One of the most annoying problems facing photographers, digital or otherwise, is lighting. Backlighting in particular can destroy your image. Your camera cannot sense the subtle variations of light and dark like the human eye can. When you are facing into a light source, your camera will most likely produce an image that has the objects in the foreground in shadow, even if you are standing in broad daylight. Just as you tend to squint when looking into bright light, your camera will narrow its aperture which will produce the shadowed objects in the foreground of your image.

How can you work around this? It isn't always possible to return at a later time to take an image. If you are inside, you have some control of your lighting, but if you need to work quickly, there is an easy way to counteract this problem.

Fill-In Flash

Fill-In Flash is a setting on most digital cameras that will produce a short burst or bursts of light as you snap your photograph. This will provide lighting to avoid your objects in the foreground from being shadowed and the colors will appear brighter and more vibrant.

The picture above demonstrates how using a flash can completely change the way your image looks. The first picture shows that the building is very white and the sign is illuminated nicely. The second picture, taken without a flash, produces an image where the building appears grey and the text on the sign is obscured.

Here is an example of an inside shot, one using a flash, and one without.



The first image is bright, and you can see even tiny imperfections in the tea pot's surface. The second picture is shadowed and the hard light source is bouncing off of the teapot's lid. The overall effect is very dark, while the first photo has less shadowing.

Understanding Your Camera

Many digital cameras come with the option of fill-in flash. Others have only the built-in flash that is normally quite close to your lens. This often results in a hard light cast upon your objects and the possibility of red-eye in your human subjects.

If your camera does offer several different types of flash, it is a good idea to experiment with different lighting situations and different flash modes until you have the expected result. If your camera does not supply different types of flash, many manufacturers offer add-on flash equipment that will enable you to use fill-in flash and other types as well.

Here are some common situations where you can benefit from using fill-in flash

• Outside, when your subject is being backlit by the sun or another light source
• Inside, when you can't change the lighting
• If you want to illuminate a certain attribute of your subject, while leaving the rest to a halo or shadowed effect produced by backlighting.
• When you want to make sure that the object in the foreground of your picture is illuminated as much as possible.
• If your subject doesn't want to squint into the sun or light source