You can get great portrait lighting with a flash, you have to understand the first thing, the flash is a light source and it's at your disposal. The light directly generated by the flash is relatively rough, we can use the following methods to make it more integrated in the camera to make the picture perfect.
1. Bounce
Bounce flash is also known as bounce flash. When shooting in a dark space, we must first consider whether the space is available, such as the color and distance of the narrow stage ceiling. In a room with light-colored walls or ceilings, there are reflective surfaces everywhere for you to use. You can use the reflection principle of light to point the flash toward the ceiling or wall to create a large area of light like a softbox to illuminate. In this way, a wider range of light can be obtained, and the harsh light directly caused by the subject in the flash can be avoided. [But it should be noted that for black walls or venues with too much space, it is necessary to consider whether to use bounce flashes, and the walls of some venues are green (jianghu) or red (D22), so the color of the bounce flashes will be different. is the color of the wall]
2. First-curtain sync flash
There are generally two working modes for the flash and the shutter curtain. The first curtain synchronization means that the flash fires when the shutter curtain is opened, and the camera can fix the initial state of the object. Rear-curtain synchronization means that the flash fires when the shutter curtain is about to close, and the camera can fix the object in the state that the shutter closes for a moment. For stage photography, in order to facilitate composition and control of light, we generally use the front-curtain synchronous flash. This technique is part of what I focus on. In order to match the changes in the stage light and create a dynamic portrait effect, we generally use the light of the flash as the photography light for the subject of the portrait, and the stage light as the auxiliary drag light. achieve dynamic effects. Set both the flash and the camera to the M file (manual mode), and freely assign the guide numbers of the camera and flash according to your own needs. In order to achieve the effect of flow, the shutter speed of the camera is generally less than 1/15S, and the aperture and the output of the flash can be matched. When the shutter curtain is opened, after the flash flashes for a moment, shake the camera at will, let the subject fix the image under the illumination of the flash, and make the ambient light produce a flowing image when it shakes, so that the two can be integrated with each other. A dynamic image can be achieved.
This technique requires a sensitive observation of the scene light, and you can find out how to match it after repeated practice. The trick is that if you don’t know how to judge the rendering mode of the ambient light in the camera, you can turn off the flash first and let the camera alone Take a test shot at the shutter you set to find the flow of ambient light.
3. Off-camera flash
For photographers who are dissatisfied with the control of light when using on-camera flash or independent flash, if a wireless flash trigger is used to separate the flash from the camera, it will bring greater light creation. We can get the perfect light direction with an external flash, based on the aforementioned jump flash and front-curtain flash sync, which also applies to this method.
4. A filter paper
For fancy stage photography, we are tired of seeing the white light from the flash and can only manipulate it in post-production. The scene light we can shoot at the scene is generally warm tones, and a transparent color filter card paper is prepared to make the picture feel better, and cool color filter paper, such as blue and green, can be used. Fix the filter paper in front of the flash to make the light flash in the color of the filter paper, which can enrich your on-location photography and make it invisible to the effect of the flash.
To shoot with flash, you need to keep practicing until you master all the techniques. Understand how the camera flash works and how to change various settings. As long as you are familiar with the use of flash, you can freely create.