Originally posted by dms Oh, and very likely the best approach is not to use flash! Try both in your practice. So with the candles that would be on the cake--what exposure can you get away with. Isn't digital great! You can try things out and get, in an instant, results to study.
Jai, if all you are trying to do is capture the candles, I think you might avoid the flash and use a fast lens instead. You can get a Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7 on eBay for 40-60 bucks. It's manual focus, but it will give you that out of focus bokeh you want. But my advice is try to capture all the moments before and after the candles, not just the few minutes of candle time. Try to capture both group shots and candid portraits, and for that you'll be better off with an external flash.