(OK, remember: I am not an expert!)

There is SO much to talk about on the topic of FLASH. I really don't know where to start! It seems everyone has a love/hate relationship with their flash. They love to hate it because the pics sometimes come out looking really cruddy and snapshot-ish. But they love it too because if it were not for the flash lighting up a badly lit situtation, they would have missed the precious capture they want to remember for a lifetime. Ah, the classic love triangle...

When I first got my external flash, I felt really dumb for spending the $$ on it and my pics looked just as bad as they did with my on-board flash. So what was the hype I had heard about needing one?! I determined to figure it out and found some really cool tips that helped me really love my flash. Now I don't want to be without it! Now the only thing I hate about it is that I didn't get a better one!

And now we'll start our first class with a POP QUIZ! Yay!

Which of these images did I use my flash on? (Disregard the sloppy and unwilling model)




The answer? Both.

In the first pic, I took a picture of him with the flash straight on, facing him and you can tell, can't you? It made it look like I make him sit in the dark then torture him with my flash. His face is a bit washed out and there are some harsh shadows.

In the second, the shadows are softer and maybe even unoticed. The light seems even all over the room too. You don't have the "flashed" look in this one.

What did I do different? I turned my flash around. This is called bouncing your flash. I aimed it behind me. I prefer to aim it at an angle so it hits the corner where the wall meets the ceiling. It bounced off the wall/ceiling and created more light in the room. It lit up the whole room and bounced around so light was coming at my subject from more angles. This softened up the shadows too.

We are so boring that most of our walls are white so this works out really well in my little house! But sometimes the walls are green or red and that gives a funky color. Or sometimes I am in a larger room and the nearest wall to bounce is just too far away. So having a bounce card works in this situation. Basically, it's a card attached to your flash in a way that gives the light something to bounce off of. You can buy one or you can make one. It's just a white card that acts like your wall so it's not so important who made it or how much you spent on it.

Also, you can use a diffuser. These fit over the flash and kind of spread out the light a bit more. I don't usually use one but you can aim it at the ceiling and some of it will bounce off the ceiling and some will diffuse towards your subject. This works decently when you are without a wall to bounce off of. You can also aim it at your subject and it will diffuse the light a bit and hopefully look better than that first image. (Maybe I need more examples for you? I'll do better next time!)

Another trick is to drag your shutter. But that is another big post in itself and I'll get to that another week. (It's a super cool trick that will make you love your flash!)

And for those of you reading all this holding your point and shoot cameras thinking "Well, my flash doesn't turn or bounce... what do I do then?" Get creative! You can diffuse your flash with a tissue or hanky to soften up the shadows a bit. I will talk about some technical stuff next week so you can learn about how your camera works and how YOU can work your camera!

I probably should have started all of this Photography Friday stuff with this:
KNOW YOUR CAMERA. Get your camera manual out and learn what all the buttons are. Learn what they are called at least so when you read something about it, you can find it and try it out.

Your homework for next time is to find out what your camera can do. Can you change your ISO? Can you change the shutter speed? The aperture? Next week we'll talk about what all these things mean. You just find out where they are on your cameras!

Oh, and if you can, try taking some flashed but non-flashed-looking images this week and come back here to THIS post to leave some questions, K? I'll do my best to answer them or find out answers to them! Leave some other Q's about other topics and I'll get to those too. Let me know if any of this helped anyone. Or am I just typing out a review for me?

Have a great weekend!

{Mommy Moment}
I wish I could remember why I asked Jeremiah to put his hands in the air that day but I will always remember his answer when he stretched for the sky...
"But I can't reach it!"