How To Work With One Portable Light Or Flash

How To Work With One Portable Light Or Flash

By William Lulow

Whenever there isn’t enough light present to make a picture, the flash on your camera will probably pop up so that you will have enough to make a “proper” exposure.

Isn’t this great? If there isn’t enough light, light gets added automatically! What could be better?

The problem comes with the kind of light these pop up flashes provide. If your unit is attached to your camera, it is called an “on-camera” flash. And, although it will usually light the scene in front of the camera, the light it makes is:

• Harsh
• Direct
• Specular
• Comes from camera position
• Doesn’t light the background
• Usually is not strong enough for specialized uses

Here, notice how small the flash is even compared to the lens.

What makes the light harsh?

1. It is aimed directly at your subject
2. It is of very short duration
3. It casts harsh shadows on every other part of the subject

What makes it direct?

1. It is coming from the camera position
2. It is not changeable
3. It produces a very flat type of light which simply lights the subject

What makes it specular?

4. The flash on the camera is usually quite small compared to the subject
5. It acts as a “point” light source
6. It causes bad reflections on shiny objects and even on people’s faces
7. It will cause “red eye” which is really the reflection of the retina in a person’s eye because the flash point is so close to the axis of the lens itself

Why doesn’t an “on camera” flash light the background?

1. Since it is attached to the camera, the strength of the flash will only go as far as the subject
2. Backgrounds will be black because the flash only measures lamp-to-subject distance
3. Even automatic flash units will only measure lamp-to-subject distance.

So, as your photographic expertise grows, you will want to do away with most on-camera flash situations in favor of using off-camera flash setups.

Most camera manufacturers make flash units that can be used off-camera. They can be connected to the camera with a special wire or wirelessly. There are specialized brackets which take the flash off the lens axis and elevate it to approximate a “Hollywood” type light. This eliminates red-eye and gives the subject a more overall light. It is still harsh in nature, but at least it is coming from a different direction. The thing to strive for is to have a flash unit that is attached to a light stand that you can move around to create different types of lightings and moods. One of the problems with these “speedlights” even if they are attached to light stands, is that they cannot be aimed down. They can be aimed directly at a subject and also aimed up at several angles including directly at the ceiling. So, they are limited in the kind of light they can provide. You would need to invest in more of a studio-type speedlight that can be aimed in almost any direction.

Here I am working with one of my speedlights mounted on a light stand. I have a small pouch I made specifically for these stands that carries the Lithium-ion battery that powers it. At the top, is the Pocket Wizard radio receiver attached to the light itself.

The speedlights I like have a larger reflector on them but still cannot be aimed down effectively. They are Sunpak 120J units like the one below. They are older, but I still own several of them:

There are others as well, like the Quantum Series of speedlights:

Then, there are still others that are a bit more professional quality like the Dynalite Baja units:

These are really good units that are also called “monolights” because they are battery-powered and require no wires or electric plug in. They can be set up in any position on a light stand. They are more powerful than the standard speedlights above, but are still very portable. They have various reflectors that can be used as attachments for various lighting purposes.

The next, logical step is to use two or more lights. Coming in the next article.