There is probably no type of photography that is more disappointing to the beginner than flash photography. Unlike natural-light photography, where what you see can often be what you get, it is difficult to visualize what the effects of using flash will be. Flash is shut off until the moment of exposure, and then its illumination is too brief to visually evaluate what it does to your picture.

Many just hope for the best, and are frequently surprised by the disappointing appearance of those in which we used flash. Shadows can be harsh due to the high contrast from direct flash, and images can look stark; sometimes facial lighting is flat or subjects have red-eye; foreground objects are often overexposed, looking bleached out, while background objects are darker than we expected.

This is primarily due to the small size of the light source. If you bounce the flash off a wall or ceiling, you will get a softer, more even distribution of light.

Taking the flash off the camera and putting in towards one side, you will change the angle of shadows that will add more depth and texture to the image.

Using a slower shutter speed in darker interiors will allow more ambient light to create a closer balance to the brightness of the flash. Be wary of using a shutter speed fast enough to avoid camera movement. You may also need a coloured filter over the flash unit to match the red-yellow hue of incandescent light bulbs, or the greenish hue of flourescent bulbs.

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