Pick Good Light for Better Photos
Light is more than just something needed to make a photograph. The right light can make your images really come alive, whereas the wrong light can kill them. Although you definitely want to focus your attention on your subject and compose carefully to get the shots you want, you can greatly improve your photos if you are aware of what light is doing to both your subject and the rest of the picture. What often distinguishes really good photographs from all the rest is how light is used to capture the photograph.
To see the light (literally), you have to go beyond framing a subject in your viewfinder or LCD. You have to look at your scene in terms of what the light is doing. Is the light making the subject easier to see, or does it obscure it? Does the light flatter your scene, or does it make it harsh and unappealing? Would your subject look better in another light? Is the light soft and diffused, or is it bright and intense? Does the light have a nice, warm golden glow, or maybe an unwanted color cast?
Use the LCD on your camera to see what the light is doing to the picture as captured by the camera. When you do not have good light, consider ways in which you may improve it, or find another time to try again. The more you take advantage of quality light, the better your photos will be.
Digital photography is all about capturing light on an image sensor; the better the light, the more potential you have for getting great photographs. The quality of light varies greatly from when the sun comes up in the morning to when it sets in the evening. Fast moving clouds can change it even on a second by second basis.
A good way to learn what light is best for the subjects that you enjoy shooting is to shoot those subjects in all sorts of light and see what the photographs look a like. This is such a great advantage of digital photography — you can easily do this with no cost for processing photos, and you can easily compare images on the camera LCD or in the computer.
Keep in mind that great light is not constant. Sometimes you must wait for those perfect moments to capture a perfect shot; or you may have to return to an interesting subject, simply because the light at the time just does not make the scene work as a photograph.
Soft light from the sky
and not the sun makes
these rich fall colors
gain spectacular color
in a photo.
Early morning light skims the
surface of this Desert
landscape and gives its features
texture and dimension.
Did You Know?
Bad weather conditions offer great photographic opportunities that give your photos more variety than just good-weather images with blue skies. Look for dramatic clouds, thunderstorms, even rain or snow that can make light dramatic. Changing weather conditions are an excellent time to shoot because the light can be quite striking then.
Photo Tip!
Clouds can be very helpful to photographers because they can diffuse bright sun and reduce the overall light intensity and contrast, especially when photographing people. Clouds can make an otherwise clear sky a little more interesting. Have patience for clouds to move to where they will help you get better photographs.
Shoot effectively in BRIGHT SUN
Direct light from the sun ranges from perfect to awful as it illuminates your subject for a photograph. A big challenge in working with bright sun as the main light is that it is a bold and strong light. That makes it unforgiving if used poorly with many subjects. Direct sunlight creates strong contrast with very bright highlights and dark shadows. A key to understanding the light from bright sun is to understand how important the shadows are. Shadows in the right places make your scene dramatic and powerful. Shadows in the wrong places make an attractive subject ugly and make your viewer struggle with even the best of compositions.
Another key aspect of bright sun is that the light has a very strong direction. That means that even a slight change in camera position often gives you a new light because it strikes the subject from a different angle in relation to the camera position. That change can be enough to make poor light become good light on a particular subject.
The shadows from bright sun can
be as important as the sunlit
areas of the image, as seen in this
shot of rock formations.
Back light, or light from behind
the subject, can be a very
effective and dramatic light,
though you may have to
experiment with it a bit in
order to master it.
SHOOT IN THE SHADE for gentle light
The drama of direct sun can visually overwhelm many subjects because of its contrast. One way of dealing with the harshness of bright sun, and inconvenient shadows, is to look for shade for your subject. Shade is an open light without the contrast of bright sun, meaning the light has no distinct shadows and highlights, yet it usually still has some direction to it. Direction in a light makes your subjects appear more three-dimensional.
Shade works especially well for people and flowers. You might find your subject in the shade, or you might move that subject into the shade. If neither is possible, you may be able to shade the subject itself. Have someone stand in a place to block the sun, or drape a jacket over a chair to create some shade. You can often find creative solutions to making shade on your subject.
