Flash Photography

Maile Sellers

Mr. Sandoval

Photography Period 2

2 November 2011

Flash Photography

            Flash photography is a type of photography that produces a flash of artificial light. It is used to make a picture brighter when if you take it in a dark area or if you are taking a picture of a quick moving object. The word flash in flash photography usually is talking about the flash of the light or the electronic flash unit. Old cameras would have a single use flashbulb and flammable powder, but now cameras an electronic and have built in flashes. Some have separate flashes that you can attach to the camera or professionals have large separate cameras that a completely separate. The earliest flashes had a large amount of flash powder in them and had to be ignited manually. Later the powder was put in a flashbulb and was easier to ignite but I could only be used once. In late 1960’s, Kodak made a flashcube. They would let you take four images in a row. Next was the magicubes. These didn’t need powder and were more advanced. Finally was flipflash. These flashes would flip and reuse. There are also some draw backs when it comes to flash photography. For example, if you have your flash to harsh you will get many shadows in your picture. Also, if you are too far away the flash won’t work as well and your picture will come out dark and murky. Flash photography is used in so many great ways and has help advance the photography industry very much.