Have you been practicing?
Yay! I’m glad to hear that. 😉
What do you think so far? Has the use of flash outdoors made more sense to you now?
No, it’s not a have-too, but it does help if you need it.
Let’s talk more about your pop-up flash if you’re going to use it.
This is when you’ll need to dig that instruction book out again. Go to the flash page.
This is the cool part.
Did you know that you can also control the amount of output your flash has?
Love that!
You can turn your power up or down so to speak to suit your particular needs for your shot!
You flash control should look like this (the symbol that looks like a lightening bolt refers to your flash):
And it does just what it looks like it should do: roll your control dial to the left (or to the minus side) for less light and to the right (or plus side) to add more light. (Freebie: the numbers -2 +2 refers to the f/stops you’re adding or reducing light. Dig deeper into your camera manual and you should be able to set that to your own preference….by 1/3, 1/2, etc.)
Get it? You’ll need to read about that in your instructions for the specifics of your own camera.
The reasons why this is so great for you are because 1. you may need to add light to those dark faces that you’re not able to add light to otherwise and 2. for indoor use of course, and 3. you still want to create the most natural image you can, not the ghost white face that we sometimes get.
That’s basically it. It’s really such a simple tool that’s frequently overlooked.
That’s also it about pop-up flashes. While it is a good tool for you to use, it also has it’s limitations. It’s power output only stretches so far. This is when you’ll need to consider using a flash strobe–the kind that slides into that hotshoe on top of your camera (if your camera has one).
Going with an actual strobe really opens a new world up to you and gives you lots more options for your use of flash. I highly recommend purchasing one.
For next week’s lesson, I’ll talk a little more about the use of a strobe flash and give you some helpful tips in your daily use of it.