Be sure to set your white balance to the shade setting in these conditions (see task #7). Shade contains a lot of blue light that comes from the sky, which your camera often overemphasizes. Shade settings remove that blue. Auto white balance settings tend to be very inconsistent in the shade.
A bright sky produced the gentle
light on this western dogwood.
The sun is blocked from the
subject so that the sky is lighting
up this early fall scene of new ice.
Take advantage of the GOLDEN HOUR
The golden hour is a magic time when the sun is low to the horizon and casts a golden, warm light on the landscape, but only for about an hour that starts an hour or less before sunset and lasts up to as much as 30 minutes after it. Although both sunrise and sunset can give this type of light, the sunset usually has the warmest, most flattering light.
This has been a classic light for pro photographers, from those working for National Geographic to cinematographers creating Hollywood films. In fact,whole films have been shot entirely at this time (which is one reason why films can be so expensive — but the light sure looks good!).
This light looks great at any angle, but the richest color and best tonalities often come when the light is at the side or even hitting the front of your subject. Front light on a subject is very unattractive in the middle of the day, but near sunset, it transforms into a radiant, beautiful light on many subjects.
The side light shortly after sunrise
gives dimension and warmth to
this scene.
Low sun near the time of sunset
gives nice, glowing skin tones to
this double portrait.
Low sun at sunset gives
a beautiful color to the
sky and landscape
This landscape was photographed
nearly 30 minutes after the sun
had set. The still-bright sky gave it
this unique look.
Try This!
Do not pack up your camera just because the sun has set. If you are patient, you may find some truly outstanding light on your scene. Usually, the light gets duller just after the sun sets, but about 5–10 minutes later it often changes to a warm, soft, and wonderful light. There is no guarantee this will always happen, but when it does, you will be glad you had your camera.
Photo Tip!
When the light is low, and especially before sunrise or after sunset, your exposures often require slow shutter speeds. That can result in blurry pictures due to camera movement. Use a tripod or brace your camera against something solid if needed. You can also try setting a higher ISO setting and a wider aperture to allow for a faster shutter speed.
Control light with a REFLECTOR
One helpful and inexpensive photographic accessory is a reflector. You can use anything white or light gray to reflect soft natural light toward your subject. Reflectors can also block light, effectively creating shade to reduce overly bright and high-contrast direct sunlight. Most portable light reflectors made for photography fold up to one-third of their open size, and they often offer a white side and a second colored side, such as silver, gold, or bronze.
A handheld reflector is especially useful for adding light to a subject’s face for a portrait. Besides filling shadows with natural light, you can add a warm color tone by using a gold-colored reflector. When shooting a back lit subject, a silver reflector can be used to bounce more light into the shadows in order to reveal greater detail. Reflectors can also be used with flash and other lights.
White Fome-Cor® panels, which can be purchased at most art stores, make excellent inexpensive light reflectors. Although they are not as convenient to store and carry as collapsible light modifiers, they are lightweight and easily found.
A white reflector in front of and
below this girl brightens
her face and helps to bring life to
her eyes.
Reflectors come in all sizes and in
different finishes, as seen in this
lineup of Lastolite portable
reflectors.
Open up harsh shadows with FILL FLASH
Bright sun can cause harsh light on faces, with deep shadows around the eyes or under hat brims. This shows up even stronger in the resulting photographs. There is a solution, something that you can do immediately whenever you are faced with harsh shadows on a nearby subject. Nearly all digital cameras allow you to force the flash to fire in these conditions to fill in those harsh shadows. Some cameras have a “fill flash” setting of some sort, too, but all you really need to do is turn the flash on and use the “always on” setting. The camera then adds flash to the dark shadows, opening them up and revealing your subject much better.
