More pictures are now being taken in human history than ever before with our handy smartphones. Most people seem very pleased when they feel like the phone’s flash can light up the subject they’re clicking on. However, flash is not always helpful. In fact, most professional videographers will tell you not to use flash if possible. It is imperative to know when and when not to use it.
Using Smartphone Flash Correctly | shutter
Appreciate the ambient light
Ambient light is the natural light around the area you’re photographing. It’s the kind of light that you can’t control, like the Sun or the light from a tube light in a room. Sometimes this light is more than enough to take any kind of photo, such as if it’s a bright sunny day outside. Sometimes it’s too bleak, like in a dimly lit club room. You can use flash in either case (yes, even in bright outdoors), but it’s important to know when.
It doesn’t matter whether you use an iPhone or an Android phone, a light assessment is key to really understanding how flash can (and should) be used.
While it may take a few trial and error sessions for you to get everything right, here are some basics to always keep in mind.
Camera lenses are not your eyes
This is also easy to understand right? The way you see things will be completely different from what a lens in any smartphone will capture. Naturally, some cameras have better lenses than others, but if you’ve been using your smartphone for a while, you know what kind of images it usually produces.
Flash is harsh light
In any case, remember that the flash will hit the subject your lens is focusing on. This will be a harsh light source, which will also create shadows in the background. Sometimes the effects of shadows are very minor, but most of them just take away the charm of a photo. Take the photos below, for example. The harsh flash not only cast shadows that I would have otherwise been able to do without, it also darkened the background as well as the statue on the right. I have marked the area of the image that is not visible in the image where the flash is on/forced.
Photo taken with flash ON
Photo taken with flash OFF
Use flash to fill in the shadows
There are 2 very important aspects of photography that are often overlooked by non-photographers. These are the concepts of shadows and highlights. If you’ve used Instagram lately, you’ll have some idea what these terms mean in relation to photography. Simply put, the light areas of the photo are the highlights and the dark areas are the shadows. If we refer back to my photos, posted above, there are distinct areas where you will notice highlights and shadows.
Pay attention to the ledge behind the vases and you’ll notice that the image taken without the flash has the shadows there too dark, but the flash image really pops and shines. light that area. If you see too many such areas when framing your shot, you should use a flash.
Glasses & Mirrors Aren’t Nice
Reflected light. So whenever you see a mirror or glass, you should rely on the ambient light to take the picture. Otherwise, you’ll be left with a harsh flash reflection that can ruin a good photo, like the one below.
Reflection of flash on glass
In this case, due to the reflection, the photo appears to have too much light on the right side of the image with almost no light on the left side. The reflective flash also creates an obnoxious focal point at an arbitrary place in the image.
Shadows on a sunny day
Using the same interpretation above, you can imagine a sunny day casting a shadow on your subject’s face if he wears a hat. To overcome this, flash can be used effectively by ensuring that the harsh beam of light is focused on the very spot where the shadow is located. Since sunny ambient light will be brighter anyway than flash light, it won’t obstruct the background and everything will be well lit.
“The brightest flame creates the darkest shadow.” – George R.R. Martin. Image via Shutterstock.
Everything is relative
If ambient light is the first part of understanding how to use flash in photography, the relative distance of the subject and its surroundings is the second part. This is a bit more complicated and will take more trial and error to fully grasp, but these suggestions should help.
distance problem
The further away you are from the subject, the further away you are from the background. Confused? Don’t be like that. Imagine a performance you like and want to shoot with too dark surroundings. You turn on the flash on your smartphone so you can see the subject clearly. But before you click, observe the object’s position. How far is the wall behind it? Does your flash cast large shadows if you shoot from a distance? How close would be too close? These are basic questions that need to be answered and yes, always remember that using flash leaves ghosting behind.
It’s best not to have a wall relatively close to the subject, but if you can’t move the subject, it’s best to move to a position from where the shadow becomes the least of the trouble.
In this shot I took, the wall is pretty close to the subject and you can still see shadows on it, even though I’m pretty close. If possible, you can always change your angle and take the photo from a higher angle so that the flash hits the subject. This will at least remove the shadow of the fruit basket, though not the rest.
Love Mobile Photography? Check out our articles on the best blogs for the same.
Shot!
Practice makes people perfect. And this couldn’t be more true in the case of photography and every little aspect associated with it. These tips will help you understand the basics of what to do and what not to do with flash when using it on a smartphone, but this is just the beginning. Let us know in the comments if you’d like a closer look at this topic (or any similar one) and we’ll get right to it.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
