Digital Camera Flash Units
Digital cameras flash units come in many shapes and sizes. Low end digital cameras include low energy built in flash units. High end digital SLR cameras can support sophisticated external flash units which can provide superior lighting in difficult scenarios. Here are some basic facts about flash units both built in and external.
In the early days of photography, flash units were much different indeed. They once consisted of powder that was lit by an electrical current and then literally "blown up" to produce a flash of light energy. This method was both dangerous for the photographer and difficult to manage as the flash units were not automatically designed to go off at the exact moment as the camera's shutter. The task of ensuring the two went off together rested on the photographer.
Today flash units have eliminated this challenge. An electronic flash tube ensures flash timing is synchronized to the camera. The photographer now gets to concentrate on other aspects of the photo. New digital cameras can even determine on their own if the flash is even needed, set its intensity and other parameters and fire the flash at the precise time the shutter is opened. All of this is automatically done in the background. Should the user want to make their own adjustments, digital cameras also allow the user to manually control the flash, set its intensity and more.
Flash units are separated into two basic categories: Internal built-in flash units or external flash units. Internal flash units are naturally built into the camera. Nearly all digital cameras come with such a unit and permit the user some control over it through the camera's menus and buttons. External flash units are attached to the camera's body through a dedicated slide-in slot or by using an electrical cable. Not all digital cameras can support external flash units. Generally the lower end pocket cameras do not support external flash units while all high end digital SLR cameras will. There can be quite a bit of difference in external flash units. They can have different light energy levels that they can emit and different mechanical characteristics. Some external flash units also include smart sensors to measure ambient light, distance and other optical parameters in order to make the most of the flash effect.
Both automatic and manual flash unit modes are made available on digital cameras. In automatic mode the camera measures ambient light and fires the flash it deems not enough ambient light is present. There can be times the camera will make a mistake in using the flash and will either fire or not fire the flash when the opposite was needed. Keep in mind the importance of setting the flash intensity. Should the flash unit fire too much light energy on objects that are too close to the camera the digital photo will be washed out. If the flash unit fires a small amount of light energy on an object that is farther away from the digital camera the digital photo will then be a too dark.
Your flash unit does come with boundaries. They can not light every object and every scene at every distance from the camera. Know what you camera's flash unit limitations are. Experiment with different setups and determine what the highest light energy it can emit is and at what distance an object can be effectively lit from. This is called the effective flash range. Turn off the flash completely and use a tripod with a longer exposure if the object is out of the effective flash range. Should certain areas of what is considered a well lit scene still be dark, you might find it helpful to use the flash. This is known as fill-in flash and will fill-in the shadowed areas on objects in your photograph.
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