Why use a flashgun?

Danny133

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,530
Name
Daniel
Edit My Images
Yes
I used the search but didnt find an answer.

What is a flash gun for? Providng more light in low conditions?

What sort of shots s it used for?

If i want to shoot in the dark under streetlight would i need one?
 
It's for putting light where you want it Danny. :)

And possibly not. A streetlight has a different colour temperature to a flashgun so it could look a little odd in colour and work really well in B&W.

If it's a shot you need to do in dark conditions you just need to see if you can get a fast enough shutter speed to do it. Open the lens up as much as you can and ramp up the ISO till you get a shutter speed adequate to shoot your subject. A tripod will help with camera movement but you need something around 1/60 sec to freeze people unless they are very still.

HTH
 
im thinking of landscapes at night and sill objects mate :)
 
Landscapes at night.. could work but the flash wouldn't go far so you'd have a dark background I think... I'd do them with a tripod and remote shutter thingy and a long exposure.

Still objects they can be.

Really flashguns are mostly for when you need the light and can't use longer exposures etc - so if you don't have a tripod for a long exposure and want a photo of a still object they could work, yes - flashguns can be used better than on camera somehow (not something I've looked at properly!).

Also can be used for lighting in a studio type environment/product photography etc, though arguably not ao good as studio flashes, certainly possible.

I've used them a few times for birds etc but you have to be careful with the effect.


This was a photo taken when I was new to it and with onboard flash, but you can see the sort of foreground vs background lighting you get using one:

4769058645_b3c6431b07.jpg
 
Okies, then a flashgun is b***er all use :)

The power of a flash is measured as a Guide number. That is a correct exposure at a given aperture in feet/M. Basically they are only really any good up to about 20m (depending on model and power) so tripod and long exposures are the way to go.
 
For what you want to do it sounds like a tripod would be a better idea, if your trying to camture the " look" of the street at night flash will ruin the effect (to a certain extent) you just want the ambiant lighting, flash is better for lighting your subject maybe in the foreground, but as said you'll have to balance the colours (or use black and white)
Flash also has a place in daylight, fill in flash, thats use to lighten the shadows maybe on your sbjects face in sunshine, wedding togs use it a lot of time.
 
The Strobist 101 will help you with balancing the colour of the flash with the colour of the streetlamp.
 
Back
Top