6 Uses of Camera Flash that Social Media Users Fail to Realize

Cameras rule the Internet. With the immense popularity of social networking channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, and Picassa, almost all of netizens are equipped with cameras. Even accomplished photography services companies like InLights Photography (http://inlights.com.au/) maintain their own website to showcase their best shots. Simply put, photography is all over the World Wide Web.

However, the popularity of camera usage does not fully equate to common people’s better understanding of photography - some social media users are still quite clueless about the fundamentals of quality photography. Almost anyone can observe this - pictures with awkward angles here, and pictures with unnecessary flash lighting there. If you are a budding social media photography enthusiast and you want to improve your skills in capturing photographic moments, then it would be a good idea to have a better grasp of photography fundamentals and essentials.

Among the setbacks that social media users who do not have formal background and experience in photography are related to flash photography. Some are not certain when to or not to use the flash on their digital camera or cell phone cameral. When you are not sure when to use the flash on your camera, remember these tips:

1. Use it on a cloudy day - When the sky is cloudy and you want your subject’s foreground to be highlighted, you may use your camera’s flash to do it. The artificial light from your flash will highlight the foreground subject even if it is cloudy. Landscape, wildlife, and outdoor photographers at times use flash photography to eliminate the unwanted natural light and substitute it with the flash’s artificial light, highlighting the subject’s foreground.

2. Use it to fill facial shadows - Photographing a person’s face without the use of flash can bring a dramatic effect because of the presence of shadows of the face’s contours. However, if you want to let go of the shadows, use your camera’s flash to fill in or lighten the face’s parts overcastted by shadows. This technique is particularly effective when shooting portrait with the sun overhead. Portrait photographers usually use flash to eliminate the shadows on the face of their subject, revealing greater depth of details

3. Use it to emphasize texture - If you want to highlight your subject’s texture, then it is advisable to enable your camera’s flash. Your camera’s flash is effective in emphasizing the texture of different still subjects like fur, wood, rock, and concrete. This technique is commonly used in furniture photography.

4. Use it to reduce blue cast - On a cloudy day, your subject tend to be covered with blue cast, and if you are not fan of such picture, you may use your camera’s flash to eliminate the bluish tone.

5. Use it to warm up skin tones - In order to get the dramatic look of the skin, using flash is suggested. The artificial light produced by the flash adds warm and texture to the skin, making it look brighter and more dramatic. This technique is widely used by portrait photographers to reveal the details of the skin and to produce warmer skin tones.

6. Use it to show more details - There are certain details that cannot be seen in the subject if you would not use flash, especially if it is cloudy or dark. In order to produce more details, using your flash should come in very handy. Photographers who practice furniture photography usually use flash to provide better details of their subjects.