera flash can produce professional-level, polished photos. The key lies in knowing the right techniques.
Here’s the deal: Directly flashing a subject often results in harsh lighting. It’s your role to soften the light using modifiers and clever angles, which requires some additional knowledge and understanding.
In this article, I present eight valuable tips to enhance your on-camera flash photography. The best part? These tips don’t require any extra gear. As long as you have a speedlight that can be mounted on top of your camera, you’re all set.
Are you ready to take your flash shots to the next level? Let’s dive right in, starting with my first essential tip:
1. Refuse to flash
In terms of techniques for flash on camera, bouncingshould be your primary tool. In the case of shooting outdoors any room that has ceilings and walls with light colors will give you all the surface you require to take stunning pictures. It’s just a matter of adjusting your flash to ensure it hits the surfaces prior to hitting your subject
By using a bounce technique you can get stunning softbox-like lighting without having to carry around an strobe or a softbox. It is true that, even though flash units are tiny but when you place them at the ceiling or wall, they will reflect off as an enormous light source. The bigger the source of light and the more soft the light and more pleasing (generally generally speaking) the effect.
To make a portrait using bounce I usually move my flash to meet the wall and ceiling however the placement of the unit is contingent on the result I’m trying to create. The technique is very adaptable since it provides anything from dramatic split lighting to a soft, even light Before firing your camera, ensure that you select the right angle for your flash, and take note of the reflection angle on the surface of the bounce.
If you’re having trouble capturing the perfect directional lighting effect, you can move your flash upwards and down to provide a smaller or normal-sized space with stunning lighting.
2. Light the way
Many people aren’t aware of that the light that comes out of your flash in a sweeping array, nota straight beam. This means that while the majority of light is directed towards the front however, there’s plenty of light flowing out perpendicular to the head of your flash.
So, if it’s your intention to reflect the light off of a ceiling or wall the direct light will be reflected onto your subject, even if the flash is aimed towards the side. This isn’t necessarily good but it can create unpleasant shadows especially if there’s a flat wall or area directly behind your subject.
To stop this effect, you can simply put a tiny piece of opaque fabric or black foam over the appropriate aspect the flash. It should be long enough to prevent light from the “edge” flash from striking the object. It is possible to hold it with just your hand or hold it in place using the rubber band (see the picture above). This modification requires very minimal effort, yet it’s one of the things which can make a big change to the overall style of your photograph.
3. Make your flash larger
As I’ve mentioned before flashes that are naked produce harsh light because they’re tiny and softboxes produce beautiful light because they’re larger. In essence larger light sources produce smoother transitions between shadow and light (i.e. softer light) and the bigger the flash you can create the more effective.
Another way to increase the size of your flash is to bounce light off ceilings and walls. But what happens if you don’t have a ceiling or any other surface? Perhaps the wall has been painted a dark hue and doesn’t provide any bounce?
There’s a second method to make the light larger: use an ordinary bounce card that’s essentially an unfinished piece of paper that bounces light around the area. Since the bounce card is at least two times as large as the flash head you’ll have a greater coverage. If you’re not too far from the subject, it will produce a more pleasant lighting.
Just grab a piece white craft foam or white cardboard and then attach the head to the flashlight with the rubber band
A thing to keep in mind is indoors bounce cards also have the benefit of shining light on your object in the two angles (forward as well as bounced from the ceiling) which means that even if you have the option of bounce the light off walls, you don’t have to throw away the card!
4. Use TTL mode.
The majority of modern flash units provide different shooting modes. When working with off-camera flashes at the studio, I typically employ the flashes in manual mode. This permits me to have constant manual control over the output power of the flash even in situations that are relatively static (e.g. conventional portraiture).
TTL (through-the-lens) mode however, in contrast, allows control over the output of the flash unit to the camera and the flash. Your camera and flash unit basically determine how much light the flash emits to expose the subject properly and the majority of modern TTL devices are extremely effective at what they do.
