Sunday 2 May 2010

Flash Photography with Cristian - Part 1

No picture today, the weather was not great and I was not inspired. Instead you get a free flash workshop. :)

Imagine you are out with friends drinking and want to take some pictures, I know this is not difficult to imagine. Now, you have basically two options, you can use the on-board flash:


...ugh, maybe not.

You could boost the ISO and get a picture with a lot of noise:


This is much better but still not great.

Now you are out of options or are you?

Well, you could try to use a huge external flash and bounce it but seriously, would you want to carry this on a night out? Most likely not.

There is however another way to get great pictures and all it requires are things you would already have if you are out drinking with friends, beers and other colored drinks. If your camera has a pop-up flash (which most proper cameras have) you can use it together with your drinks to create great flash images.




All you have to do is enable the flash and hold a glass in front of the flash but not the lens and take your picture (see the 2nd picture in this post). Hold it as close as possible to avoid shadows but even with shadows it you can create great effects.


Try experimenting with different colored drinks and have fun but drink responsibly or you won't have enough of the drinks left to take more pictures. ;)

2 comments:

  1. Hehe, this looks like fun. Will try it the next time I drink responsibly… if my Ricoh got fixed by that date, that is… 3rd dust problem in a row! :(

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  2. Thanks for your comment Fabian!
    Hope Ricoh fixes and returns your camera soon, I had only once a dust problem with my Ricohs but had some other problems along the way. The Ricoh support is excellent though and pretty fast at fixing and returning the cameras.
    Hope this will be the last time you have to send it in though.

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