Flash mode
tips & insights

Red eye

Red eye is caused by the flash reflecting off red blood vessels located behind the pupil. The darker the room, the more the pupil opens - and the more it does, the greater the red eye effect.

An alternative to using the red eye reduction is increase the ambient lighting (by, for instance, turning  on more lights in the room). The increased lighting would contract the pupil, thereby lessening the red-eye impact of the flash.

Or ask your subjects not to look directly at the camera.

Or you could use your camera's red-eye reduction function. But that feature has a drawback. It delays the shutter, which results in some subjects closing their eyes or dropping their smiles.

On

The flash is on for every photo. This is an ill-advised setting because some photos turn out better if taken without flash.

Automatic

The flash is triggered whenever the camera thinks it would improve the photo. "Automatic" is a better option than "on" for beginner photographers.

Although cameras usually calculate correctly, their metering system sometimes misreads the scene and guess incorrectly. That's why many experienced photographers use "off" as their default setting (the trick is remembering to temporarily switch the flash to "on" or "automatic" when conditions dictate it).

Fill-in

This is an effective feature when photographing people in direct sunlight. The flash fills in unflattering facial shadows created by the overhead sun.

Slow sync

Use it at night when you want a slower shutter speed to extend the flash zone.

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