GFF logo





  
First published March 24th 2006

Better fishing pictures: Use a fill flash

More ways to improve your fishing photos. This time about using your flash in bright daylight—even in sunshine.

By Martin Joergensen

  
Without fill flash
 Without fill flash 
Martin Joergensen
With fill flash
 With fill flash 
Martin Joergensen
 
You might think that the flash on your camera is for taking pictures when it’s dark.

Wrong!

Actually most on-camera flashes are lousy for use in the dark. They are too small, too close to the lens and not flexible enough. For darkness you need an off-camera flash with some muscle.

No, the small flash that most cameras have built-in is actually a lot better for daylight use.
Use the flash when it’s light! And the lighter it is, the more you actually need it.
Bright sunshine should immediately make you consider turning on the flash.


The reason is that bright light creates shadows, and most cameras are unable to catch both very light areas and very dark areas equally well in the same image. Since the bright areas are often larger and often very bright, the camera will expose to get them best. The result is a face shadowed by a bill on a cap, a fish in the darkness of a body and other important parts of the image left in utter darkness.


  
A smile on a dull day
 A smile on a dull day 
Martin Joergensen
 
Another situation is the opposite, where there are no shadows. Heavily overcast days bring a flat and dull light to any scene. The images might be well exposed, and nothing is missing—except for some color, some punch in the image and some shining eyes.

What you need is a fill-flash. Light from the flash will help on both these situations. In most cases you can just force turn flash on and shoot. The camera will take care of the rest. Use this function in particular when shooting
  • with the sun in front of you as opposed to behind you
  • when the light is really dull because of clouds
  • when you are somewhere between 2 and 6 meters or 6-18’ from your object

You can of course use your flash when it's dark, but the built-in flashes on small cameras are generally not able to do much about a scene in darkness. But if you use your flash, make sure that all subjects are in almost the same distance and neither too far away nor too close.




I also have a small photography site called 500th.net you can visit.


User comments
From: bill from SCOTLAND · billyyvonne·at·hotmail.co.uk
Submitted June 18th 2007

Very interesting,never thought about using the flash in bright light conditions before,sometimes my pictures turned out ok but maybe more by luck than anything else.I will try this new found method, too me anyway, and i bet to others as well. And will let you know how i get on.You have very informatives sites and a great help to beginners like me and others.Hope its ok to pass your GFF site on to my friends.


Want to comment this page? Fill out the form below.
Comment
Only comments
in English
are accepted!
Your name Your email

All comments will be screened by the GFF staff before publication.
No HTML, images or links, please - we do not publish such comments...
And only English language comments will be published.
Name and email is optional but recommended.
The email will be shown in a disguised form in the final comment to protect you against spam
You can see other public comments on this page

If you want to submit a private comment, not for publication, use this form

 
Did you find the above interesting?
People who looked at the above also looked at these pages:

Tie Better

Section: Improve your fly tying and learn new, neat tricks with ...

Little Devil

An article on the Welsh classic The Diawl Bach and on the intrig...

Illustrated knot table

A test in the print magazine Fly Fisherman showed the Trilene an...

Monster Muddler

A large muddler for pike

Hyperclomplete guide to fly tying

There are many intended uses for this guide, namely as reference...
A few random articles for your entertainment

A Global Fly Fisher Publication
Copyright © 1994 - 2008, Joergensen/Petti/Schweitzer/Skehan
Portions of this site copyright © the contributors. All rights reserved.
This material is for personal use only. Do not distribute without prior written consent from each copyright holder.
Comments and suggestions are welcome