Imagine you want to take a photo – whether in your living room, outside at sunset or at a party. In order to take a picture at all, your camera needs one thing above all else: light.
Without light, there is no image. It’s that simple.
How does light actually get into the picture?
How does light actually get into the picture?
Aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
- The aperture is like the eye of the camera – the wider it is open, the more light comes in.
- The shutter speed determines how long light is allowed in – the longer, the brighter (but also: the more likely it is that something will be blurred if it moves).
- The ISO value controls how sensitive the sensor is to light – however, high ISO values often come at the cost of image noise.
So far, so good. Now many say:
“Why should I use flash at all? My camera still takes usable pictures at ISO 12,800 – even at night!”„Wieso soll ich überhaupt blitzen? Meine Kamera macht doch bei ISO 12.800 noch brauchbare Bilder – sogar nachts!“
That’s right. Technically speaking, nowadays you often don’t need a flash to “just see something”. But photography isn’t just about seeing something – it’s about deciding how you see something.
Flash is more than brightness
Wenn es einfach nur darum geht, die Szene aufzuhellen weil es halt grad finster ist, ist der Blitz meistens die schlechteste Lösung, in so einer Situation würde ich eher die ISO hochdrehen.
Who isn’t familiar with it: the typical mobile phone photo look with flat, harsh lighting, red eyes and shiny foreheads?
That’s the cliché. Flash = ugly. But that doesn’t have to be the case at all!
After all, a flash is actually an extremely versatile tool for creating designs with light. And that brings us to the more exciting part:
What can you do with flash photography – and why is it exciting?
1. Lighten shadows – precisely and discreetly
Sometimes you don’t want to brighten the entire scene, but only a specific area. For example, a person’s face that would otherwise be in shadow. A targeted flash pulse can subtly bring light into the picture without making it look like a “flash”.
2. Create atmosphere
With flash, you can place light exactly where you want it – regardless of the time of day or weather conditions. For example, you can create dramatic side lighting, give a scene a “cinematic” look or add specific accents. You design the light – and thus the mood of the image.Mit Blitz kannst du Licht genau dorthin setzen, wo du es haben willst – unabhängig von Tageszeit oder Wetter. Du kannst zum Beispiel dramatisches Seitenlicht erzeugen, eine Szene „filmisch“ wirken lassen oder gezielt Akzente setzen. Du gestaltest das Licht – und damit das Bildgefühl.
3. Freeze movement
When you take photographs in low light and need a slow shutter speed, you often get motion blur. At that moment, a flash can ‘freeze’ movement like a brief flash of light – even if the camera otherwise exposes for longer.
Flash vs. continuous light vs. natural light – what is what?
Natural light is wonderful – but also quite unreliable. One minute the sun is shining, the next a cloud drifts across the sky, then the sun disappears behind a building. Sometimes there is simply not enough light, and sometimes there is too much.
Continuous lighting – such as an LED spotlight – has the advantage that you can immediately see how it affects the subject. This is great for beginners! However, powerful continuous lighting generates heat, is heavy and consumes a lot of electricity.
Flash, on the other hand, is extremely powerful – you get a lot of light with a short pulse. But you only see the result in the photo. So it takes a bit of practice to be able to work with it intuitively.
Conclusion: Flash is not a stopgap solution – it is a design tool.
The next time you consider whether to turn on the flash, don’t just think about “more light,” but better light. Flash isn’t a last resort when it’s too dark – it’s your tool for creating the image you want.
