Flash Photography Tip: Avoid Distracting Hotspots

Sunday 20 August 2023, 14:07 by Elja Trum | 2,727 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Hotspots are bright patches of light, or overexposure, in your photo. They often occur because too much light falls on one spot. For example, on your model's forehead, especially when it is slightly sweaty and therefore reflects more light.

Sophie - f/9, 1/125s, 100 ISO @ 50mm
In many cases, the hotspot is also caused by that part of your subject being closer to the flash than the rest. The best solution is usually to adjust your flash. For example, don't point your light directly at someone's face, but just past it. The light at the edges is usually much softer.

Hotspots are also much less likely to occur with a large softbox on your flash. If you use a bare flash, there is also a high chance of hotspots. Hotspots are often difficult to correct afterwards, because image information is simply missing from the brightest area. Prevention is therefore better than post-processing.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about Photofacts

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