Things You'll Need:
- Camera with flash
-
Step 1
Locate the manual flash setting on your camera. (Every camera has one.) Look for a little lightning bolt with an arrow on the bottom. That's the button that controls your flash. You may need to turn a dial to put your camera in manual mode before you can manually adjust the flash. Look for an "M" on your camera mode dial (if it doesn't actually say "manual").
-
Step 2
Push the flash control button until you see the lightning bolt with the arrow on the bottom. This tells the camera to flash regardless of the lighting conditions. Don't stop at the lighting bolt with an "A," which signifies the automatic setting. And don't stop at the lightning bolt with a circle and line through it, since that tells the camera not to flash.
-
Step 3
Look for conditions under which a fill flash will improve your pictures. If most of the light is coming from behind your subject or from the side, a fill flash will help. If lighting conditions obscure the faces of your subjects, then a fill flash is essential.
-
Step 4
Understand when to use a fill flash. Any time the focus of your subject is not emphasized by existing lighting conditions, use the fill flash--for example, if someone is wearing a hat and there is a shadow over his face, or you are taking a photo of a person with a sunset behind her. The fill flash will fill in the dark areas without diminishing the existing light.
-
Step 5
Remember that using a fill flash has nothing to do with how bright the light is around you. Often, the best time to use a fill flash is during a bright, sunny day. If the sun is directly overhead, shadows can form around your subject's eyes from the shade of the forehead. This is called "raccooning." A fill flash gets rid of this effect and makes your subjects' eyes stand out.
