How to get good results with the built-in popup flash?

Question

How can I take good pictures using the built-in popup flash of my camera?

Usually I try to use available light only but sometimes there's just isn't enough light for proper exposure (at a reasonable shutter speed).

I know about all the drawbacks of the popup flash, I know it's hard to take good pictures with it — but it's all I have at the moment.

Please don't tell me to just get an external flash (I know, but don't have the budget at the moment). My camera is a Canon 550D (Rebel X2i in the US) if it makes any difference.

Answer 1

The problem with the pop-up flash is that it's a small, directional point of light, aiming directly at the subject. This gives harsh shadows behind the subject and makes the photo generally unflattering.

There's a number of things that you can do to make this better:

1. Make the point of light larger. The professionals often use massive softboxes - large uniformly illuminated boxes of light which give very soft shadows which are very flattering. You can make your source of light slightly larger by buying or making a diffuser - something that sits in front of your flash and diffuses the small point into a larger point of light.
2. Bounce the flash off the ceiling. This is like turning the ceiling into a massive softbox. You can achieve this by putting a small piece of white card at a 45 degree angle in front of the flash. Experiment until you get the best results.
3. Use a longer exposure to balance the flash and the ambient light. Try putting the camera on a tripod or stable surface and allowing a long exposure as well as the flash. This is good for capturing a specific moment but allowing the background light to fill in the dark shadows that you would get otherwise. This is often set up as an automatic scene mode called "Night Portrait" or something similar.

Answer 2

Actually, by experimenting you can get some decent results. I personally use different kinds of paper as diffusers. I have even used credit card vouchers in a hurry.

Unfortunately, my native language is Spanish so it's hard for me to say the correct names of the papers I've used but I can tell you that translucent papers are the best. Other solutions may come from some objects otherwise known as garbage, for example, I once experimented with the "lens" that had come off a car lamp during a crash. Also a bike reflector can do (removing the dark plastic backing).

A few considerations: The flash radiates light in some sort of a cone. Your improvised diffuser should be as big as to intercept completely this cone, and you should hold it as far from the flash lamp as possible, but never further than the front of the lens. If your diffuser does not cover completely the flash's light cone, you will get it's shadow projected in the background, and if you put it further than the front of the lens, the light from the flash will bounce directly into the lens ruining your picture (Unless any of these are your intended results, creativity after all...)

The bigger the "diffuser" the more it will soften the light. Maybe you can make some sort of diffuser mount out of cardboard paper, clips, adhesive tape, etc... so you keep your both hands free to operate the camera.

But after all, remember, the built-in flash has more limited power, and any diffuser you use will dim the light. Do not expect to get professional looking pictures, but they can definitely improve. Experiment until you get decent results, and do not limit your creativity, you can use diverse materials, even colored ones, papers, plastics, cellphone silicone covers, etc. But take into account the previous advice, do not spend money in any of these! Recycle! Use any material you come across for free! And please, no not stick or glue anything to your camera, but if you feel you need to, use only adhesive tape like masking tape and remove it as soon as you can.

Also consider a small mirror like the ones in makeup kits, or aluminum foil to redirect the flash and bounce it in the ceiling or a wall.

Some situations I've had an advantage from this: 1) Once in a darkly lit restaurant and having only my Point&Shoot, I was able to take a better picture by using a credit card voucher to avoid burned areas in the noses and foreheads. 2) I had forgotten to recharge my external flash batteries, so they where dead, I had no tripod but wanted to take a picture outdoors at night. With a little piece of paper I did the trick.

Answer 3

Flash photography can be among the more complex photography, and part of this is due to the smarts on-board the camera, known as ETTL in the Canon world. Do yourself a tremendous favor and read thru the fantastic bible of EOS Flash photography on Photonotes.org:

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index.html

If you use your on-board, flip up flash, you have no choice in using ETTL, so you need to understand how it is impacting your choices of camera mode setting and what the camera does in each setting. Experimentation is key in learning this.

If there is plenty of light to expose the image properly, choosing Tv or Av will ask the flash to work as a fill, and the camera will set the shutter speed and/or aperture based on the ambient. If ambient is too low, the camera will chose the settings that match ambient, meaning it will likely be poor settings for hand holding or capturing moving people (like f4, 1/15 sec).

In this case, you can always move to Manual, set the shutter speed below 1/250, and choose your aperture, thus forcing the camera to decide for itself how to power the flash. This often results in odd flash results, which you can then control by using FEC or Flash Exposure Compensation. Look in the Flash Control section of the Camera Menu. This setting allows you to reduce or increase the power of the flash, thus balancing things out.

But, if you just want a reasonable image with on-board flash, try out the 'P' mode, as it generally does a fairly nice job for the run of the mill photos where you dont' want to think about it.

Answer 4

There's more than one potential problem with a built-in flash; the location of the light is just one of them. It's also important to be aware of the power and range of this flash -- especially if you start playing around with diffusing it or bouncing it, as this will impact its range.

Short of getting an external flash (which you'll definitely want to keep on your wish-list), you should also look at how you can affect your shots by using the flash exposure compensation control on your camera to increase or decrease the flash amount, relative to the metered setting. You'll definitely want to be familiar with this control if you start bouncing or diffusing the built-in flash, because the camera doesn't know that you're altering the flash in this way, and thus, is likely to get the flash intensity wrong unless you give it a little help.

BTW, if you let us know what sort of problems, specifically, you've seen with the built-in flash, we can target our answers a little more specifically, too.

Answer 5

You can build a "light shovel" with cardboard, aluminum foil and duct tape to redirect and soften the flash. The flash bounces off of a small mirror, travels through the shovel to a larger mirror, and out toward your subject. Here are instructions to build one along with a picture of the light shovel, and links to some sample photos. Very clever.