Hello possums and welcome to the greatest show on Earth. My assistant Jack will now help me demonstrate just how powerful the flash is on point and shoot cameras and the pop-up flash on SLRs.
Jack sat still while I moved backwards 39 inches after every photo. Why 39? Because the free paper tape measure I got at IKEA measured 39 inches.
No editing was made to these photos. I didn’t make use of the zoom lens on my Canon PowerShot SX100 IS in order to give you a better idea of what the results truly are and how you might be fooled by villains.
Let us begin at Town Square Exposition Hall in Magic Kingdom.
39″ or 3’3″ is the distance between Jack Spence and I. Isn’t he cute? You really don’t want to be any closer than 3 feet. In most cases that’ll cause the person to look ghostly especially if you can’t control how much light the flash puts out.
78″ or 6’6″ separates my camera from Jack’s chin. Between 5 and 6 feet is the ideal distance you want between photographer and victim, uh, I mean loved one.
116″ or 9’9″ of space. He’s looking more yellowy-red because the flash isn’t overpowering the room’s lightbulbs. The flash is falling off.
Back in St. Olaf, Jack Spencerhugle sat in TV cutout trying to fool dog knappers into thinking he was actually a show. But little did they know he was really modeling for a photography blog demonstrating how far a camera flash reaches. At that moment he was a whole 149 inches away from the camera! That’s 13 feet! Too far for a properly lit image.
Last but not least, a whopping 16 feet and 3 inches. While Cruella, the henchmen, and the dogs still look good, Jack is hard to see. That’s because the cutouts and paint are reflective and Jack isn’t.
Now you know and knowing is half the battle. This message will self-destruct.
I wrote this blog while listening to my cat yell at me.
You’ll find AllEars team member Jack Spence’s literary works here. Thanks Jack!
The last pic of Jack, reminds me of an old tv my grandparents had where everything looked VERY far away. Apparently this was the ideal picture for my late Grandad. I don’t really know what he would make of HD….
Lisa responds: I don’t know either. LOL The color is totally off on my grandparents’ TV.
Poor Jack! What a good sport! Thanks for the fun lesson, Lisa.
If there are things nearby that will reflect a lot of the light from the flash, is there anything to do about it, or do I just have to figure out how to get the shot without using the flash?
Lisa responds: Most of the time if you can change the angle in which you’re taking the photo you can cut way back on glare. If you’re using a SLR, use a circular polarizing filter and that’ll do the trick.
Yes, Jack’s been good about posing for me. There’s another blog starring him in the future, too.