For close up people shots outside, what does it do for you?

It will help to properly expose your main subject when the light is tricky, for example when shooting into the sun.

Try reading this (http://www.danheller.com/tech-fillflash.html) article. :)

Fill-in flash, as it's called, works great in daylight. I always use it for pics of people with the sun behind them. In the old days it used to be very difficult to get the exposure balance right, but today it's a piece of cake :)

Check your instruction book, but on my Canon's I just set it on Av and use the on-board flash. The camera does the rest. Couldn't be easier ;)

Richard.

Quite a lot - In short it's a controllable means of managing light.

Definately not just for nuking people in the dark - can fill the shadows, supress the ambient, reveal shape and form etc. How/what depends on the scenario; how much available ambient light, and whether it's limited to on top of the camera / there's some bounce surfaces / you can get it off at arms length.

A couple of good links:
Good intro - nikon and canon: planet neil - tangents » flash photography techniques (http://planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/)
Nikon CLS: Nikon CLS Practical Guide: 1. Nikon Flash - Two Separate Metering Systems (http://nikonclspracticalguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/nikon-flash-two-separate-metering.html)

[edit to add - also very useful for stopping motion when you just can't get enough shutter speed...]

Thanks guys

I hope you don't mind me building on your original query.

this has come at an Ideal time for me. as I have only yesterday experienced issues while taking shots outside and shadowing on the face.... (Eyes/nose etc etc)

I attempted to use the flash, but it seemed a bit TOO much (is it referred to as burn? )

So, with a flash gun, it can be pointed away to cause indirect light, but still lights the subject...

On that note, would anyone be kind enough to suggest a reasonable one that could be used with a 400d ?

I Mainly use it for candid shots of the family and If I can get my 2 sons to sit still for a few seconds, a few shots of them !!

Many thanks in advance

Phil, I'll give you a call later, you can have a play with one of the spares I carry in the car ;)

G

Another couple of useful links for flash:

Flash Photography with Canon EOS Cameras - Part I. (http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/)
Strobist (http://strobist.blogspot.com/)

Phil, I'll give you a call later, you can have a play with one of the spares I carry in the car ;)

G

You are tooo kind to me !! :notworthy

There's a good example of fill in flash in this months comp :thumb:

Legacy: If all you want is a little fill occasionally, you can do worse than use the pop up on the camera (assuming you have one) - there's usually some form of flash exposure compensation that's separate from the overall exposure comp. (sorry, I'm not a canon user). By default when you pop the flash up it tries to light the whole exposure off the flash (hence your 'nuked' result) - what you want is a subtle fill of the shadows.

A good starting point is -2 to -3 stops of flash compensation - tweak to taste

A sheet of white paper can be used to diffuse the onboard quite cheaply. If you have a suitable surface nearby, a 'proper' flash will allow you to bounce it off the surface (ceiling, wall etc). That 'indirect' flash is softer simply because the spot it bounces becomes the light source - and that's generally a lot bigger than the flash head. Big source = soft light.

Unless you want to get properly into flash, I personally think an onboard and bounce it using ttl is the best 'bang for buck/learning' option in the lighting department. Don't forget you can bounce it sideways (walls) too, you don't need to have a ceiling. For candids though, don't underestimate natural light and shallow DOF (large apatures). Large windows indoors, overcast days outside = good (soft) light. Midday sun = sucky hard light!

Pointing it up (and sticking a stofen / diffuser on) makes very little difference if you aren't bouncing, other than to waste a lot of light - it does NOT increase the apparent size of the light source.

Also nice to see someone else recommending strobist..