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• Beginner Photography
When to Use Flash • Landscape Photography
• Wildlife Photography
BY LOLA ELISE | 31 COMMENTS
LAST UPDATED ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2022 • Portraiture
• Post-Processing
• Advanced Tutorials
Some photographers oppose the idea of using flash or light modifiers.
Sometimes because it does not suit their style, sometimes because they do not
feel comfortable using flash in first place. While we as photographers often love
RIGHT NOW
the feel of soft, natural light, knowing how to utilize artificial light can be of
Is The Decisive Moment
tremendous value in low-light environments. Not to mention that such knowledge
and being ready to overcome challenging tasks in pretty much any environment
can boost confidence and give peace of mind when working in the field. In this
article, I would like to go over situations when flash should be used and how it
can work to our advantage. I divided this article into indoor and outdoor
photography to make it easy for everyone to follow. Please feel free to add your
use cases in the comments section below. Please note that I am not going over
the basics of flash photography here – the article assumes that you understand
the relationship of flash with ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture.

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NIKON D3S + 50mm f/1.8 @ 50mm, ISO 400, 1/160, f/2.5

Table of Contents
WILDLIFE MACRO
1. Indoors PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY
1.1. Lighting Ballrooms, Churches, Wedding / Corporate Reception Areas
1.2. Photographing Details Indoors
2. Outdoors
2.1. Fill Flash – When Your Subject is Poorly Lit
2.2. Fill Flash – When Shooting Backlit COMPOSITION & BLACK & WHITE
2.3. Sunny Day – Overpowering the Sun to Avoid Hot Spots and Intense Shadows CREATIVITY PHOTOGRAPHY
2.4. Avoiding Environmental Color Casts on Your Subject’s Skin Tone
2.5. To Have Fun by Adding Different Colors to Images with Gels
3. Conclusion

1. Indoors NIGHT SKY

PHOTOGRAPHY
PORTRAIT
PHOTOGRAPHY

1.1. Lighting Ballrooms, Churches, Wedding / Corporate

Reception Areas
As a working professional, one should have at least the basic lighting plan to be
able to capture the day with ease. High-end DSLRs may be flexible enough to STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTOGRAPHY VIDEOS
capture images in poorly lit environments, but it is a game of compromises. If
light levels are too low, you will have to deal with blurry images due to motion blur UNIQUE GIFT IDEAS
/ camera shake, or you will have to increase ISO level too high, which obviously
increases noise, messes up colors and greatly reduces dynamic range. In short,
you are leaving very few options for post-processing. In order to avoid that and
potentially reduce your post-processing time and other headaches, why not use
flash instead? You can start out with a simple configuration, with flash mounted
on your camera, or you could get more creative and use flash in an off-camera
setup to make images appear more dramatic and well-balanced.

Wedding ballrooms, churches and reception areas are prone to have less than
ideal light. The idea here is to be able to create a primary source of light that is
brighter and more pleasant than the dim ambient light. Generally, churches do
not allow using flash during ceremonies and you have to discuss using artificial
light with the church officials before the ceremony takes place. But you can most
certainly use strobes and light modifiers in other locations. SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL

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So, what is the basic set up? If you have white ceilings that are not too high, you
can mount flash on your DSLR and bounce light off the ceiling or nearby white
walls. If the walls / ceiling are of different colors, I would not recommend to
bounce flash at all. Remember that light will assume the color of where it is being
bounced from. Green walls will create a nice green skin color on your subjects :)

Every photographer who is more or less serious about his time spent during the
event and later in post-processing, should carry a bounce card (which will take a
minimal amount of space in the bag). If you happen to forget one at home or at
your studio, do not hesitate to create one out of just plain white paper. Get a
scotch tape (elastic band, gaffers tape, etc.) to mount your handmade bounce
card on top of your flash and voila – you have a much better light source than
direct flash.

X-E1 + Touit 1.8/32 @ 32mm, ISO 200, 1/125, f/2.5

A more complex setup involves moving the light source away from your camera,
commonly referred as “off-camera flash”. You could set up a couple of lights that
will illuminate the area from multiple sides / angles. Setting up one flash behind
your subject as rim light and a single flash bouncing off or shooting through an
umbrella could create great images in indoors environments. With modern
camera systems, you can control both directly from your camera with infrared or
radio transmitters.

