Portrait photography tip: Use an external flash

Saturday 10 December 2022, 16:08 by Elja Trum | 3,395 views | 2 comments

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

The built-in flash usually produces only mediocre photos. But what should you use instead? I recommend buying an external flash, also known as a flashgun.

Canon EOS R5 with Canon 430EX III-RT Speedlite
An external flash is much more powerful than the built-in flash. It is also further away from your lens, which means less chance of red-eye. You can usually tilt and rotate the flash head, so you can flash not just straight ahead, but upwards, to the side or backwards as well.

Compared to separate large studio flashes, an external flash is nice and compact to take with you. Perhaps even more importantly, it is affordable. This lets you discover how useful flash photography is for improving your photos without having to make a major investment.

External flashes can now easily cost 500 euros or more. But they certainly do not have to. You can save a lot of money by looking at flashes from a different brand than your camera brand. Just make sure that the flash supports your camera brand.

For example, you pay 259 euros for a Canon Speedlite 430EX-III-RT external flash, but the Youngnuo YN600EX-RT II has more power and costs just 164 euros.

Another important point is to check whether a wireless trigger is available for your flash. That way, you do not necessarily have to mount the flash on top of your camera. This will give you even better photos, but more about that later.

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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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2 comments

Ronald Maas wrote on Tuesday 13 December 2022 at 11:06 | reply
this article seems to me to be stating the obvious.
Translated from Dutch.

Elja Trum wrote on Tuesday 13 December 2022 at 13:19 | reply
@Ronald; it sounds like it is for you, but not everyone has the same amount of knowledge about this.
Translated from Dutch.

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Photofacts; everything to do with photography!

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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