Flash: Getting Too Close

Believe it or not, it’s possible to get too close to your subject as well. Some digital camera flash units overexpose the subject when you are within a foot or two of that person or object. Since you know about the light-reducing properties of a telephoto lens, you might expect that you can get closer when you zoom in than if you are zoomed out. And you’d be right; with a typical camera, you cannot shoot any closer than about 3 feet when set on normal zoom, but you can shoot to within a single foot if you are zoomed in to telephoto.

close-up photos are easy to overexpose if you leave the flash turned on. There are a few ways to work around this problem, depending upon what your flash unit is capable of doing:
1) Turn the flash off completely and shoot with natural light.
2) Bounce the flash off a plain white reflector, such as the ceiling or a reflector card. You’ll probably need an external flash unit to bounce, though.
3) Reduce the flash’s power setting to 50 percent or 25 percent.
4) Cover the flash with a tissue or gel (available at any camera shop) to reduce its intensity.

=TIP=
For many digital cameras, there’s an optimum range for your flash photographs. Try to stay between about 5 and 14 feet from your subject. Avoid using the flash in situations where the subject is more than about 15 feet away or closer than 3 feet.