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Using the flash

Should I use the flash, when I don’t have enough light?

The first rule here is: don’t use the built-in camera flash, if you can avoid using it. This avoids a lot of problems with the picture – from red eyes to strange and ugly shadows to a pasty-white looking face. Nothing that you’d want on a picture you would be showing to others!

However, if you have a flash that can be swivelled up or towards the side of the camera, then it suddenly becomes much more useful. Try to find a large white coloured area (for example the ceiling) from which to reflect the flash. Remember the pointers about soft and hard light? The flash light is hard, but it gets softer if it’s reflected from large white areas. And this is what you want to achieve – a large area all evenly illuminated from the light.

The professionals doing a fashion shoot will usually place the flash away from the camera – sometimes even using several flashes. Usually the flashlights then get covered with a white soft-box or a semitransparent umbrella – those also have the effect of softening the light.

Breaking the first rule of using the flash: curiously enough, it actually makes sense to use the flash in the direct sunlight, even if using a point-and-shoot camera. Now, why would someone do that – there should be enough light available, right?

Well, usually sunlight is too harsh, creating very strong and distracting shadows. Adding a bit of light from the camera flash will soften the light somewhat. This is called fill-in light. Even if your camera does not automatically use the flash in the sunlight, you might consider making use of it anyway.

Other times when you want to use the flash (even if it’s the point-and-shoot kind), are when the light conditions in the background are different from those around the subject For example: consider taking a picture against a sunset – a beautiful motive usually, but easy to ruin.

The problem is that the sunset has a lot of light, while as the person facing the camera has very little light on the side towards the camera. Then, either the camera decides that the background light is correct – giving you a beautiful sunset, but just a dark shape of the person in the picture, or it decides that the person is correctly lit – but with the background then looking too light in the picture, having lost all the colour. Using flash in this situation helps.

It also helps in situations when the subject is in a shadow during strong daylight, and the background is receiving direct sunlight, or when shooting directly against the sun.

Additional benefit gained from the flash is that it will add a twinkle to your eyes. Usually, with enough light reaching your face, there is already a catch-light there, but sometimes it pays off to activate the flash as well.

And finally – sometimes it’s just too dark without the flash. Having the flash light you up, but not the background, could actually work in your favour, as it will separate you from the background – focusing the viewer’s eyes on you only. Of course, as always, there is the risk of unintentionally getting red eyes or overly white face on the picture.

The background

When having your photo taken – remember that you are the subject. Most of the time this means that the focus should be on you – and not the other people or the things happening in the background. To help you with this, keep the following in mind:

Try to choose a simple background – a messy room cluttered with junk is not the best of places, for example. Having a dresser half open with some socks sticking out in the background does not create the best of images! Try to choose a neutral background, one which does not conflict with you in the picture.

This does not mean that the background should be boring – quite the contrary, some flashy colour and detail is not bad – just not so many other details, that people forget about you. A simple wall, open seaside, large open space, trees, doorway, or perhaps lots of other people (but standing further away, or else distinct from you) – those would be good examples.

For a nice portrait, you really want to separate the background from you and to make it softer, less distracting. The farther away the background is from you, the softer it looks. With the Portrait Mode of your camera, it would become a pleasant blur, really highlighting you as the subject. Another reason for standing away from the background, is that if you stand too close to it, there is the risk that your body will leave distracting shadows on it – especially if there is a strong light source (like the flash) nearby.

It also helps if the camera zooms a bit closer – the more zoomed it is, the softer the background will be. Zooming provides another benefit as well – it will provide a more natural look for your face, with less distortions. On the other hand, if you zoom in too much, there is a risk that camera shake will start affecting the picture, and it would lose sharpness.

Instead of zooming in, you could experiment with the wide angle option of your camera. But remember one important thing – the camera then starts to distort your facial features and body – even more so, if you stand close to the camera. And often the closest body feature happens to be your nose, with the impact created being, well… artistic… although not always flattering. Of course, with the right angle and distance, taking a wide angle shot at close range is a good way of getting the viewer to focus on certain part of your body – like your eyes, making those appear larger and more enticing.

One thing to look out for, are things “sticking out of your body” in the pictures. For example if you are standing in front of a tree or a lamp post while having the picture taken, then the tree or the post could really stick out from behind your head in a very distracting way in the final picture. Thus, when taking the photo, make sure the immediate space behind the subject is free of any objects that might later appear distracting.