How to get decent portraits with on-camera flash

     So you've decided to get a speed light to go with your camera, but you don't have a way to use it off-camera, or you don't have the space for a portrait.

    What do you do?

    Gavin Hoey, one of the photographers featured on Adorama's Youtube channel (disclaimer: I am not sponsored by Adorama, but its channel is a good resource) goes over some ways to get flattering light with a camera-mounted flash.

    (Note: This is for flash units mounted on the camera's hot shoe. If you're using a pop-up flash, these tips will not work for you, but check out the diffuser we featured earlier.)

     What Hoey suggests is essentially bouncing the flash, preferably off a white or neutral-colored wall or ceiling. If you bounce off a colored wall, you're going to get a color cast.

    But what I found interesting was Hoey's suggestion for bouncing off a wall behind you if the room's small enough. Along with creating a softer light by bouncing it off a larger reflector, this over-the-shoulder move can also allow you to avoid the harsh look of a subject against a black background since the foreground/background light are now more balanced, thanks to to the inverse-square law.

    For those not familiar with this law of physics, light falls off at the inverse square of the distance from the light source. At 3 feet away from the light source, the light is 1/9 the brightness it would have at 1 foot. As you go farther out, the difference decreases, so you can actually get a more even lighting the farther back the light source.

    You do have to pay for that with either a wider aperture or a higher ISO.

     Another tip Hoey offered for overall studio photography is to first take a test shot with the settings you plan to use but no flash. The goal is to have the frame completely black, which means that the ambient lighting will not have any effect on the picture, and that all lighting will come from the flash. That can also be helpful if you're in a situation with mixed light sources. 

Power strips give you options when traveling

 

Photo by Kier In Sight on Unsplash 

 

     As the pandemic appears to be receding, we can start thinking about traveling.

 

    With more of our camera gear relying on batteries, whether it's a smartphone or a DSLR, we need to make sure we have chargers we can plug in. And let's not forget our computers.

 

    It's been my experience in my travels, that one thing hotel/motels skimp on in the rooms is power outlets. There usually aren't too many that are readily accessible, which was probably OK back in the pre-digital age, but it's more than a minor inconvenience today.

 

    And if, as I've done, you have to share a room with somebody, that can create a scramble for the available plugs or having to take turns charging your stuff. While cellphones can charge relatively quickly, battery charging for cameras can take hours, which can create friction with your roomie.

 

    Plus, if you have chargers scattered throughout the room, using plugs in the bathroom and other places, it becomes too easy to forget one and either have to buy a new one, or hope that the hotel staff will send it to you.

 

    (I had to have a hotel send me a shirt I forgot was hanging in the closet. I count myself lucky.)

 

    But there's a way to satisfy most of your electrical needs with just one outlet. Throw a power strip in with your luggage.

 

    A decent power strip will give you anywhere from three to five outlets, depending on the size of the strip. I would go for the largest strip you can afford to buy, as well as can easily pack in your luggage, as sometimes chargers can tie up two outlets.

 

    If you're traveling abroad to where the power system's different than in your country, you only need to buy one plug-in power converter. Just plug the strip into the converter, and you have outlets running with the same electricity you find at home.

 

    And if you're out in the field and you don't have the type of chargers you can plug into your car outlet, you can buy a power inverter that will convert the 12-volt DC current to regular AC electricity. Just make sure your inverter and power strip can handle the power demands.