6 Hot Flash Tips

The Editors, December, 2001

Add a burst of life to your photos Electronic flash can do a lot more than just provide enough light to shoot when there isn't enough light otherwise. Many of today's dedicated shoe-mount flash units and accessories provide features that let you do lots of cool things. Here are a few you might like to try. 1. Telephoto Flash You can extend the range of your shoe-mount flash unit by attaching a flash-extender. This consists of a Fresnel lens to concentrate the flash beam, and a tube that holds the lens at an appropriate distance in front of the flash unit. Two good examples are the Better Beamer Walt Anderson Flash Extender from famed bird photographer Arthur Morris (863/692-0906; www.birdsasart.com) and the Project-A-Flash from Tory Lepp Productions (805/528-0701; www.leppproductions.com). Just attach the unit to your flash unit, attach a 300mm or longer lens to your camera, and shoot as always. TTL flash exposure control should handle the exposure, but it's a good idea to bracket exposures the first time you try the device to see how it works with your system. These devices cost around $35 and will increase your flash unit's output by about three stops—enough to let you shoot at distances up to 66 feet with an f/5.6 lens and a flash unit that has a guide number of 132 (or 94 feet with an f/4 lens). Extended-range flash tends to produce strong red-eye, but you can retouch the subject's eyes with a Red-Eye Pen or eliminate the red spots digitally. Telephoto flash brings out colors in subjects that available light often doesn't, and adds catchlights to the subject's eyes. But beware of red-eye in dimmer light. Photo by Mike Stensvold

2. Off-Camera Flash Probably the simplest way you can improve your flash photos is to move the flash unit off-camera. On-camera flash is convenient, but not very exciting. It produces that typical flat "flash snapshot" look, and red-eye. (While red-eye-reduction features do reduce red-eye, the only way to eliminate it is to move the flash unit away from the lens axis.) Many SLR camera manufacturers offer off-camera TTL flash extension cords that allow you to remove a dedicated flash unit from the camera's hot-shoe and position it where it will produce more attractive lighting (generally, above and to one side of the camera). Some camera systems even permit wireless off-camera TTL flash, no cord required. Top: Moving the flash above and to the left of the camera produced this nice modeling effect on the subject. The flash was also used with an umbrella reflector—see Tip No. 3. Photo by Lynne Eodice Bottom: Sidelighting provided by off-camera flash emphasizes shape and texture, something flat on-camera flash can't do. Photo by Jay Jorgensen

3. Umbrella Flash If your flash unit can be removed from the camera and has sufficient power (i.e., a guide number over 100, in feet, with the film in use), you can get beautiful soft yet directional lighting by bouncing the flash unit's light into a photographic umbrella reflector. The extra flash power is needed because light from the flash must travel farther—from the flash head to the umbrella reflector, then back to the subject. TTL flash systems will handle the exposure automatically. If you don't have TTL flash, use manual mode, and determine the exposure with a flash meter, or using the guide number. For guide-number calculations, the distance is the flash-to-umbrella distance plus the umbrella-to-subject distance; open a stop from the resulting aperture to compensate for the light lost in the reflecting process. (It's always wise to bracket exposures the first time you try any new technique.) Pros use umbrella reflectors regularly with their studio flash systems. But you can use them with sufficiently powerful shoe-mount flash units that can be fired off-camera via an extension sync cord or wireless slave capability. Pros generally use flash meters to determine exposure, but TTL exposure control works well, too, with flash units that offer off-camera TTL capability You can also use the guide-number method to determine exposure—see text. Photo by Lynne Eodice