I’ve been shooting with my Canon Digital Rebel XTi for over 5 months now and I’m really happy with it. The only thing I really don’t like is its built-in flash.
All cameras with a built-in flash suffer to some degree simply because they are mounted on the camera body so close to the lens. This causes shadows to often appear in the background behind the subject. The built-in flash also causes harsh glare or reflections on the subject (especially oily faces) because you can’t adjust the brightness of the flash. It is on or off.
For these past months I’ve been getting around the need for a flash by shooting at higher ISOs and with a tripod. With our upcoming trip to Africa I figured I’d need a good flash for two reasons:
- I’ll be shooting indoors at the hospital with fluorescent lights
- I’ll be shooting indoors at African churches and homes and will have very low light
- West Africans are often hard to photograph without a flash because their skin is so dark. Often you overexpose the background trying to get all their facial features in the shot. When you use a built-in flash you often get the shiny glare on individuals’ cheeks and foreheads
The flash (Canon Speedlite 430ex) and diffusers (basic rectangular one and a large Gary Fong LightSphere) cost me a pretty penny but I’m considering it a good “investment.” Yeah, I know, “investment” is just an excuse for better toys. Here are some of my first photos with the flash. All were taken in poor lighting conditions and you wouldn’t guess a flash was used.
 |
 |
 |
