October Tip of the Week: Dealing with In-Camera Flash
IMAF Toronto Camp 2010
Every take a picture and right behind your subject is a hard black shadow? In the image to the right, compare the shadow behind the subjects head to the one by his shoulders. This is an example of close up, close to walls shots, causing hard shadow contrast. Professionals deal with that by using off-camera flash and use diffusion and distance, but what do you do when all you have is the flash built into your camera? You can do a couple things to minimize that ugly shadow.
- Move your subject away from walls. The farther away you can get them, the softer you can make that shadow.
- Shoot from slightly above. This can put the shadow behind your subject hiding it.
- Soften it. Use a little piece of tissue paper (that stuff shirts come stuffed with) or thin white paper over your flash. This will soften the light somewhat, though it will also decrease it’s power.
- Position subjects against dark walls. Shadows will be softened or lost in the dark, where they would stand out against lighter backgrounds.
