Ok pop up flash. Not the nicest looking light, but it's portable, you always have it with you, and sometimes it's either use the pop up flash or miss your shot. So how do we make it look Purrrrtier?

Simple, we grab a piece of white, thin computer paper! Stay with me now, I haven't lost my marbles.....yet. ROFL

Here I removed all the reflectors and just worked with the lighting from window. It was too dark so I let the pop up flash do it's thing.

I turned the camera vertical so you could really see the harsh, black shadow behind Pooky better, and the full red eye. *shivers*

Here's where the white, thin piece of computer paper comes in. Hold it in FRONT of your pop up flash. You want it at the very end of your lens but NOT in front of, or even with your lens or you'll get flare or a blob in your pix.

I took a pix in my bathroom mirror of what this looks like, yes it's a two hand job but it works, trust me. This makes the light from your flash larger and softer. (try a shot of your camera with and without the paper at home in your mirror and you'll see the difference) I did not change my white balance setting which is why the pix is so yellow orange.



Ok so what does that computer paper make Pooky look like now? See for yourself.

Yes it's a bit darker (that will vary depending on how your camera is set up, how bright your subject is, and the room lighting), but notice a few things in this shot.

The red eye is seriously reduced (yes I had the red eye reduction set on the flash for BOTH shots), the shadow behind Pooky is much softer which is less annoying, and the lighting shows more of the detail in Pooky's fur.

The computer paper (or white rice paper, or something similar) helps to give you a better light with very little expense or hassle. This will only work on subjects fairly close to you as it does cut the light from your flash some. I didn't have my flash cranked up to full power or these would have looked more dramatic in the differences.

Due to lack of time, and too dim of lighting I was unable to do the shots to show you how a white translucent reflector works. So that lesson will have to wait for another day.

Give me your thoughts on my "reflector lesson" and if you want me to do this for the white translucent one or not.


And for you Josh fan's out there, I did manage to get one pix of him processed just for you guys!!!