Flash Photography Intro

7 Building Blocks of Photography 2

Flash photography seems scary - but I promise you it isn't!  You just need to know how light works and believe it or not - a really good way to illustrate this is with water! 

There are all sorts of flash units from the little built in one on your camera, to full on studio lights which you can use to set up a home photo studio.

We're not going into those much here and will concentrate on flashes you can use on your camera. Studio stuff comes later in this section.

The small built in flash on your camera will give you some light and get you out of a hole when it's dark or for a bit of fill in flash. But the light it produces is very harsh and is not at all flattering.

When shooting with flash you still need to make sure the lighting is appropriate for your subject. This is what is meant when photographers talk about good light.

The flash in the photo is what's called a Speed light. It fits onto the hot shoe of your camera and is much more versatile and create a much nicer light. You can direct the light by turning the head and bouncing light off walls and ceilings to modify and soften it.

Watch the video and we'll explain. We think it's quite funny .....Lorna probably didn't :-)

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