This works only for subjects that you are fairly close to, though the actual distance is affected by the power of the in-camera flash. Usually, fill flash works best at distances less than 8–10 feet. Pros often use accessory flash for added power to boost this distance. Fill flash limits the shutter speed and f-stop possible with digital SLRs (try using the P mode at first).
Without fill flash, you would
never see the eyes on this brother
and sister in bright sunlight. You
can see the sun highlights and
shadow on the young man’s
T-shirt. The flash is revealed in
the catchlight in their eyes.
The colorful side of this petrified
wood log was totally in the
shade. Flash helped bring out its
color.
Illuminate portraits with WINDOW LIGHT
Getting a good portrait is highly dependent on the quality and quantity of light available. That is one of the reasons why so many portrait photographers strongly prefer to shoot inside a photo studio where they have a high degree of control over lighting. One of the most useful lighting accessories in a portrait studio is a soft box, which is a large light box that diffuses the light from a flash or other light to make soft, natural-looking light for well-lit portraits. You can get much the same soft, evenly diffused light in your own home without the expense of having a studio by shooting portraits with the subject standing or sitting in front of a window. Shoot when the light comes from the sky, not directly from the sun, or you can use the diffused sunlight that comes through a white sheer drape. You can change the direction of the light on your subject by moving the camera and subject at different angles to the window. This can give you everything from dramatic sidelight to open front light.
This candid portrait was taken
with a large picture window to
the right side. A white wall to the
left acted as a reflector.
Here, one large window provided
the light, and the strong direction
to the light is controlled by the
camera position.
This young girl was shot
near a wall, and the
light came from a large
window to the right.
Sometimes, direct sun from a
window can work with a little
help. A reflector on the left and
below gave a nice light to the
face, and a white wall on the
right kept the shadows open.
Did You Know?
Window light can change quite dramatically in color depending on where the light is coming from. Light from a blue sky is very cool in color, and clouds can give everything from warm to cool light. Try setting your camera’s white balance to Cloudy or Shade for nice warm skin tones. You can even try using a custom balance setting with the light.
Apply It!
If the light from the window is too harsh, use a reflector to bounce light back to the subject. Just place the reflector opposite the light and reflect the light onto the subject. Large white art boards made of foam in between white paper, called Fome-Cor®, which can be purchased at most art stores, make excellent accessories for your window “studio.” They can be quickly propped up and used as reflectors to modify and enhance the light coming from a window.
Get your flash off-camera for DIRECTIONAL LIGHT
The flash on your camera is very limiting. It tends to make flat light, with harsh shadows behind your subject, and often creates red eyes in your subjects. Avoid those problems by getting a flash that allows you to move it off-camera. For digital SLRs, this means using an accessory flash with an extension cable (though some newer cameras do have wireless flash capabilities).
For small, compact, and point-and-shoot cameras, you can also use this technique by purchasing one of the little flashes designed to be triggered by your on-camera flash. (These can also be used with a digital SLR, but for more versatile light, the accessory flash with cord works better.)
You do not have to get the flash far off-camera for it to work well. Hold the flash with one hand off to the side and point it at your subject. This provides nice directional light with far more attractive shadows than the on-camera flash will do. You can also point the flash at a white wall or a reflector to create a very nice, softer sidelight.
A flash to the left of a
plant and its unique
pot created a strong,
dimensional light and
gave enough light for
high depth of field this
close to the subject.
This close-up of a spiderwort
flower looks like it was shot in
sunlight. It was not! It was in the
shade. An off-camera flash held
to the left provided the light.
Did You Know?
When you shoot close-up or macro photographs with flash, you usually gain high sharpness. This is because the flash gives a lot of light, allowing a small f-stop for more depth of field, plus flash has such a short duration that it freezes subject and camera movement.
Caution!
Vendors other than the major camera manufacturers make several excellent accessory flash units, though you will probably have to get the extension cord from the manufacturer. However, be careful if you decide to purchase an independent-brand flash other than the one made for your camera. Check to be sure it links with your camera so you can use all of its features.
