Introduction

Tutorials

Brushes

Other

Photoshop

Printing correct colors
Selective Black&White
Curves: contrast
Curves: color casts
Masking (part 1)
Masking (part 2)
Masking (part 3)
Animated GIF
Adding texture
Colour a drawing
Brushes and patterns
Opening animated gif

Photography

Focal length (zoom)
Using flash

How to use flash

Whenever we don't have a strong light-source (like sunlight) we need to use long exposure times and/or high ISO settings to compensate. High ISO settings cause a lot of unwanted noise, and long exposures causes motion blur. That's why we use flash to add more light, especially when taking photographs indoors. However, using a built-in camera flash close to the lens to flash someone in the face never creates good results.

Direct & indirect flash

Using a "proper" flash instead of a built-in one drastically increases how good your images will look. Here's an example:

There are other ways of using flash as well, but this is the main two methods. An attached (or detached) flash is always recommended over a built-in one; the further away from the lens, the better.

Flash & exposure time

If you're taking a picture of someone outside at night and use flash, the subject becomes illuminated, but the weak lights in the background are pitch black - ruining the great atmosphere. To fix this you can use a long exposure time, but if you take picture of people and not using a tripod it will become to blurry.

The trick can be to combine both; use a long exposure AND flash:

Red eyes

When using direct flash red eyes can be a problem. It is caused by light from the flash bouncing of the red inside of the eye and back into the camera. To prevent or reduce this you have the following options:

• Flash indirectly.
This is the best way to completely avoid red eyes.
• Use red-eye reduction setting on camera
This flashes or shines a light at the subject before taking the actual image, causing the iris to contract - letting less light in. Reduces red-eye problem, but doesn't eliminate it.
• Use a flash positioned further away from the lens
If the angle is great enough, the light won't return to the lens
• Move closer (increases angle between flash/eye/lens)
This is similar to moving lens further away from lens, but could easily lead to the closest subject being overexposed.
• Remove red eyes in a image editing program.
Can take time. Automated tools exist. Often requires skill to create realistic results.