Tips on Flash Photography
by Alfred DeBat

A digital camera’s built-in flash unit is a useful tool for better photographs. However, photographers should learn when to use flash, and when not to. If you have been relying only upon the camera’s automatic flash function, here are a few things to know.
First, read the camera instruction book and learn how to turn off the flash, and how to employ the “force-flash” function (makes the camera’s flash operate in bright light). Usually, both functions are displayed on LCD menus as a “lightning bolt” (force-flash) and lightning in a circle crossed with a line (off).
    Flash will sometimes ruin a picture if a photo is being made through glass, such as photographing a painting under glass in a museum, or taking a photo through a bus window. Generally, it would be better to make a longer exposure without flash, if you can steady the camera or use a tripod.
    If you want to take a moody, atmospheric photo in fog or at dusk, turn the flash off to retain the look of the fading evening light. Often these pictorial effects are quite beautiful, particularly at or just after sunset.
Remember that most built-in flash units have a very short effective range, usually a maximum of from 8 feet to 15 feet. That means subjects farther away will be badly underexposed. One way to get around this shortcoming is to purchase a stronger auxiliary flash unit that can be attached to the camera. Frequently, more expensive cameras have a “hot shoe” flash contact at the top of the camera so that a supplementary flash unit can be attached — camera manufacturers often offer special integrated flash units.
    Flash can be used in bright sunlight to eliminate shadows on subjects’ faces. This technique is called “fill-flash” (it “fills” in the shadows) and requires the force-flash setting. Fill-flash cannot only be used when subjects are in the shade, but also in bright sunlight when people squint. Here you place the subjects with their backs to the sun and employ fill-flash for their faces. If you get it just right, the sun becomes a backlight halo for the subjects’ hair.
    Some cameras have a night photography flash setting (usually a symbol of moon and stars, plus a flash — check your instruction book). With this setting, the camera takes a long exposure of the night scene (you may need a tripod) plus a flash exposure. The idea is to have a person in the foreground of the scene illuminated by the flash (who also will stand still for the ongoing long exposure). For example, you can take a night flash photo of your wife with the illuminated Eiffel Tower behind her for a memorable picture of Paris.
    The same setting can be used creatively by slightly jiggling the camera immediately after the flash. Since the flash freezes a sharp image, moving the camera during the long exposure makes the night lights dance around your subject.