USE BOUNCE FLASH for better indoor lighting
Another way to create a more attractive light from a flash is to bounce it off a wall, a ceiling, or a reflector. Bouncing the light spreads it out, making it a gentler light and also generally more natural-looking. You need to have a flash that allows you to point the flash tube away from the camera, at a wall or ceiling. Many accessory flash units have a tilting flash head to allow this. You can also hold an off-camera flash so it hits a wall.
Bounce flash does absorb light from your flash. It requires more powerful flash units the farther the surface is from your flash. Be careful you do not get too close to a portrait subject if you are bouncing a flash off the ceiling, or you can get heavy shadows under the eyes. Also, be very aware of even slight colors to a wall or ceiling. If you bounce off such colored surfaces, that color will appear on your subject — perhaps a good thing if the wall is warm, but definitely not so good if the wall is green!
Prevent RED EYE
Flash can cause a distinct problem when shooting people in low-light conditions — their eyes flash red as if they are possessed. This dreaded red eye is caused by light from the flash reflected back from a subject’s retina to the camera. To avoid getting photographs whose subjects have red eyes, many camera manufacturers have added red-eye reduction features. Although these features can reduce or eliminate red eye, they often make your subject blink or react poorly to the camera.
To avoid getting red eye, you simply need to shoot so that the angle between the flash and lens to the subject’s eyes is more than five degrees. Using a high accessory flash, an off-camera flash, or bounce flash helps avoid getting red eye. Digital cameras do well without flash in bright interiors. You could try camera settings that do not require a flash. You are more likely to get red eye when shooting in a dark environment because the pupil is wider and more prone to reflect red light.
A night shot of grunion-catching
almost guarantees red eye —
unless the flash is off-camera as
it is here.
******Usman ahmed owner of this blog created this post with his knowledge.All content provided on this blog is not copied from any other blog and site and is for informational purposes only and The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site.The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.
Light is more than just something needed to make a photograph. The right light can make your images really come alive, whereas the wrong light can kill them. Although you definitely want to focus your attention on your subject and compose carefully to get the shots you want, you can greatly improve your photos if you are aware of what light is doing to both your subject and the rest of the picture. What often distinguishes really good photographs from all the rest is how light is used to capture the photograph.
To see the light (literally), you have to go beyond framing a subject in your viewfinder or LCD. You have to look at your scene in terms of what the light is doing. Is the light making the subject easier to see, or does it obscure it? Does the light flatter your scene, or does it make it harsh and unappealing? Would your subject look better in another light? Is the light soft and diffused, or is it bright and intense? Does the light have a nice, warm golden glow, or maybe an unwanted color cast?
Use the LCD on your camera to see what the light is doing to the picture as captured by the camera. When you do not have good light, consider ways in which you may improve it, or find another time to try again. The more you take advantage of quality light, the better your photos will be.
Digital photography is all about capturing light on an image sensor; the better the light, the more potential you have for getting great photographs. The quality of light varies greatly from when the sun comes up in the morning to when it sets in the evening. Fast moving clouds can change it even on a second by second basis.
A good way to learn what light is best for the subjects that you enjoy shooting is to shoot those subjects in all sorts of light and see what the photographs look a like. This is such a great advantage of digital photography — you can easily do this with no cost for processing photos, and you can easily compare images on the camera LCD or in the computer.
Keep in mind that great light is not constant. Sometimes you must wait for those perfect moments to capture a perfect shot; or you may have to return to an interesting subject, simply because the light at the time just does not make the scene work as a photograph.
Soft light from the sky
and not the sun makes
these rich fall colors
gain spectacular color
in a photo.
Early morning light skims the
surface of this Desert
landscape and gives its features
texture and dimension.
Did You Know?
