How to use flash in portrait photography?

Although it seems unnatural to take pictures with a flash, in many cases, we have to take pictures with a flash because of the limitations of conditions. In order to obtain the ideal flash portrait effect, you need to master the following skills.

First of all, you need to know under what circumstances to use the flash. On cloudy days, indoors and at night, you will definitely use a flash; In addition, when shooting a backlit portrait outdoors on a sunny day, you should also use a flash.

1, the use of built-in flash skills

A digital camera has a built-in flash, which, if used properly, can also produce good results. The flash intensity of the built-in flash is relatively small. Even so, when it is used, it should not be too close to the subject, otherwise it will form a big bright spot on the subject's face.

(Built-in flash shooting effect)

To take a clear portrait photo at night, you need to use slow synchronous flash mode, fully expose the background with a slow shutter, and then illuminate the subject with a flash. When we shoot with flash, we usually need to make the flash parallel to the subject, so as to make the walk even. However, it should be noted that when there are reflective objects such as glass behind the subject, the shooting angle of the digital camera should be changed appropriately to shoot from the side to avoid bright spots.

2, off-board flash use skills

There are many restrictions on the brightness and direction of the set-top box flash, and the photo effect will look flat and lack of three-dimensional sense. It is difficult to create a three-dimensional effect without a studio and a mobile light source. At this time, the off-board flash (commonly known as flying light) can be used to generate side light and backlight source, creating a three-dimensional lighting effect.

The erection methods of off-board flashlights are mainly divided into wired and wireless, and the wireless method is the most convenient. The purpose of the off-camera flash is to make the off-camera flash synchronously while pressing the shutter, and then with the built-in or external flash, the ideal effect can be taken, instead of being monotonous like a single-camera flash.

3. The application of Hou Lian synchronization in the front curtain of flash lamp.

Front curtain synchronization and Hou Lian synchronization are two forms of slow synchronization. Front curtain synchronization means that when the front curtain is opened, the flash flashes to illuminate the subject, and then the Hou Lian is closed to complete the exposure. When Hou Lian is synchronized, the flash does not flash after the front curtain is opened, but it will flash and complete the exposure before the Hou Lian is closed. When using slow-door synchronous shooting, the general digital camera adopts "front curtain synchronization", that is, no matter how long the shutter is open, the flash always triggers the flash at the initial moment of opening. This kind of front curtain synchronization, only needs to shoot a still portrait and a night portrait that illuminates the environment, and the subject figure is relatively static.

When shooting a moving object with a low-speed shutter in the evening, at night or indoors, it is best to shoot it synchronously with Hou Lian, which will capture the virtual shadow of the moving object, but the flash will flash before the Hou Lian is closed, so the object can be photographed clearly.