Understanding The Flash Settings on Your Digital Camera

Understanding your digital camera's flash setting can help you take better photographs

Here is a rundown of the flash settings you are likely to find on your digital camera along with an example of when to use them. There will be variations depending on the make and model or your camera. Plus, some of the scene settings that your camera may have will automatically set the flash to best suit that setting. For example, setting your digital camera to the Landscape or Firework scene setting should switch your flash off. Setting it to the Portrait setting will automatically set your flash to redeye reduction mode. This is just a generalisation. Not all digital cameras have the same settings and act in the same way.

  Automatic Flash

Set your flash to Auto if you are looking for the fully automatic point-and-shoot option. For most people this setting good enough. The camera reads the amount of ambient light falling on its sensor and decides if the flash is needed or not. This setting can be fooled by tricky lighting situations. 

Here are examples of when the Automatic Flash setting can be fooled.

1. Let's say it's a bright sunny day and you are at a wedding. You want to take a photo of the bride and groom under a lovely cherry blossom tree, in the dappled shade. You should switch your flash on, even thought it's a bright day and the camera say you don't need the flash. The contrast between the sunlight and the shadow is too great. Switching the flash on will throw light into the shadows so you get an evenly lit shot.

2. You're still at the wedding and you want to take a photography of the ladies in the big hats. Guess what? Their faces are in the shadow of the hats, so once again, switch you flash on and throw some light into the shadows.

3. You are on the beach with your girlfriend. You notice how the sun lights up her hair, and with the sea behind her the scene is set. You decide to capture the moment. When you view the picture you notice that her face is in deep shadow because the sun, although still quite high in the sky, is behind her, (back lit). Switching the flash on would have thrown light onto her face and you would have had a perfect photograph.

Forced Flash

See above examples of when the automatic flash settings can be fooled. You would force the flash to go off in situations where strong backlight occurs - i.e.. the sun is behind, to the left or to the right the subject being photographed. This eliminates deep shadows, especially around the eyes, under the nose and chin when taking photographs of people.

 Flash Off

Examples of when to switch the flash off: Taking photos of fireworks. Taking photos of bright neon lights in shop windows, or a whole street. Where flash photography is not allowed. Where the subject it too far away that the flash would have no effect, a football stadium for example.

 Twilight or Slow Sync Mode

Here is an example of when to use the twilight or slow sync flash mode on your digital camera: It's dark and you want to take a picture of your friend standing on Westminster Bridge with Big Ben towering in the background, lit up by floodlights. You take a picture with the flash set to Auto, but when you look at the picture, your friend in the foreground is properly exposed by the flash, but the background is almost pitch black. Setting the flash to twilight or slow sync forces the shutter to stay open that bit longer allowing more background or ambient light come in. However, watch out for camera shake. A steady hand or some support is required.

 Red-Eye Reduction

Setting your digital camera's flash to Red-Eye Reduction will instruct the camera to give off a few pre-flashes before the main flash. Some cameras have a bright lamp on the front that lights up for a few seconds before the main flash is fired. The purpose of the pre-flashes or the bright lamp is to reduce the size of the pupil in the eye so less light gets in and reflected back out (which causes the red eye effect). This function works best when the subject if facing the camera.

Some cameras, such as the Nikon Coolpix have a further built in red-eye reduction software. That is, when the photo is taken with the flash set to red-eye reduction, if the camera still detects evidence of red-eye in the photograph, the camera will attempt to remove it from the picture automatically.

Second-Curtain Sync

If you are lucky enough to own a digital camera that has the scond-curtain sync flash funtion then you should use it as often as possible when taking any photograph in low light - especially if you are also using a slow shutter speed. Second-cutain sync (also known as rear-curtain sync) fires the flash at the end of the exposure giving any light trail a very natural look. Any shot with movement, that required flash should be shot using this setting. Classic examples of second-curtain sync can be found here and here

I hope this information gives you a better understanding of the flash functions on your digital camera. Knowing how to get the best out of your flash will help you enjoy taking better pictures. Not all cameras are the same, however. Some manufacturers have added other flash functions or created variations of standard functions, but in this articles, I have covered the basic functions.