Bad weather conditions offer great photographic opportunities that give your photos more variety than just good-weather images with blue skies. Look for dramatic clouds, thunderstorms, even rain or snow that can make light dramatic. Changing weather conditions are an excellent time to shoot because the light can be quite striking then.
Photo Tip!
Clouds can be very helpful to photographers because they can diffuse bright sun and reduce the overall light intensity and contrast, especially when photographing people. Clouds can make an otherwise clear sky a little more interesting. Have patience for clouds to move to where they will help you get better photographs.
Shoot effectively in BRIGHT SUN
Direct light from the sun ranges from perfect to awful as it illuminates your subject for a photograph. A big challenge in working with bright sun as the main light is that it is a bold and strong light. That makes it unforgiving if used poorly with many subjects. Direct sunlight creates strong contrast with very bright highlights and dark shadows. A key to understanding the light from bright sun is to understand how important the shadows are. Shadows in the right places make your scene dramatic and powerful. Shadows in the wrong places make an attractive subject ugly and make your viewer struggle with even the best of compositions.
Another key aspect of bright sun is that the light has a very strong direction. That means that even a slight change in camera position often gives you a new light because it strikes the subject from a different angle in relation to the camera position. That change can be enough to make poor light become good light on a particular subject.
The shadows from bright sun can
be as important as the sunlit
areas of the image, as seen in this
shot of rock formations.
Back light, or light from behind
the subject, can be a very
effective and dramatic light,
though you may have to
experiment with it a bit in
order to master it.
SHOOT IN THE SHADE for gentle light
The drama of direct sun can visually overwhelm many subjects because of its contrast. One way of dealing with the harshness of bright sun, and inconvenient shadows, is to look for shade for your subject. Shade is an open light without the contrast of bright sun, meaning the light has no distinct shadows and highlights, yet it usually still has some direction to it. Direction in a light makes your subjects appear more three-dimensional.
Shade works especially well for people and flowers. You might find your subject in the shade, or you might move that subject into the shade. If neither is possible, you may be able to shade the subject itself. Have someone stand in a place to block the sun, or drape a jacket over a chair to create some shade. You can often find creative solutions to making shade on your subject.
Be sure to set your white balance to the shade setting in these conditions (see task #7). Shade contains a lot of blue light that comes from the sky, which your camera often overemphasizes. Shade settings remove that blue. Auto white balance settings tend to be very inconsistent in the shade.
A bright sky produced the gentle
light on this western dogwood.
The sun is blocked from the
subject so that the sky is lighting
up this early fall scene of new ice.
Take advantage of the GOLDEN HOUR
The golden hour is a magic time when the sun is low to the horizon and casts a golden, warm light on the landscape, but only for about an hour that starts an hour or less before sunset and lasts up to as much as 30 minutes after it. Although both sunrise and sunset can give this type of light, the sunset usually has the warmest, most flattering light.
This has been a classic light for pro photographers, from those working for National Geographic to cinematographers creating Hollywood films. In fact,whole films have been shot entirely at this time (which is one reason why films can be so expensive — but the light sure looks good!).
This light looks great at any angle, but the richest color and best tonalities often come when the light is at the side or even hitting the front of your subject. Front light on a subject is very unattractive in the middle of the day, but near sunset, it transforms into a radiant, beautiful light on many subjects.
The side light shortly after sunrise
gives dimension and warmth to
this scene.
Low sun near the time of sunset
gives nice, glowing skin tones to
this double portrait.
Low sun at sunset gives
a beautiful color to the
sky and landscape
This landscape was photographed
nearly 30 minutes after the sun
had set. The still-bright sky gave it
this unique look.
Try This!
Do not pack up your camera just because the sun has set. If you are patient, you may find some truly outstanding light on your scene. Usually, the light gets duller just after the sun sets, but about 5–10 minutes later it often changes to a warm, soft, and wonderful light. There is no guarantee this will always happen, but when it does, you will be glad you had your camera.
Photo Tip!
