Flash Photography, Explained
What Direct Flash Does to a Photo
Direct on-camera flash produces a hard, frontal light with a fast falloff. It freezes motion, flattens the face, brightens the foreground sharply, and lets the background drop into darkness.
Hard shadows, right behind the subject
Because the light comes from the lens axis, shadows fall directly behind the person and a hard outline can appear on a nearby wall.
Bright subject, dark background
Flash falls off fast with distance, so a person two metres away is well lit while the street ten metres back goes nearly black. That contrast is the paparazzi signature.
Flattened features
Frontal light removes the shadows that give a face depth, which is why flash portraits can look a little stark — and why the look reads as 'caught', not 'posed'.
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