Benefits of Using an External Flash/Strobe Introduction So, I have spent hundreds or thousands of dollars on my digital camera with the camera body, the lenses and a tripod and now I need an external flash? What does an external flash do that my build in pop up flash doesn’t? Types of Photography that benefit from using external flash Every type of photography can benefit from an external light source. For me there are only three situations where I do not fire off my strobe, SUNRISE AND SUNSET, where I want to show off the golden light of the sun. Using a flash /strobe during this time may cancel out some of this golden light. The other time I wouldn’t want to consider flash/strobe use is for long (low light) exposures. Indoors: When shooting indoors, a external flash can cancel out the tungsten light that fills the room from artificial light sources. This was more of an issue with film photography but still affects digi‐cams unless you watch the exposure and compensate with white balance. Of course in doors be cautious of using direct flash as it may cast un‐natural shadows on subject and surfaces behind them. Outdoors: for nature/animal photographers, this is where I see a tremendous benefit. So many times we cannot be out on location where the conditions are perfect. This leaves us to attempt to compensate using iso and white balance settings to speed up the shutter speed or use exposure balance to brighten up the subject. Away from Sunrise and Sunset the light becomes too harsh or dark to capture a great quality image. In this situation a Flash/Strobe can fill in the shadows and even out the light on a subject. Uses for Flash/Strobe 1. Move Flash Further Away from Lens: the inherent problems with using a pop up flash is one, the light isn’t that flattering coming from straight on to the subject it can flatten the subject out. The second issue is red‐eye, there is a mathematical formula that says that the further you move the flash away from the lens, the less chance of red eye occurrence. 2. Stop Action in low light: when shooting in the early morning, late in the evening, or indoors stopping the action will require expensive lenses (ie. 1.4/2.8) or a combination of expensive lenses and playing around with increase iso/sensitivity and white balance functions to achieve a reasonable image. When using an external Flash 3. Fill in Shadows‐ whether shooting in‐doors or out, we usually can not have subject perfectly lit from natural light. An external flash will light darker areas achieving a better lit photo. 4. Compensate for other lighting‐ this can be best described when shooting inside where the lighting is uneven, or using lighting sources that are not in the sunlight color range (5000‐5500 k). If you are shooting with a lens indoors you have probably experienced yellow or green cast photos. Sometimes this can be compensated with filters, or settings in a digi‐cam, but an external flash will emit light closer to sunlight which can improve the quality of the photo. 5. Reduce Red‐Eye‐ Red Eye is a result of flashing light at the pupil of the eye which becomes red from the refection of the blood behind the eye as the flashed light is too fast for the pupil to reduce in size. Flash units generally have a red‐eye reduction setting which emits a pulse of light prior to the camera flash and shutter click which allows the pupil to reduce eliminating the affects of red‐eye. Moving the flash further from the lens also can deter these affects. Why External Strobe? If my camera comes with a pop up flash, why then would I need to spend additional money for an external flash? The larger answer is that you may not if you know your limitations or your photography interests do not require one. If you want to take your photography to the next level, and want to increase your keepers that using external strobe may help. Power‐ the built in camera has limited options in adjustability. Although you can use a flash compensation adjustment in most cameras, it doesn’t allow much of in how far the flash will go. Most on camera flashes loose affect at approximately 5‐15 feet. An external flash has much more power and can travel farther than the in camera units. This is critical when you are shooting moving subjects or subjects out doors that are further away. Versatility‐the in camera flash is attached to the camera and cannot be moved. An external flash is further away from the lens helping reduce red‐eye situations. The flash can be adjusted at different angles to the subject. Changing the flash head angles to bounce the light off objects can improved the quality of light making the photo more natural looking. The flash unit can be taken off the camera using an external cable or wireless (if strobe/camera is equipped) allowing for more creativity with photography. When photographing (painting with light) we want the outcome to look as if it was natural. A static flash can make the scene flat where as changing the angle /direction of the light will improve the image. Recycle Time‐ in camera flash units take much more time to refresh allowing for the next shot. If you are photographing a subject that is moving or changing position, a faster refresh time can make the difference of something that is in focus or something that is blurred. EXAMPLES: INDOOR PORTRAITS: FIG. 1 POP FLASH FIG.2 EXTERNAL FLASH FIG.3 EXTERNAL FLASH 45 BOUNCE Using the standard flash (fig.1 )on the camera, you get a harsh shadow behind and to the side of the model. During this test we did not alter the settings of the flash or exposure. We shot the model using the camera in portrait position with flash to the left of the model. The model was kept 2‐3 feet from the wall. In Figure 2 we used an external shoe mounted flash where flash was fired directly at model. The external