Pop up flash technique?

I was watching politics and saw a photographer shooting towards the stage with the pop up flash. The strange thing about it is he was using his fingers of his left hand to cover and uncover the flash. This seemed like a interesting technique, but I am unsure what he was trying to achieve.

Now I'm guessing he was trying to get fill-in flash, but I don't know if the flash was hot, or he needed to cover a sensor to get it to flash, or maybe his flash was broke and he was trying to stop the flash. I couldn't tell if he was shooting or just trying to, but was wondering if any of you might know what he was up to?

It is my curious nature!lol

Good question.
Do our Nikons vary flash intensity according to focus distance?

I used to do this for close-up shots with my pocket camera, pretty much with unsatisfactory results.

I'm sure I once knew rather the Nikon's I've had variable intensity flash, but I have forgotten since I use my sb-800 flashes when I need a flash. And even then I believe I let the camera adjust it using the hot shoe.

RobV said:

Good question.
Do our Nikons vary flash intensity according to focus distance?

I used to do this for close-up shots with my pocket camera, pretty much with unsatisfactory results.

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If I had an external flash, I would buy a diffuser at the same time.

I haven't seen one for the pop-ups.

I have done it with my D5300 on a few occasions only with my hand, not just my finger. Why? I had an off camera flash that could be optically fired and I did not want the pop up flash to impact the photo, only to fire the off camera flash. That was with the pop up flash set to a very low (negative) flash compensation setting.

Other times I have covered the pop up flash to eliminate the harsh dead on flash of the photo. Think bounce flash. I have also put foil or paper in front of the pop up flash to get a less harsh result.

I don't have any real conclusions as to how well any of it worked, because I was basically playing and didn't spend too much time to perfect my technique. Ha!

Yeah, I just read about Flash Compensation in my Reference Guide.

Thanks my friends for satisfying my curiosity!

I have bought several defusers, and I have my macro defuser my buddy Scott made for me!

I have this question that is not exactly similar but not to start a new thread, I thought I just continue here. With today's camera capable of very high ISO under low light condition, except for studio or macro or special photography, do you still need flash especially for travel photography?

Bukitimah said:

I have this question that is not exactly similar but not to start a new thread, I thought I just continue here. With today's camera capable of very high ISO under low light condition, except for studio or macro or special photography, do you still need flash especially for travel photography?

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Taking more shots without a flash are possible now with the latest camera technology, however... there are still circumstances where it can be essential. Even in bright light. A few examples: moving subjects in low light would be blurred without the effect of a flash to stop the motion, brightly back lit subject where the background would be blown out to get the subject bright enough to see, but with a flash to enhance (fill flash) the subject and background could be properly exposed together. There are many other instances too and one of which is that the lower the ISO (even with the newer technology) the less noise to deal with. Flash is just another tool in you box for when it is needed.

I read a book not too long ago that had a title something like, One flash or something like that. It had lots of tips on effectively using the built in flash on the camera. I will post the title and author if I can find it. I think it was an eBook, but I didn't write it down, so my memory isn't any good. Ha!

The book I was referring to is: "Just One Flash" by Rod Deutschmann.

Yes, I fully agree that there will be situations that would require the use of flash. The tripod seems to be something we need more. How do you guys overcome this if you don't want to carry a bulky tripod during your trip?

Bukitimah said:

... The tripod seems to be something we need more. How do you guys overcome this if you don't want to carry a bulky tripod during your trip?

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Using a mono-pod might be a possible solution but the fact is, when you need a tripod, you need a tripod. Some things can't be avoided.