1.2. Photographing Details Indoors

If you are an event photographer, part of your job is to photograph details for
vendors who made that particular event happen. The vendors will vary and are
not limited to wedding planners, florists, bakers, etc. As an event photographer,
you are expected to capture those details well. In terms of lighting the details,
you may not need more than you have for lighting ballrooms, but working with
stationary items is much easier, since they do not move or talk. If you wish to
avoid using flash in these circumstances, you need to make sure that you are
photographing at least at a semi-lit location. What you need here is a tripod and
a camera set for slower shutter speed. This process will ensure that the camera
gathers sufficient light to produce a sharp and balanced photo. One thing that it
will not do, is speed up the process. If you wish to cut your time in half and be
done with photographing details faster, your only other bet is to properly light
your area of work. For this purpose, a flash on top of your camera bouncing off a
white card might suffice. But you can go a little more complex with stationed
back light and fill light on the side for a more balanced / professional look.

NIKON D3S + 50mm f/1.8 @ 50mm, ISO 200, 1/80, f/1.8

2. Outdoors
2.1. Fill Flash – When Your Subject is Poorly Lit
Most photographers do not bother with flash outdoors. I would be lying if I said
that I am not one of them. I love natural light and there is nothing easier than
spotting a great backdrop with a good shade. Not to mention if you are
photographing late in the afternoon, when the light is as gorgeous as it can get.
But as the day progresses, your camera will start struggling to keep up with the
available light. You will need to start thinking about using alternative light to get
the job done. Learning how to set up lights in situations like these is very
important. As much as the sun rays might create problems while photographing
subjects, absence of the sun and hence good ambient light, would be equally
painful. Much like photographing indoors, you may need to expose your subjects
with an artificial light source.

For the above image, for example, I used a single speedlight positioned to the left
of my subjects, shooting through a medium size umbrella at full power. Without
flash, the whole sky was getting completely blown out and I did not want that.

2.2. Fill Flash – When Shooting Backlit

Photographing subjects backlit can create a nice separation and bring more
depth to images. But you should also know that if the subject is heavily backlit
(say with the sun behind), the opposite side of the subject where you stand
might get underexposed. While you can bring a reflector (and potentially an
assistant for holding it) to help you get a more balanced exposure from the front,
fill flash can do wonders, too. A single diffused light positioned away from the
camera would do the job. I usually use one medium size umbrella or a softbox on
a stand to do the trick:

NIKON D3S + 85mm f/1.4 @ 85mm, ISO 100, 1/250, f/2.8

2.3. Sunny Day – Overpowering the Sun to Avoid Hot Spots and
Intense Shadows
Next comes the issue of photographing on sunny days, usually in the afternoons,
when the sun is directly overhead. While some gorgeous stuff can be done with
harsh light, photographing portraits may not be as pleasant in such cases. Much
like photographing backlit, I would recommend taking out a simple umbrella or a
softbox and get the game going. Properly placing flash will help avoid ugly
shadows on people’s faces (ever seen “raccoon eyes”?), leaving your subjects
beautifully exposed.

2.4. Avoiding Environmental Color Casts on Your Subject’s Skin

Tone
While doing one of our FAQ series on our Facebook fan page, we got the
following question from one of our readers: “When shooting surrounded by lush
greenery, is there any good way to avoid the green reflection on skin tones
SOOC? It’s driving me crazy to have to color correct/brush the yellow/green out
of skin tones!”.

While working with natural reflectors, you always run into a problem where your
subject will assume the color of the reflective surface. I encounter the same
problems while photographing, and it sure might be a lot of hassle during post-
processing. Although there is no cure for it in the camera, you can reduce this
effect by using a reflector right next to your subject. You can also use fill flash
(umbrella, softbox or other modifier) to illuminate your subject, which will more or
less isolate him/her from the rest of the background and reduce color reflections.
I find that using flash is often easier than a reflector in such situations, especially
when I want to light my subjects from different angles.

