What can you do with just one flash? (Part one)
With just a single flash, you can take a great photo of a frog, an insect, a reptile, a flower, a bird, a person, and even a landscape. Since I started learning photography in the rainforests of my home country of Costa Rica, flash has been one of my most essential tools whether working in the rainforest or the desert.
Nonetheless, I hear a lot of noise surrounding flash that is centered on three misconceptions. The first is that it physically harms wildlife subjects. That is not correct. While it can have a temporary behavioural impact, you can minimise that by how and when you use your flash.
The second misconception is that flash looks unnatural and artificial. This objection simply stems from a lack of understanding. Handled properly, flash creates beautifully natural-looking light that adds massive drama and story to your frame.
And the third misconception is that flash is a crutch for those who don’t know how to deal with natural light. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Understanding how to use flash for natural looking results will absolutely make you a better student of ambient light, no matter your preferred genre of photography!
In this brief article, I will explain three ways a single flash can unlock your creativity.
But first, let’s establish a few technical ground rules.
Camera Settings
Many photographers use one or more of the priority modes (aperture priority, shutter priority, program, or manual mode with Auto ISO) because they handle changing environments well. These modes work fine when you want to blend flash with existing light; you expose for the background first, then dial in a hint of flash to taste.
However, if you want to use flash to create exactly the light you want, priority modes fall short. They will constantly fight you to let ambient light register on the sensor.
When your goal is to eliminate ambient light entirely and let your flash do all the heavy lifting, you must use full Manual Mode.
Flash Settings
You can control your flash output using either TTL or Manual, and both work regardless of your camera's shooting mode.
TTL (Through-the-Lens) flash is the sophisticated flash system that has been around on most cameras for the past couple of decades. When you press the shutter button, but before the sensor is exposed to light, your flash fires out a pre-flash burst. This light bounces back through the lens and is then measured by dedicated sensors within your camera body.
The camera takes this reading – along with aperture info, ISO setting, and autofocus distance info from your lens – to determine the correct flash output given your subject and settings. This all happens in an instant before the shutter actually opens!
Once the shutter opens, your flash works in conjunction with your camera to produce a correct exposure. You can control the output via flash exposure compensation (FEC), which is based on the same middle-tone calibration as our camera's light meter.
That is, you can treat flash exposure compensation the same way you would exposure compensation when shooting with natural light. If filling the frame with a dark subject, dial in a bit of negative flash exposure compensation. For a light subject, go in the other direction.
Manual Flash is less intelligent but incredibly precise. The camera simply tells the flash when to fire at a fixed power level you choose (e.g., 1/1 or full power, 1/2, ¼, etc.). The flash doesn't know your camera settings or how far away your subject is—it just delivers identical, predictable light every single time.
While TTL is brilliant for dynamic environments where you or your subject are moving, manual flash is the king of consistency when your environment is static.
Blend Flash with Ambient Light
Adding flash to a natural light exposure is a great way to accent your subject, to help solve dynamic range problems when you have a dark subject against a bright background, fill in harsh shadows on a subject, or to add a bit of backlight or sidelight.
I myself shoot in full manual mode for all of my photography (because it’s actually easier, but that’s a subject for another article!). But, if you prefer any of the priority modes, feel free to use them when combining flash with natural light as they will work just fine.
If you or your subject are moving, stick to TTL flash to let the camera adjust for distance changes. If everything is stationary, lock it into Manual flash for ultimate control.
Look out for part two next week.
About the author
Gregory Basco is a professional nature photographer based in Costa Rica. After completing graduate degrees in political science and tropical ecology (his doctoral dissertation focused on the politics of ecotourism in Costa Rica), Greg worked in conservation before turning to photography full-time in 2006.
His images have been awarded multiple times in the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Nature's Best Windland Smith Rice competitions and have appeared in numerous magazines and books around the world. He is currently working on the 2nd edition of the large format coffee table book National Parks of Costa Rica in conjunction with Zona Tropical and Cornell University Press.
His popular e-books include The Guide to Tropical Nature Photography, Lightroom for the Nature Photographer, and the comprehensive e-book Flash for the Nature Photographer (available in English and Spanish).
Greg is also co-owner of Foto Verde Tours, Costa Rica's first travel company specialising in photographic tourism. Foto Verde Tours runs workshops throughout Latin America, including Costa Rica, Perú, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, and Panamá.
www.deepgreenphotography.com
www.fotoverdetours.com
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Want to join Greg on a workshop in Latin America? Check out the upcoming schedule here.