Event Photography: Flash Photography Problems (and solutions) @MikMilman
Event Photography: Flash Photography Problems (and solutions)  @MikMilman
Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
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A quick note on gear:

I am well into my late photography career. I am at a point where I can and should (for write offs) buy the best gear available to me (for the most part). However there are plenty of alternatives for getting the job done with varying budgets. If you need specific advice on buying gear, feel free to reach out.


In this video I discuss some common issues and problems you are likely to run into as an event photographer.

The first issue you may run into is if your flash is consistently over or under exposing your image when shooting in TTL. It's important to remember that like your camera, when in TTL, your flash is exposing for mid tones. What this means is that when photographing a scene with a lot of bright tones, you will need to compensate in the positive direction. With a scene with a lot of dark tones, you would need to compensate in the negative.

If you don't have anything to bounce your flash off of, you have a few options. Some better than others. First, I recommend you simply defuse your flash so that at the least you are not directly pointing your flash at your subject. This will help, but because your flash is still on axis with your lens, you will end up with flat images. You can remedy this by either using a flash bracket or using a remote trigger to fire off a handheld flash. You could also of course use external flash units but that would be a much more complicated setup. It sure looks cool, though.

If your walls and ceilings are far away I recommend you open up your aperture or raise your ISO.

If your walls are not white, your first option would be to use the ceiling to bounce your flash or use all the off camera flash methods described. But in truth, warm walls can work to your benefit. Worst case, you color correct in post. But in all honesty in situations like this, if doable, I just use available light.

If your flash is not recycling fast enough and you have already raised your ISO or opened up your aperture, check to make sure your batteries are not low. Also consider that you may have a defective flash (like I did). You may also want to consider an upgrade if you're using a budget oriented flash. Another good option would be to use an external battery pack.

If your flash is not firing at all - well there could be a few reasons including flash firing being turned off in your camera menu. But for me, this issue was due to my flash not properly communicating with my camera. This was due to me constantly picking up my camera by the flash, loosening a part of the hots hoe over time.

Lastly, if you can not afford a diffuser, make your own!

That's it for now. I will probably rewrite this to use more better english when I have more time, but thanks for reading!

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#eventphotographyshotlist #howtophtoographanevent
#flashphotography #flashproblem #flashphotographyproblems
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Event Photography: Flash Photography Problems (and solutions)

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