Brighten up Backgrounds in Flash Pictures

Ever notice how most flash pictures have dark, gloomy backgrounds? That's because the camera sets a fast shutter speed to minimize blur and prevent ambient light from affecting the flash exposure. If you'd like to brighten up the background, most modern cameras will let you do it. Here's how.

Steps

  1. Find the flash mode control on your camera and set it to FAST. (If you don't have this mode, don't panic -- there's another method which we'll get to in a moment.) FAST tells the camera to treat the scene as a non-flash picture as well as a flash picture, that is, to properly expose the background. Snap your picture and compare it to one using straight flash. Whatever background details there are should now be visible.
  2. Want even more control? Set your flash back to "lightning bolt" and your camera to MANUAL. This has the same effect as SLOW flash, but you can now adjust the brightness of the background by changing the shutter speed. Remember, don't go any faster than your camera's flash synch speed, or your picture will not be fully illuminated.

Tips

  • This technique -- sometimes called dragging the shutter -- has tons of cool applications:
  • Shoot someone working at a computer. If you use 1/45 second or slower, you'll record what's on the computer screen, too.
  • Use it at a party where everyone's dancing. Some partiers will be frozen in time, while others will be blurry from motion.
  • Got a nice fireplace? Capture the stone mantelpiece and the bright, crackling fire as well.
  • Don't just use it indoors. Get cool effects when shooting anything moving quickly -- cars, bicycles, trains, joggers and pets. Try zooming in and out and panning while you shoot.

Warnings

  • Depending on the shutter speed, you may get a blurry background. You may need to use a tripod, or increase the ISO of your camera/film.

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