Why An External Flash Is Superior To On Board Flash

 

A lot of cameras come with an in built flash, that can pop up on top of the camera. It is nearly always present on consumer cameras. The in built flash is rarely present on professional or full frame cameras. The reason that the in built flash is rarely present on professional cameras is because professionals always use an external flash. There are a number of reasons why the external flash is superior. Some of these reasons are listed below.

 

1, A wider spread of the light. An external flash has a larger head, which means that the light spreads out more evenly and creates more of a fill light. The reason a fill light is better is because it creates less hot spots than a light that comes from a very narrow location. Hot spots are when you take a photographs of some one and the light reflects off various parts of their face and makes them look sweaty.

 

Out doors on a cloud covered day, which is the ultimate fill light, you never see this effect, so the more the flash behaves like that, the less editing you will have to do after the shoot. It is perfectly possible to scrub a photograph of hot spots most of the time, but it is a long process and a complete waste of time if you can avoid it.

 

2, An angle head. External flash guns have the ability to angle their head. This means that you can bounce the flash light of a wall or ceiling. By bouncing the flash light of a wall or ceiling, you are able to spread the light even more, and therefore create even more of an even or fill light, which intern reduces hot spots, and fills in the shadows of the subject.

 

Another great advantage of being able to bounce the flash, is that it can be distracting to a bride and groom, if you are hitting them with direct flash during their wedding ceremony. As a wedding photographer in Newcastle, I feel that it is important to be able to adapt your style to the situation as much as you can. If you are at a venue where you have no choice but to be really close to the bride and groom during their ceremony, then it is a great advantage to be able to light the scene in order to get great photographs, but with out having to shoot in a way that is distracting to the bride and groom.

 

3, Bounce card. The bounce card is a card that is built into external flash guns. By pulling the flash card out, you are able to spread the light at source and again reduce the hot spots and fill in the shadows.

 

4, External flash guns are also manufactured so that you can fit a diffuser to them, which again spreads the light.

 

5, External flash guns have a faster recycle time. The recycle time is the amount of time that it takes for the flash to be ready to shoot again. If you buy a professional flash light, then you are able to shoot in continuous mode (about 5 frames per second) and still have the flash fire on every shot.

 

6, Power supply. External flash guns have their own power supply and therefore do not take up the cameras power. This means that your cameras batteries last longer, which reduces the amount of time you have to change batteries at inconvenient times.

 

7, Sync. Many professional flash guns have a sync ability, which means you can use several flashes with the same camera. This is important if you want to expose various elements of a composed photograph at different amounts. It can also be used to create more of a fill light, because the light is coming from or being reflected from different locations.

 

In summary, the external flash is superior in many way to the inbuilt flash. Many photographers still use an in built flash, as it does in many ways make the camera operation more simple. In the end of the day it is a personal choice, but in my opinion it is well worth the extra time and expense to learn an external flash, because of the many advantage listed above.

 

Pubished by Mark Byron Dowie Photography wedding photographer newcastle
 

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