X-Pro1 + Touit 1.8/32 @ 32mm, ISO 200, 1/125, f/4.0

2.5. To Have Fun by Adding Different Colors to Images with Gels

Regardless how hectic the day might turn out to be, leave yourself some room to
be a little creative at each event you photograph. I recommend starting off with
something very simple and gradually advancing as you start understanding your
gear a little more. If you are photographing a wedding, you are probably working
a long day with whatever comes your way. Since we cannot predict what might
happen with weather, accommodations and other unplanned stuff, you may not
be interested in trying out something new. But I beg you to give yourself a little
more credit and push your own boundaries. When Nasim and I photograph
weddings, we promise ourselves to do something a little different with each
wedding. It is not something drastic, but something a little different from every
other wedding. We usually aim for one special look. One idea is much easier to fit
into a hectic day of the wedding and easy to complete. By executing such mini
projects during crunch time, you know what you are capable of when you have to
be creative on demand.

3. Conclusion
Flash helps you to use another dimension in your photography. While at times
you do not have any other choice but use flash, I encourage every photographer
out there to leave some room to be creative. Regardless of the type of
photography you do, it is just another skill that will keep you challenged and
motivated to do something different.

NIKON D700 + 50mm f/1.4 @ 50mm, ISO 320, 1/160, f/2.8

Take me to Chapter 11: Camera Settings

1 Photography Basics Introduction

2 What is Photography?

3 Shutter Speed

4 Aperture

5 ISO

6 Composition

7 Metering

8 Camera Modes Take me to Chapter 11: Camera Settings

9 Focusing

10 Flash (You are here)

11 Camera Settings

12 How to Take Sharp Pictures

13 Photography Tips for Beginners

14 Photography Ideas

RELATED ARTICLES

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Guide for Beginners Off-Camera Flash with Nikon Speedlights

Understanding Digital Camera Introduction to Shutter Speed Common Camera Settings for
Modes (PSAM and More) in Photography Beginners

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FILED UNDER: FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY AND LIGHTING

TAGGED WITH: FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY, OFF-CAMERA FLASH, PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS, PORTRAIT
PHOTOGRAPHY, TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

About Lola Elise

Lola Elise is a professional wedding and portrait photographer
based out of Denver, Colorado. She is the co-author of
Photography Life and author of the Lola Elise website. Read more about Lola
here.

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31 COMMENTS Newest

Clément J. Charles
November 1, 2022 4:22 pm

Thanks for this article. Advices are usefull.

0 Reply

Tauseef
April 7, 2021 6:25 am

Dear colleagues.

I shoot Sony Nex7 for fun and family/kids/friends. Can anybody recommend a model of an
external flash which will give enough flexibility for both on-camera and off camera
application? I guess a hot shoe adapter expands the range of potential options significantly,
thus I will order the thing with an adapter.

0 Reply

Richard Perlin
February 17, 2021 1:38 am

Very helpful practical advice.

0 Reply

GIFT
February 14, 2020 3:35 am

Pls, asides using external lights, can the inbuilt light of the camera that is the (ISO) be
adjusted in such a way that an external light would not be neccessary

0 Reply

Betty Wada
October 11, 2017 11:54 pm

Beautiful clicks..! I just love to look these pictures. Fantastic photography, techniques,
location. All are beautifully captured. In these all photos, speaking their feelings. How
sweetly captured all movement and expressed emotions. Lovely pictures and your post. I like
your tip, adding different colors and creates differently. Thank you for posting an interesting
blog.

1 Reply

Christian
June 11, 2014 9:16 am

Hi Lola,

I have read your advice for flash photography above and have some questions to points 2.1,
2.2 and 2.3.

I have a Nikon SB900 and a D600 and want to start taking wedding portrait pictures outside.

What is better, a big softbox with the SB900 or a umbrella with the SB900? What would you
recommend to me for starting taking portrait pictures outside?

I want a lightwight equipment with good results as shown in your sample pictures above.

How did you shoot the pictures in point 2.1 to 2.3 ?

Are you shooting throught the umbrella or in the umbrella (as a reflector), how is the
umbrella positioned?

Perhaps you could give me some advice.

Kind Regards
Christian

0 Reply

Gilles
April 13, 2014 2:27 pm

thank you Lola

I can’t wait to be out there practising all this new lighting situations wit my strobes

0 Reply

Land Cruiser
February 11, 2014 4:15 am

Dear colleagues.

I shoot Sony Nex7 for fun and family/kids/friends. Can anybody recommend a model of an
external flash which will give enough flexibility for both on-camera and off camera
application? I guess a hot shoe adapter expands the range of potential options significantly,
thus I will order the thing with an adapter.

Thanks
LC

0 Reply