Knowing When to Use a Flash and When to Keep It

Camera flash can be very useful especially when shooting in low light situations. There are two ways to use a flash: on camera and off camera. An on camera flash is the one that’s attached to your camera like the pop-up flash and the speed light attached on the hot shoe. An off camera flash is usually mounted on a light stand or can sometimes be held by the photographer’s assistant. But it’s not all the time that we have to use either an on camera flash or off camera flash. There are certain situations – and you definitely should know when and where these situations happen – when you need to create more light and use a flash and situations when you don’t need it.
Here are some of the situations when you need to use a flash:

Using a flash when shooting indoors

Most of the time, you will have to use a flash when shooting indoors, especially when there’s not enough sunlight or light inside. As mentioned in the previous article I wrote on Low Light Photography, it’s best that you bounce off the light of the flash to the wall or ceiling to avoid harsh lights on your subject. You can also use diffusers to lessen the intensity of light. Using an off camera flash you will have more control on the lighting and the shadows because you can move the flash freely to get a nice lighting.

Photo by: williamcho

Photo by: PKmousie

Using a flash when shooting outdoors: Daytime

Just because it’s bright and sunny outside doesn’t mean you have to keep your flash inside your bag. When to use your flash when shooting outdoors during daytime? You use your flash outdoors when you want to include the vast blue sky and you don’t want your subject to appear as a silhouette. Another situation when you should use a flash is when you want to eliminate shadows and your reflector is no good.

Photo by: Ram Balmur

Photo by: fp

Photo by: Miguel Ortiz

Using a flash when shooting outdoors: Nighttime

You’ll know when you need a flash when you’re shooting outdoors at night and you can’t widen your aperture and can’t adjust your shutter speed because you want to avoid motion blur and raising your ISO would ruin your shot. Another situation where you can use your flash is when you want to freeze motion or when you’re doing High Speed Photography.

Photo by: Liam Wilde

Photo by: Charsplat

Now that you know some of the situations when you need to use a flash, the next part of the article is about knowing when you need to keep your flash.

Do not use your flash when capturing photos of people or performers on stage, especially if you’re really far from the stage. Try doing this and you will get a photo of the stage that is either extremely underexposed or overexposed audience with pitch-black background. Try raising your ISO and adjust your exposure settings to get great shots of the stage performers.

Photo by: Anirudh Koul

Photo by: Kmeron

Do not use your flash when shooting candid portraits.

When taking candid photos, the last thing you want to do is to make a scene and get noticed by your subject. That’s why it’s best not to use a flash when taking candid portraits. Again try to adjust your exposure settings by adjusting the aperture, shutter speed or ISO.

Photo by: Troy Mason

Do not use your flash when shooting gigs or concerts.

It is not advisable to use flash during gigs or concerts because it may distract the artists, performers and fans. Most gigs and concerts are lit artistically, stage and light directors plan it thoroughly and it would be great if you could capture it on camera. So forget about your flash when shooting gigs and concerts.

Photo by: Kmeron

Knowing when to use your flash and when to keep it is really important, as it will save you time and energy and it will give you more time to focus on your composition and exposure settings.