To Flash or Not To Flash, That Is The Question
Once in a while, meaning pretty much every day, you are faced with the decision of whether to add flash or not when shooting a news assignment. First of all, any feature assignment, this is not even a question. However, the question in this post is whether using flash will significantly change a news scene in a way that alters the event, or the public perception of an event. Say what? Okay, here is what I mean. In a documentary situation, will the addition of the flash change the scene and misrepresent what you saw?
There are basically two types of news events; staged and breaking news. I don’t have any problem adding light in a staged event. The press conference with Alabama Governor Bob Riley is a prime example. Not only does the addition of flash not hurt the image, it helps. The press conference was dimly lit using conference room light meant to work with AV presentations. Using Nikon digital, this means an inordinate amount of noise so adding a pair of strobes really helps the photos and accurately communicates the event.
On the other side of the coin, there are events where a flash would be extremely intrusive. The candlelight vigil is a perfect example. Adding flash in this event would have significantly changed the character of the event visually and would have really caused a disruption in a somber situation. The kids were holding a candlelight vigil for a classmate killed in an auto accident. Turn the flash off and tolerate the noise in this situation. The last thing you want to do is intrude on the event in any way that causes the friends and family of the deceased to become even more upset.
There are also times when using a flash is just not practical. Pretty much any situation with emergency services after dark and your flash becomes almost useless. The reflective tape on the emergency vehicles and on the firefighter’s turnout gear creates garish highlights and ruins the feeling of the moment. Obviously there are times when using flash at a night fire is unavoidable but I keep it turned off whenever possible.
All photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
I wish you had an RSS feed. Then I would know when you have new articles. I came to your site from Strobist and read that site every day (it has an RSS feed).
I read one article and I’m hooked - I just would love it if it were easier to remember to check.
I just found your blog and it’s a thoughtful delight. Thank you for taking the time, and effort, to share not just your pictures, but parts of your heart with us as well.
Tom
Nice compliments by Strobist!
I was born in Decatur but only lived there two years (Jackson Street). There aren’t very many Bucks in Decatur now but I have lots of Masterson and Sandlin relatives.
Your blog looks good and also interesting — I’ll be reading it for info and for relatives!
We had a Buck family reunion this summer at Rhodes Park. A bright day (actually not too hot for mid-July) but we were in the shade. The differential lighting gave me fits! Wish you had been there!
Gordon
This is very interesting. I’d have to assume I’d do the same - however I’m fairly new to the photojournalism scene and especially so to the flash scene. I’ve never much liked flash shots, but I think that’s because I’ve only had on-body flash experience. Of course freelancing for a local community paper puts me in more dimly lit places than I’d care to venture.
I’ve equipped myself with a canon f/2.8 70-200mm, and canon f/1.8 50mm, but there comes many times where that still isn’t enough. I hope I can learn to balance my usage of the flash and keep it a need to use only basis. Learning the flash will be the first big obstacle I need to overcome, though.
I enjoy your blogs. Thanks for posting them!
Not only are your photos compelling, but you share some important issues regarding photography and ethics with openness that I find refeshing. Thanks for sharing.
I’m a fellow Strobist reader that lives in Madison, AL. Like the site and added it to my photography bookmarks! I’m in IT during the day and play with photography at night. I wouldn’t mind meeting with another Strobist follower in the area. If interested in making any contact, email me
scott (at) nofone . org
Really love this blog, came from strobist. Like the previous commenter said… any way you could set up an RSS feed?
For all you who have asked about the RSS feed, I am pretty new to blogging but it appears to me the site is already configured for this. In the menu bar in Internet Explorer is an RSS icon you can click and subscribe there. For Safari and Firefox there is an RSS icon in the address line. Just click and subscribe that way. If there is still a problem, I will try and figure out how to fix it.
I am an avid reader of a good few photo web sites and I find the best way with RSS is to use a Feed reader as my Home page on my browser. Netvibes opens up each time I start Firefox.
My preference is Netvibes which I use in Firefox. In Netvibes all I have to do is add the url for the site and it looks for the RSS feed for me. I click on Add and that’s it ready to go. Each time there is a new post on the blog I have it there for me on my first tab in Firefox.
I even set up tabs in Netvibes to swap between my area of interest.
BTW the RSS2 feed for this site is quite simple - http://alittlenews.wordpress.com/feed/
There is also an Atom style feed available if you want it.
David
spondicious.com
Congrats on the Strobist name drop!
I’d personally like to hear more stories about photographers who you used to work with that inspired you.