When the light is low, and especially before sunrise or after sunset, your exposures often require slow shutter speeds. That can result in blurry pictures due to camera movement. Use a tripod or brace your camera against something solid if needed. You can also try setting a higher ISO setting and a wider aperture to allow for a faster shutter speed.
Control light with a REFLECTOR
One helpful and inexpensive photographic accessory is a reflector. You can use anything white or light gray to reflect soft natural light toward your subject. Reflectors can also block light, effectively creating shade to reduce overly bright and high-contrast direct sunlight. Most portable light reflectors made for photography fold up to one-third of their open size, and they often offer a white side and a second colored side, such as silver, gold, or bronze.
A handheld reflector is especially useful for adding light to a subject’s face for a portrait. Besides filling shadows with natural light, you can add a warm color tone by using a gold-colored reflector. When shooting a back lit subject, a silver reflector can be used to bounce more light into the shadows in order to reveal greater detail. Reflectors can also be used with flash and other lights.
White Fome-Cor® panels, which can be purchased at most art stores, make excellent inexpensive light reflectors. Although they are not as convenient to store and carry as collapsible light modifiers, they are lightweight and easily found.
A white reflector in front of and
below this girl brightens
her face and helps to bring life to
her eyes.
Reflectors come in all sizes and in
different finishes, as seen in this
lineup of Lastolite portable
reflectors.
Open up harsh shadows with FILL FLASH
Bright sun can cause harsh light on faces, with deep shadows around the eyes or under hat brims. This shows up even stronger in the resulting photographs. There is a solution, something that you can do immediately whenever you are faced with harsh shadows on a nearby subject. Nearly all digital cameras allow you to force the flash to fire in these conditions to fill in those harsh shadows. Some cameras have a “fill flash” setting of some sort, too, but all you really need to do is turn the flash on and use the “always on” setting. The camera then adds flash to the dark shadows, opening them up and revealing your subject much better.
This works only for subjects that you are fairly close to, though the actual distance is affected by the power of the in-camera flash. Usually, fill flash works best at distances less than 8–10 feet. Pros often use accessory flash for added power to boost this distance. Fill flash limits the shutter speed and f-stop possible with digital SLRs (try using the P mode at first).
Without fill flash, you would
never see the eyes on this brother
and sister in bright sunlight. You
can see the sun highlights and
shadow on the young man’s
T-shirt. The flash is revealed in
the catchlight in their eyes.
The colorful side of this petrified
wood log was totally in the
shade. Flash helped bring out its
color.
Illuminate portraits with WINDOW LIGHT
Getting a good portrait is highly dependent on the quality and quantity of light available. That is one of the reasons why so many portrait photographers strongly prefer to shoot inside a photo studio where they have a high degree of control over lighting. One of the most useful lighting accessories in a portrait studio is a soft box, which is a large light box that diffuses the light from a flash or other light to make soft, natural-looking light for well-lit portraits. You can get much the same soft, evenly diffused light in your own home without the expense of having a studio by shooting portraits with the subject standing or sitting in front of a window. Shoot when the light comes from the sky, not directly from the sun, or you can use the diffused sunlight that comes through a white sheer drape. You can change the direction of the light on your subject by moving the camera and subject at different angles to the window. This can give you everything from dramatic sidelight to open front light.
This candid portrait was taken
with a large picture window to
the right side. A white wall to the
left acted as a reflector.
Here, one large window provided
the light, and the strong direction
to the light is controlled by the
camera position.
This young girl was shot
near a wall, and the
light came from a large
window to the right.
Sometimes, direct sun from a
window can work with a little
help. A reflector on the left and
below gave a nice light to the
face, and a white wall on the
right kept the shadows open.
Did You Know?
Window light can change quite dramatically in color depending on where the light is coming from. Light from a blue sky is very cool in color, and clouds can give everything from warm to cool light. Try setting your camera’s white balance to Cloudy or Shade for nice warm skin tones. You can even try using a custom balance setting with the light.