In reality, TTL mode can be employed in virtually every situation for shooting even if it’s your camera’s manual mode or you’re shooting outdoors or using bounce techniques. Also, since TTL can make your life much simpler for you, particularly when you’re dealing with speedy shooting situations There’s no reason to not use it frequently for flash shooting.
Set your flash into it’s TTL mode. When you’re ready to learn, you can consider applying advanced techniques, like flash exposure compensation in combination together with TTL flash. They will let you make simple adjustments to your exposure overall while using the TTL system do the majority of the thinking.
5. Make use of high-speed sync
If your flash device is equipped with an High-Speed Sync feature to turn it on, do so.
The reality is that the standard speeds of sync for flash will be restricted to a maximum of 1/250 seconds. This is fine if you’re in dim lighting however, when shooting outside or in bright lighting, you’ll typically require a shutter speeds above 1/250s in order to slow down the action or avoid overexposure.
If your exposure requiresrequire an increased rate of shutter, then you’ll be constrained by the 1/250s sync speed. This is the reason high-speed sync comes in useful. High-speed sync lets you capture at almost any shutter speed, typically at 1/8000s or more, meaning you can take action shots and keep the highlights from blowing out completely. This is especially useful when taking outdoor portraits where the background lighting is bright and you’d like to use a small fill flash to illuminate your subject. High-speed sync comes to the rescue!
A note to keep in mind: leaving your high-speed sync setting always on does not mean it’s on all the time. It will only be activated if you’re using a speed that is higher than the normal sync speed of the flash. In any other case the flash will operate normal.
6. Try some gels
Cameras with mirrorless lenses and DSLRs let you to manage how much color is cast across the entire image by changing your color balance and, if you’re shooting RAW you can alter the white balance after the fact using any post-processing application that is standard.
There are occasions where it’s important to ensure that the light emitted by your flash is the same hue as the natural light. This will ensure that the majority of the light you capture in your photos appears similar to each other and creates greater harmony throughout the image. It’s still necessary to tweak your post-processing but it will make your images a uniform hue overall.
To get your flash to the tungsten spectrum of color in all ambient lighting it is possible to add an Color Temperature Orange (CTO) filter on the head of the flash. You can then set the camera’s WB to tungsten and fine tune the white balance while editing as needed.
It is important to note that you can apply flash gels to create fascinating artistic effects. For example, you can create fascinating blue, green or purple effects simply by applying a small gel.
7. Make use of the light source in the background
What is the sign of a faulty on-camera flash? the dark tunnel. It occurs when you expose to the subject illuminated by the flash, but you fail to capture lighting on the background and result in a bright object on a dark background.
My view is that allowing ambient light and the surrounding light to show in your photographs will provide your photos a context that will create an atmosphere. It is crucial that you intentionally reduce your shutter speed, and then reduce the power of your flash so that your camera can capture some of the ambient light and the final picture will include ample background detail.
A tip: If you’re happy using it, change your camera to manual mode, and play around with different shutter speeds. This way, you’ll be able to choose the best shutter speed to get the precise amount of light that you’re after in the photo.
I have found that shutter speeds between 1/15 and 1/40 are ideal for most situations and even outdoors at night. The TTL mode of your flash should still be used to get the best exposure, however the main difference is that you’ll be able adjust the light source by altering your shutter’s speed.
8. Switch off your flash
It’s not really a flash photography tip for on-camera cameras. Sometimes the most effective option you can make with your flash on camera is not much whatsoever.
When you’re more adept in using flash, you may be tempted to utilize flash all the time. But, you should not get dependent on flash. In reality, the majority of situations are filled with good light and there’s an important distinction between a flashed image and an unflashed photo. There’s no problem with flash, but in situations where you’re looking for a new appearance, it’s crucial that you are able to step back and turn off that flash off.
However, ensure that you don’t completely eliminate the flash entirely; when you need a little more illumination it’s great to know that you’ll be able to put on the flash to get amazing images at any time.
