UNDERSTAND FLASH WITH THE HELP
OF NO-NONSENSE EXPLANATIONS AS
WE DEMYSTIFY THE TECHNOLOGY &
TECHNIQUESOFOFF-CAMERAFLASHTHE BASICS OF
USING FLASH
56 Digital SLR Photography Januar y 2020
Even if you take your flashgun off-camera
and use a trigger that retains TTL, you’ll see a
dramatic improvement in your portrait
lighting just by altering the angle of the light.
TTL may be an auto mode but it has a
seductive intelligence that does a pretty great
job in practical applications – especially if
speed is of the essence and it's combined
with other flash modes, like slow-sync.T
HE FIRST EXPERIENCES photographers
have with flash aren’t usually favourable.
They pop up their built-in flash and blast
light on to their subject, trusting the camera
to tell the flash the right power, but more
often than not struggle with washed-out skin
tones, hard lighting and deep shadows, or a
bright subject against a dark scene. Some
learn quickly that a camera’s built-in flash,
due to its size and close proximity to the lens,
is good for very little and therefore upgrade
to a hotshoe-mounted flashgun. With more
power, control and distance put between the
light and the lens, they instantly see a notable
improvement. But they keep the flashgun
front facing, set to its failsafe TTL mode and
only pull it out to use in low light or when the
subject is in shadow. Sound familiar? If so,
you’re far from alone, as this is generally
where many photographers get stuck.
The plethora of settings, the talk of Guide
Numbers and power fractions, modifiers,
master and slave flash etc can all be a bit
bamboozling, especially if you’re only just
getting a grip of your camera’s exposure
modes. However, little do most know, if you
endeavoured to take the on-camera flash off
camera, you’ll soon see your quest for
beautiful portraits explode with possibilities- plus you don't have to do away with TTL!
When you're ready to be more creative with
your lighting, however, to perhaps use
multiple flashes, modifiers or to override the
auto functions to add drama, manually-
controlled flash is what you want to aim for.
By having a flashgun off-camera, it means
removing it from the hotshoe, so that your
lighting can come from any direction,
whether that’s to position a softbox 45° to
the subject for more a flattering light or to
illuminate areas in a scene other than thesubject. It provides many opportunities for
different lighting effects, too, whether that’s
by adjusting the angle, power, flash mode or
employing modifiers. You can create vastly
different-looking images of the same subject
in the same scene within a matter of minutes.
Lighting techniques that balance flash with
daylight, that underexpose ambient light for
dramatic portraits or record movement in
the scene while freezing the subject, are just
a few based on the flash mode you choose.FLASH & EXPOSURE MODES
Photo Masterclass
P ROGRAM MODE: The camera selects
all the exposure settings based on the
metered scene. The TTL flash system
automatically sets the flash exposure,
usually to avoid camera shake (except
with Canon DSLRs). You have no control
over the settings, so can result in subjects
being over-flashed and washed out.S HUTTER-PRIORITY MODE: You set
the shutter speed and the camera selects
the aperture for the ambient light. Your
system then calculates the correct flash
exposure for that chosen aperture to
match the flash with the ambient light.
The shutter speed you set normally has to
be your sync speed or slower.A PERTURE-PRIORITY MODE: You
select the aperture (to expose the subject)
and the camera sets the shutter speed for
a correctly-exposed background based
on ambient light. Nikon, Olympus and
Sony limit the shutter speed to avoid
camera shake, unless slow-sync mode is
set; Canon and Pentax do not.MANUAL MODE: You set your
camera’s flash sync speed or below, your
chosen aperture and ISO. TTL flash will
then calculate how much power is
needed for a correct exposure of the
subject. The brightness of your
background will largely depend on the
length of your shutter speed.