Apply It!
If the light from the window is too harsh, use a reflector to bounce light back to the subject. Just place the reflector opposite the light and reflect the light onto the subject. Large white art boards made of foam in between white paper, called Fome-Cor®, which can be purchased at most art stores, make excellent accessories for your window “studio.” They can be quickly propped up and used as reflectors to modify and enhance the light coming from a window.
Get your flash off-camera for DIRECTIONAL LIGHT
The flash on your camera is very limiting. It tends to make flat light, with harsh shadows behind your subject, and often creates red eyes in your subjects. Avoid those problems by getting a flash that allows you to move it off-camera. For digital SLRs, this means using an accessory flash with an extension cable (though some newer cameras do have wireless flash capabilities).
For small, compact, and point-and-shoot cameras, you can also use this technique by purchasing one of the little flashes designed to be triggered by your on-camera flash. (These can also be used with a digital SLR, but for more versatile light, the accessory flash with cord works better.)
You do not have to get the flash far off-camera for it to work well. Hold the flash with one hand off to the side and point it at your subject. This provides nice directional light with far more attractive shadows than the on-camera flash will do. You can also point the flash at a white wall or a reflector to create a very nice, softer sidelight.
A flash to the left of a
plant and its unique
pot created a strong,
dimensional light and
gave enough light for
high depth of field this
close to the subject.
This close-up of a spiderwort
flower looks like it was shot in
sunlight. It was not! It was in the
shade. An off-camera flash held
to the left provided the light.
Did You Know?
When you shoot close-up or macro photographs with flash, you usually gain high sharpness. This is because the flash gives a lot of light, allowing a small f-stop for more depth of field, plus flash has such a short duration that it freezes subject and camera movement.
Caution!
Vendors other than the major camera manufacturers make several excellent accessory flash units, though you will probably have to get the extension cord from the manufacturer. However, be careful if you decide to purchase an independent-brand flash other than the one made for your camera. Check to be sure it links with your camera so you can use all of its features.
USE BOUNCE FLASH for better indoor lighting
Another way to create a more attractive light from a flash is to bounce it off a wall, a ceiling, or a reflector. Bouncing the light spreads it out, making it a gentler light and also generally more natural-looking. You need to have a flash that allows you to point the flash tube away from the camera, at a wall or ceiling. Many accessory flash units have a tilting flash head to allow this. You can also hold an off-camera flash so it hits a wall.
Bounce flash does absorb light from your flash. It requires more powerful flash units the farther the surface is from your flash. Be careful you do not get too close to a portrait subject if you are bouncing a flash off the ceiling, or you can get heavy shadows under the eyes. Also, be very aware of even slight colors to a wall or ceiling. If you bounce off such colored surfaces, that color will appear on your subject — perhaps a good thing if the wall is warm, but definitely not so good if the wall is green!
Prevent RED EYE
Flash can cause a distinct problem when shooting people in low-light conditions — their eyes flash red as if they are possessed. This dreaded red eye is caused by light from the flash reflected back from a subject’s retina to the camera. To avoid getting photographs whose subjects have red eyes, many camera manufacturers have added red-eye reduction features. Although these features can reduce or eliminate red eye, they often make your subject blink or react poorly to the camera.
To avoid getting red eye, you simply need to shoot so that the angle between the flash and lens to the subject’s eyes is more than five degrees. Using a high accessory flash, an off-camera flash, or bounce flash helps avoid getting red eye. Digital cameras do well without flash in bright interiors. You could try camera settings that do not require a flash. You are more likely to get red eye when shooting in a dark environment because the pupil is wider and more prone to reflect red light.
A night shot of grunion-catching
almost guarantees red eye —
unless the flash is off-camera as
it is here.
For The User
******Usman ahmed owner of this blog created this post with his knowledge.All content provided on this blog is not copied from any other blog and site and is for informational purposes only and The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site.The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.
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