project 61; Making the best use of built in Flash.

A shot with direct flash, a book, so what? Well I was browsing for ideas on the strobist flickr group and I came across some interesting photos where the light had been fired through a frame or template to give a more interesting effect.

Here I have cut a piece of cardboard to give the effect like venetian blinds, its more interesting. The flash was fired directly at the subject.

Same again, I like the way the light is focused here.

I used a household colander here.

Here I have photographed a colour subject with no flash. Too much in shadow I think.

Here direct flash. I ike the dark surround caused by the high shutter speed but do not like the bright highlights. Lots of contrast, very dark shadows. Overall a harsh effect.

Here I have bounced the flash off the ceiling. This is the best of the series in my opinion. The reflected light is more even, and the edge details on the petals are better, there are still shadows but they have more detail. The contrast is better.

Direct Flash. the subject is on a white background. The camera and light are positioned directly above the subject. The flash power was reduced to 1/128th of full power.

Here the flash is bounced off the white ceiling above, I prefer this to the previous one. The shadow adds something to the shot, contrast. Also the outline is crisper. Flash was on full power.

A silver(tinfoil) reflector was used to reflect the light downwards onto the subject. I prefer this to the last, the light is less harsh.

Again a tinfoil reflector but this time from the right hand side, I like the light here the shadow of the pine cone can be seen and the shadows are good. Nice contrast.

The above 3 are from left to right, no flash, flash on full power and flash on 1/128th of full power. The distance from light to subject is about 1 meter. The first one has shadows under the eyes and around the face, you can see a reflection from a surface below. The second is typical of flash light, overexposed and white. The last is o.k, there is enough light around the eyes but its still not great.

These 3 photos are a similiar subject but the results are slightly different. The first has no flash, I wanted the edge lighting on the hair. In the second shot I have bounced the flash off a white ceiling, I like the light best in this one of the three but the results are still harsh. The final one is direct flash and looks the worst of all 3. Too white and harsh. One thing to be careful of in front of a window like this is to stand to one side to avoid the reflection.

In conclusion Direct flash is very harsh on the subject. Reflected or bounce light is more natural looking. I have not shown any diffused direct light here but I can see how this would be preferable over direct flash. Also it is better to get the flash off camera. However direct flash can be used to create interesting effects too, it depends on the image one has in mind.

I do not have an on camera flash, I used a canon speedlite 580 hotshoe unit.