How Do I Use Flash Fill?

Flash fill is a photographic technique that (when used properly) can brighten dark shadowed areas and improve overall lighting and contrast. It can make the difference between an okay snapshot and a fabulous photograph.

Most people think that the camera flash is only meant to be used indoors or in a dark environment. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Properly used, fill flash has a role on bright summer days. Using fill flash appropriately is one mark of an accomplished photographer.

The human eye has a much greater range of sensitivity to light than either film or digital sensor. Typically, when you take a photograph you'd like to record an impression of what your eyes see. Fill flash can help you achieve that.

Here's a typical example of when it may be of help. Imagine that you want to take a photograph of a couple on a bright sunny day. The reality is that bright sunlight creates harsh shadows, squinting and often flat colors. For this reason you may want to move your subjects into shade, perhaps under a nearby tree or the shadow of a building.

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However when you do that you create a new set of problems. The subjects in the shade require a very different exposure setting them was probably a very brightly lit background. If you took a light reading off the subjects in the shade and adjusted exposure accordingly the background would be overexposed. On the other hand, if he took a light reading off the background the subjects would be under expose and appear dark.

This is one example of where fill flash can help. Compared to broad daylight the reality is that the flash is relatively feeble. In a way this helps tremendously when you're using it for fill. You're adding a little bit of front lighting while ambient lighting provides the overall tone.

An example of how this might work, even in bright sunlight, is to imagine a subject standing in the middle of the field at one o'clock in the afternoon on a clear day. The bright sunlight creates shadows under their eyes and nose that the camera will capture all too clearly. Usually that harsh contrast worsens the photograph.

Fill flash dramatically softens the effect. The extra light from a flash won't completely eliminate the shadows created by sunlight but it makes them appear more natural in the final photograph.

Using flash in this way is entirely different than the way most amateur camera owners think of it. Most people think that flash is only meant to be used indoors or at night. The fact is that the typical on camera flash does a mediocre job at best in those situations but is perfectly reasonable to use as a fill flash in many situations.

Using Flash Fill:

There's a great variability among the cameras people use today, ranging from cell phones with camera options to point and shoots to SLR's. In fact, I use all three. I have an Incredible smart phone that I recently got and I think is great. It's possible to take really decent photographs with it and I usually have it with me all the time. It has zoom, I can adjust the exposure, and (relative to this article) the Incredible has an LCD flash. I can set the flash to auto, off or on (that would be the fill flash setting).

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I also have a Kodak point and shoot camera that has more flexibility and more settings. The main thing that I love about this camera is that it has a viewfinder in addition to the ubiquitous LCD screen of most of today's simple digital cameras. It is much easier to compose a shot in bright sunlight through a viewfinder as opposed to looking at an LCD screen. I also think I can hold the camera steadier when it's against my face as opposed to arms length.

At the upper end, I have a Nikon D50 digital SLR then I completely love. It has tremendous flexibility and capability for adjustment, manual settings, automatic settings, programming and just about anything you could want the camera to do. I know Nikon has made several models since this one, but I'm still finding out what might D50 can do so by figure I can wait a bit longer before you need to check out the newest models.

Before I go on, a little point of photographer wisdom: a photographer's favorite camera is the one they have with them. I heard that said years ago but I'm only now beginning to appreciate its wisdom. I love my D50 and all the lenses I have to go with it but I really don't intend to lug it around with me every day of my life. I used the point-and-shoot when I knew I was going somewhere where I wanted to take pictures, but didn't want to bother with the bulk of the SLR.

What's been so cool about my Incredible is that I always carry my phone so now I always have a reasonably decent camera with me. I find myself looking at the world differently and just taking pictures of things that catch my interest or look beautiful or interesting or curious or that I want to document all the time. It's because I have the phone/camera with me and can do it.

A long aside. Excuse me...

In most cameras, the flash setting is indicated by a lightning bolt. Before the exact details on how to adjust it you'll have to consult your owner's manual or go online for the digital version. Typically, there will be at least three options: auto , which means the flash will only deploy if the camera's light sensors detect a lowlight situation, a lightning bolt with a slash through it, which means the flash is off, or a plain lightning bolt, which means the flashes on regardless of light sensor readings.

That is a setting that you want for fill flash.

Unless you're a somewhat more advanced photographer, you'll be using the on-camera flash. Just be aware that you can use a seperate flash for fill and if you do you have a lot more options

How to use fill flash? I could give you a lot of suggestions here but really the best thing is just to try it. One of the absolutely wonderful things about digital photography is that once you have the equipment it costs you nothing to experiment.

I don't want to go on like one of those guys that talks about the old days all the time, but I do remember being a student and first getting interested in photography. I wanted to experiment and take a lot of pictures, but I also had a budget. I had a student's budget.

That meant that every time I pushed the shutter I was thinking about how much the picture would cost and whether or not it was worth taking. If I wanted to experiment with, for example, bracketing an exposure, I really would consider what the cost of the film and developing would be before he took the pictures.

Not only that, I had to wait 'till I developed the film to see the results.

All of that is a non-issue in the world of digital photography. That means you can experiment turning on the flash to fire regardless of the lighting conditions and compare the resulting picture to one with the flash off. Before long you'll be able to immediately recognize when using fill flash will improve a picture.

Photography is a great hobby but I'm sure you've noticed that there's a big difference between the snapshots you and your friends take and photographs you see in magazines and elsewhere taken by professionals. What may surprise you is that it's not that difficult to make the transition. All you need is a little bit of proper coaching and a few "tricks of the trade."

That's where Learn Digital Photography Now comes in.

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