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4 minute read
Exploring Other Flash Modes
There are plenty of ways to get creative with flash photography. Let’s look at some of the options tucked away in your camera’s flash settings and find out what they can do.
We saw in a previous article that you can change your X Series camera’s flash mode so it uses its built-in flash in a slightly different way. You can access flash modes from the camera’s main menu:
- Press MENU OK.
- Scroll down to the FLASH SETTING menu, indicated by the lightning bolt icon.
- Choose FLASH MODE.
The benefit is that you can choose different options that drastically affect the way your camera behaves when you create images using flash, which translates into different creative effects. Let’s look at a few.
Synchro? Command? Curtain? Whaaat?!?
We looked at auto, forced and suppressed flash a few weeks back here, but let’s have a quick refresher:
- AUTO (not on all cameras) – uses the flash when light levels drop low enough to require this.
- FORCED FLASH/TTL – uses the flash all of the time, regardless of how dark it is.
- SUPPRESSED FLASH/OFF – never uses the flash, even in dark conditions.
But that doesn’t cover all the options available to you. What about Slow Synchro, 2nd Curtain Sync., and Commander?
- SLOW SYNCHRO
In the normal auto flash mode, the shutter speed picked by the camera will not drop below a point where there could be camera shake. Remember, the slower the shutter speed, the more sensitive the camera is to any slight movements. So, sometimes auto flash mode will keep a faster shutter speed to prevent camera shake, but blast your subject with light and obscure the background. A good example is an evening portrait made in front of a floodlit building – your subject will be well lit, but the building behind will come out much darker, or not be visible at all.
To get around this, change the AUTO or TTL mode to SLOW SYNCHRO. This allows the camera to pick a much slower shutter speed and let in as much natural light as it needs, in addition to using the flash. Just make sure you support the camera somehow to avoid camera shake any time you create images using a slow shutter speed.
- 2ND CURTAIN SYNC.
When you make a picture using flash, you press the shutter and the flash activates, right? Although almost impossible to detect, the flash activates right at the beginning of the exposure, but if you choose 2nd Curtain Sync., it activates at the end of the exposure.
What difference does this make? Well, not much when you’re using fast shutter speeds, but when photographing moving objects with longer shutter speeds, it has a big effect. We already know objects that move while the shutter is open create image blur and leave a trail behind them – the light trails created by car taillights moving through the frame are a good example.
When we combine flash with a long exposure such as this, we get both a crisp, sharp image from the flash and a blur from the long exposure – it’s a very cool effect and one that really helps convey motion.
2nd Curtain Sync | © Matthew Weintritt
- COMMANDER
This option is used with additional optional flash units that can be activated away from the camera. With this option selected, the flash built into the camera can be used to activate the additional units and create an accurate exposure.
Just as it sounds, the built-in camera flash ‘commands’ the off-camera flash to activate and requires some additional equipment. This is a more specialised technique, typically used by professional photographers, but even basic X Series cameras still have this functionality. One to try when you get more confident with flash!
Your Next Steps
- CHALLENGE Photograph a moving subject at night using your camera’s built-in flash and 2nd Curtain Sync. mode. Post your favourite image to social media with the hashtag #learnwithfujifilm and #flash. You can also submit your work here for a chance to be featured on our social media channels
