Flash photography

[Bomby]

I mean, I know it serves its purpose when you're just taking utilitarian photos for newspapers or other pictures for ****s and giggles, but as a film major I can't stand seeing and sort of photography where the light is coming from the direction the camera is in. It's called ****ty lighting and it makes everything in front of the camera look flat and pale.

[DarkZero]

Also, it makes taking pictures of people really hard, since you can't really look at the camera.

[Ace Mercury]

Plus, it dazzles you. Blinded, you stumble into a ravine.

[CaptHayfever]

There are sometimes significant, beneficial differences, though:


As you can see, in the photo on the left, both subjects are half-devoured by the shadows. We can barely even see what they look like. Heck, her shoulder is so far gone that Barry Allen's hand appears to be disembodied & floating in midair.
The photo on the right corrects that problem with minimal flattening. Admittedly, the woman becomes slightly paled, but not enough to lose the texture of her face (her broad smile helps counteract that), & everything else is much clearer & more vibrant.

And remember, "I'maLuiginumberone!"

[Bomby]

Yeah, but those pictures are "****s and giggles" pictures. I'm talking about people who are trying to take photos for art's sake and don't know how to light.

[Booyakasha]

Sounds like your problem is less with flash photography per se than with poor photographers.

[CaptHayfever]

To illustrate Bomby's point, here's a case of a bad photographer misapplying Flash for what seems to be a more art-intended shot:

In this photo, even though the flashbulb is to the side rather than camera-mounted, it's completely washing out the subject's face, paling the should-be-vivid palette of his outfit, & almost making him look two-dimensional, like some sort of comic strip character.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi! Ahhhhh! Number one in the universe!"

[Deepfake]

^ That's set lighting bro.

I'm with you, Bombster. Being pale as I am, and having blond eyebrows, flash makes me look like an alien. Although I have used it artistically.

Sans flash:




With flash:



I just darkened up the blacks. Damn thing did that to the color levels itself. Ugh cheap cameras.

[CaptHayfever]

^Yeah, I know, but it produced a similar effect.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Bad Dragonite]

^^So how was the nuclear blast in that second pic? Kinda toasty I'd bet.

[Deepfake]

My favorite part is how just the pupils show, like a cartoon.