[HenrikDK]

Count me in (hating flash). I am seeing better results with my k-3 than my k-5, and off camera helps, but still don't like the look. I am not great at it either, so should spend more time learning it before complaining about it... Nah...

[aleonx3]

I can understand why people hate to use flash... but there is another area of photography where flash can be used to freeze action and enhance the colour (if there is dominance of tungsten light). The object is to balance the flash with ambient light so that the result will be more pleasing. I use flash whenever I can...

[Class A]

The light isn't natural and I don't know how to make it more natural like.

Just using a bare flash indeed creates unnatural looking and ugly light.

You need to create a larger light source by either using a light modifier (e.g., a softbox) or bouncing the flash off a large surface (e.g., a wall).

Have a look at the samples I created for a recent review. They are not great and were not meant to be, but hopefully they illustrate the difference between direct flash and bounced flash. Don't miss the link to this great example what you can do with even on-camera flash.

Where did anyone said that hating flash means you don't know how to use it?

For anyone who knows how to use flashes to their advantage it is unlikely to hate them. Not impossible, but unlikely.

And why would anyone make flash indistinguishable from natural light.. if you can just step out doors?

Because "just step out doors" does not cut it.

Natural lighting is rarely ideal and even if it happens to have the quality you are after then it still needs to come from the right direction.

Most of us use flash, when we have to.

That may be so, but I submit that "most of us" is not really relevant to what is recommendable or not.

A professional like Joe McNally will almost always use flashes to control the lighting (as opposed to working with what is there).

[carrrlangas]

Working with flash rarely includes only the flash unit itself but also the appropiate light modifier you need for a certain subject. Bulk adds up fast, so does preparation time when there are 2 or 3 stands to place umbrellas or softbox, etc...
BUT the reward for all the trouble is worth it. You get the ultimate control in making a photo: Light. Apeture, shutter speed, ISO are no longer limiting in any way. Less stress on the lens-camera system.

If you want to give it a try, this is my advice:
Get a pair of Yongnuo YN-560III (plenty of power, 2sec recycle time and built in radio receiver!) and a RF-603N (transeiver, nikon version works on Pentax) and you are all set. Then add a Cowboystudio par of umbrellas with stands for a total investment of arround U$230.
Now go to the Strobist blog or buy this book: Light Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting: Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, Paul Fuqua: 9780240812250: Amazon.com: Books Light science and magic.

It will change the way you do photography, either with flash or not.

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Last edited by carrrlangas; 04-09-2014 at 02:07 PM.

[elliott]

And why would anyone make flash indistinguishable from natural light.. if you can just step out doors?

I have yet to have the sun cooperate with me, it never moves when I ask it to. Also, some subjects can't be brought outside, people can, but I'm not much of a portrait shooter.

[OnTheWeb]

If I am forced to use Flash it is at -2.

Yes! The onboard flash for the K-01 is so hot at the range I use it that I'm at least -2EV.

[stevebrot]

Where did anyone said that hating flash means you don't know how to use it?

Say it! I know how to use it, but hate it anyway!


Steve

[fgaudet]

Get a few cheap manual flashes, some cheapo radio trigger and go to town with your kit... I hated flashes more than anything for the same reasons most people do... doesn't look good, looks un-natural, exposure is weird etc.

But once I started playing with off camera flashes, boy did it opened a bunch of new opportunities. Using softboxes and the such will take the harshness away and setting your flash power levels for the exposure you want instead of setting your exposure according to the flash power level will make the exposure a lot better. Managing where your flashes are and where the light is going will ensure a more natural looking effect. A little tweak of your white balance and it'll take the coldness of the flash away.

When thinking of flashes, most people think of flat looking, white faced/red eyed, over-exposed subject with under-exposed background (like you 8yo birthday polaroid picture your mom took, where all you can see is how white your ceiling is and how much blood there is inside your eyes). Which is kind of what you get with the pop-up flash... Harsh, white, lens level, in your face blast of light.

Constant or natural lighting is simple and a lot easier to work with. Using flashes is harder, might take a few shots before you get what you're after and it is one more thing to deal with. But it is also one more thing the PLAY with

I love flashes. I love constant lighting, I love natural light, I love the golden hours, I love light... I just love photography. The more stuff to play with, the more fun I have.

[nparsons13]

It's not that I hate flash, but that I love using ambient light so much. I'm still learning to use fast lenses and haven't got to the flash yet.

[Tanzer]

I don't hate it, but I most certainly haven't mastered it either. It probably have like a 25% overall keeper rate, maybe less. Always some white balance or intensity issue. Whereas under natural lighting, it's pretty hard to completely fubar.

I look at it as a challenge, for when I am not under pressure. With "free" memory card space and unlimited chimping, there is almost no reason for me to not use flash, especially under harsh natural lighting conditions,

[Jonathan Mac]

Perhaps it's because I haven't mastered the flash, but I don't like using a flash.
I prefer to use the natural light from the window and a tripod or go outside where there's plenty of light.

Seems like the few times I try to use a flash, I get over exposed images.
Years ago I used a flash a lot of fill flash, but i don't shoot many people these days.

I hate direct flash. Bounced flash is entirely different.

[reeftool]

Count me in as another who doesn't like flash although my results lately have been fairly decent. Sometimes you just need to use one. I bought a couple of Joe McNally's books on using flash and while he's a Nikon guy, most of what he talks about can be used on any system. The drawback to the kind of photography he does is that it can get incredibly expensive. I'll recommend "The Hot Shoe Diaries" to anyone whether you use flash or not just because it's such an entertaining read. McNally's recent "Sketching Light" covers all kinds of lighting and a lot of instruction on setting up all kinds of lighting equipment. Still, I'm mostly an available light shooter and prefer to be outdoors.

[ramseybuckeye]

Most of my shooting tends to be outdoors and flash is not needed, but on occasion I have to highlight a close element or take away a shadow in the extreme foreground. I prefer natural lighting, it's more fun and I like the look. If I would get into shooting different things I may want to use flash more. I did recently get a small cheap softbox with fixed lights. I don't do studio work, if I did I would prefer fixed lighting over flash, even though strobists have the benefit of less heat produced, but that's kind of going away with the cooler light sources available.

[PPPPPP42]

Artificial lighting can be genuinely fun if you play with it artistically.

Just learning fill lighting with a flash does a ton for your outdoor photography on sunny days.

It baffles me that Pentax makes such comically overpriced flashes that really only use 75% of their features when mounted on camera which is the last place a lighting expert would want it without major diffusion that would screw those features up anyways.

A high powered fast recharge flash with a manual control rheostat dial in 10% increments and a power port for an optional external supply would actually be perfect for me.

[BrianR]

I love my flashes. I would have given up macro/closeup photography long ago if I didn't have at least a basic lighting kit. The ability to put light where and when you want is priceless.

The process of thinking about where I want light to be and the quality of light I want has also done wonders for how I read existing ambient light conditions. A large chunk of my photos involve one or more lights, and many that don't still involve a reflector or two to modify that ambient light to how I want it, without having to wait for the right conditions. I try to take responsibility for everything in the frame, including the lighting.