flash was not adjusted from fill flash mode, notice the increased power and darker shadow. The third photo was taken the same way with exception of angling the flash head to 45 degrees (angled upward towards ceiling). This reduced the shadow FIG. 4 EXT. FLASH 90 BOUNCE considerably. We tried again in Figure 4, where we angled the flash directly at the ceiling completely eliminating the shadow which also filled in the shadows on the face. OUT DOORS FIG. 1 WITHOUT FLASH FIG.2 WITH FLASH FIG. 3 SUNRISE AT THE BEACH FIG.4 EARLY MORNING AT LOXAHATCHEE Alternative to Straight on Flash of Flash/Strobe 1. Bounce‐ most external flash heads allow the user to adjust the angle of light to reduce the light flattening the affects of the subject. Bounce also can assist with reducing or removing the shadows cast behind the subject when there are hard surfaces behind the subject. Some flash heads offer the additional rotation of the flash head to offer more creative options. 2. Front Sync‐ front sync is a setting that sets the flash off at the beginning of the shutter opening which will freeze the subject allowing ambient light to trail in front of a moving object. 3. Rear Sync‐ rear sync is opposite of front sync where the flash fires off at the end of an exposure (shutter closing) so the there is a trail from ambient light behind the subject. Rear Sync Flash Settings of External Flash There are many setting for these flash units (Guide Number, Fill / TTL, Manual). These options give you flexibility and creativeness to control the amount of light that hits your subject. The most common settings used are FILL Flash, commonly called TTL flash where the computer in the camera works with the flash in determining how far the subject is away from the lens and emits the light needed to fill in the subject and compensates for the exposure. The manual mode is also used commonly to increase the distance of the flash. When shooting outdoors and you need the flash to travel further to reach your subject, manual mode is your best friend. Many bird / animal photographers are using a 1/1 in manual mode to throw flash as far as they can to improve light and reduce shadows on their subject. The flash unit also allows for adjustment in strength in stops similar to your camera so you can tailor your results. Accessories 1. Card‐ many external flash units come with a built in light card which will allow you to adjust flash head and reduce the amount of light that hits subject. Some people attach cards, or cardboard to their flash for the same results. 2. Color Overlays‐ newer flash heads come with color gels that can be put over the flash head to adjust warmness (red) or coolness (blue) of the subject. 3. Battery Pack‐ most external flash units use AA batteries as their power. The batteries charge a capacitor in the flash unit which powers the light. AA batteries have a finite amount of power so repetitive flashing of the unit will reduce the amount of power, distance of the light and may not keep up with your needs. An external battery pack plugged into the external flash can improve the amount of time spent in the field shooting without having to change batteries. 4. External Attachments ‐ Better Beamer (#5)‐ I use this quite often when shoot sports or animal photography. In both of these settings the object is to stop the action and push the light out as far away from the camera as you can shoot with your lens. Most currently flash heads can only push light out approximately 15‐20 feet effectively and with weakening batteries this range diminishes with every firing. The beamer is an attachment to the front of the flash which acts like a prism on a light house where the light is focused and projected further than without this unit. As you can imagine when using a longer lens 300mm and further you are generally focusing on objects that are over 15‐20 feet away. In order to project the light onto the subject a beamer can help. NOTE: when using this device some care should be used as the prism intensifies light so when you are outdoors the sun light can burn your lens or hood… ‐
Honl / Fong/ etc‐ there are many companies that are now making flash attachments to achieve different affects. Some companies make a diffuser like what you would see in a studio to soften the light. Honl/Fong both make attachments to direct or reduce the power of the light which allows you to control the lighting affect on your subject. 5. Light Stands/Studio‐ since these flash heads are powerful and can be adjusted in power, they do have the ability to be used in multiples and can be mounted using light stands for studio photography. There are umbrella and soft box attachments that can be used. The issue here is that these flash units use AA batteries and can reduce their potency with weakened batteries where the photographer may have to check the light settings often if using flash heads for this function. Model captured with Studio strobes off camera. This affect can be created with multiple strobes placed at different angles to achieve different affects. Additional Information; What is Color Temperature: http://www.betterphoto.com/article.asp?id=24 Benefits of External Flash: http://www.digicamguides.com/accessorize/external‐flash.htmlWhat is Red‐
Eye: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red‐eye_effect Flash Sync: http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Flash_sync Accessories: http://www.popphoto.com/Reviews/Accessories/Top‐5‐Flash‐Accessories MORE SAMPLES OF USING FLASH GREAT BLUE HERON: EARLY AM USED FLASH AND BETTER BEAMER SWALLOW TAIL KITE W/ BEAMER PARROT @ PARROT JUNGLE WITH BEAMER OUT DOOR PORTRAITS W/ FLASH BOSTON COMMONS SHADE SUNSET IN SANIBEL BACK YARD IN‐DOOR PORTRATIS 2 STROBE SET UP 3 STROBE SET UP 3 STROBE SET UP OTHER SKATE BOARDING MACRO