Flash photography tip: Use the light fall-off from your flash

Saturday 16 December 2023, 22:44 by Elja Trum | 2,846 views | 0 comments

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

An interesting way to light multiple people evenly in a photo is to use the edges of the light. The flash gives off the most light straight ahead. There is much less light to the left, right, above or below. You can use this as a photographer.

Jens and Maud - f/2.8, 1/200s, 100 ISO @ 80mm
Point your light at the person who is furthest away. Your flash will light him or her the most. Now place the second person closer, but further towards the edge of the light. This means less light falls on the person who is closer, so they are not overexposed in relation to the second person, who is further away.

Getting this right does, of course, require some practice. You can use a flash meter if you want to get it absolutely perfect.

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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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