Pretty girls and a compact camera.

Pretty girls, wonderfully bright clothes, a lightly clouded day, and a camera. Sounds perfect. I took these photographs back in 2010. I have been going through my old photos and looking for images I can use. I have digital images from around 2002 and film and slide from before that. Covid, it turns out, has given me the perfect opportunity to peruse through the past. Besides, it gives me a break from painting.

I used a Canon SX1-IS, which is a compact 10 megapixel camera that boasts a 20x zoom lens. Although today's standards would scorn 10 MP, the fact is that there is plenty of detail present; enough for serious cropping or enlarging. This is one of the reasons I encourage people starting out to consider buying older equipment to learn on. It still has plenty of functionality and most digital DSLRs are rated for well over 150,000 actuations. Most people wouldn't take that many pictures during their entire lives. This particular compact camera used a small sensor with RAW capability. An intriguing combination; it performed reasonably well overall.

The function I attended presented ample opportunity to use the camera. I have lots of interesting photos from the event but particularly liked the two photos I took of the young ladies dressed in festive heritage attire. As is my ken, I took two photos of the girls, one with and one without flash. The flash was a built-in unit and was not especially powerful. The light cloud kept harsh shadows off their faces meaning that a stronger flash wasn't required. There was just enough light to make a difference. You can see that the bottom image (with flash) has better colour (more saturation) and less harsh facial features. There is also the presence of slight shadows in the top image around the eyes and under the chin. These detract from the overall appearance and are responsible for the overall harshness.

Turning a flash on when none is required is applying a technique called fill flash. I have done blogs on this before; it is a valuable method of improving photographs with people. There is much more that can be done with an external flash; the built-in one on the compact I was using would not have done much good on a bright, sunny day. The light cloud combined with the fact I could get close to the subjects meant that I could keep the aperture wide open (f/3.5) and the flash could make a significant impact on the image.

Using fill flash is a simple affair. It just means turning it on when taking the picture. Built-in flashes are notoriously underpowered and require a few simple guidelines for success. Use aperture priority and keep the aperture to its minimum value. Use a wide-angle setting. Keep fairly close to the subject. Once you get more than 5 or 6 feet away the effect is seriously affected. I suggest that you take two photos - one with the flash turned off and one with the flash on. Compare them later and see for yourself.

Most cell phones have a flash built into them. I often find that it is an impotent device and is rarely capable of making a dent in an image when fill flash is attempted. The bottom line is to use a proper camera when attempting fill flash, and an external flash (guide number 100 or better) when working in bright sunlight or when your subject is farther away than previously indicated.

I did have fun. And the girls were pretty. And I got some nice photos. It was a glorious day.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen