Tip for using flash on camera

grandpaw said:

Many times you might be shooting with your on camera flash whether it is the built in flash or one attached to the hot shoe. There will be times when you need to adjust the power of the flash. I will tell you how to do this the easiest and fastest way so you can turn the power up and down in a few seconds. When you are using the on board flash or a speed-light all you need to do is have the flash on TTL and use modes "M", "A", or "S" and if you find the output of the flash is too high just press the EV + or - button near the shutter button and rotate the thumb wheel on the rear of the camera. You can see the change in the viewfinder, top or rear LCD screens. Doing this will allow you to raise or lower the power of the flash by 5 stops. This comes in very handy if you are using flash and the subject is up close. As always you need to remember to change it back to zero or the normal default position when finished. The picture below was taken with on camera flash at about two feet away and by adjusting the flash the picture was not blown out.

This was taken this morning and is straight out of the camera with zero adjustments except to re-size so I could post it. It was also taken in one shot and the she took off. This was taken of my granddaughter with on board flash


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Jeff, nice picture and good tip!

Pat in NH

Yes, great tip and thanks for sharing!

Thanks Rick and Pat. I know many of you might have known already that your flash can be adjusted from the menu in the camera or with the menus on the flash but I have to believe that there are many people that were unaware of it being able to be done or this method of doing it. This can be helpful on any closeups such as portraits, flowers or macros to add a little fill in flash without blowing out the highlights. It is simple and quick. I might add that this will also work with off camera flash as well.

Any tips to avoid menu surfing is great!

grandpaw said:

Many times you might be shooting with your on camera flash whether it is the built in flash or one attached to the hot shoe. There will be times when you need to adjust the power of the flash. I will tell you how to do this the easiest and fastest way so you can turn the power up and down in a few seconds. When you are using the on board flash or a speed-light all you need to do is have the flash on TTL and use modes "M", "A", or "S" and if you find the output of the flash is too high just press the EV + or - button near the shutter button and rotate the thumb wheel on the rear of the camera. You can see the change in the viewfinder, top or rear LCD screens. Doing this will allow you to raise or lower the power of the flash by 5 stops. This comes in very handy if you are using flash and the subject is up close. As always you need to remember to change it back to zero or the normal default position when finished.
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It should be noted there are other ways too. The +/- button by shutter button is Exposure Compensation, and Nikon defines it as affecting both ambient and flash exposure. If using flash in significant ambient, you will see it affect both ambient and flash. Indoors where it is dark, we may not notice any effect to ambient.

Exceptions: A couple of the newest cameras (D600 and D7100) have a new menu E4 which choose for that Exposure Compensation button to also affect flash or not. Previous models affected both. And on Canon cameras, Exposure Compensation only affects ambient. There are pros and cons both ways.

There is also a Flash Compensation control (typically a small button under the internal flash door button), which is also on some TTL flash bodies. This affects Flash only. It seems more direct and to the point, so good to learn about it too, but it does have less range, only +1 EV.

And on cameras with Commander, there is a Flash Compensation in the Commander menu too (for individual flashes).

And all of these add - and when set in multiple places, including Exposure Compensation, then it always adds to a total overall Flash Compensation. When any of three are set on, the +/- icon is turned on showing, telling you something is set somewhere to something.

The most important bottom line: Flash Compensation is the tool we have to control what TTL automation does. It is about the first thing to know for TTL flash.

Ok with exposure compensation am I right in assuming that this only works in A/S/P modes and not M mode on the camera?

Scott Murray said:

Ok with exposure compensation am I right in assuming that this only works in A/S/P modes and not M mode on the camera?

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Yes, correct. Exposure compensation still affects the visible light meter you see, perhaps affecting how you might zero it in Manual operation, but in Manual mode, it does not affect aperture or shutter speed settings (like it does in A, S, or P modes).

But if you set Auto ISO, it will affect the exposure target goal (and ISO) of Manual too. In Auto ISO, in that way, it can affect manual exposure.

WayneF said:

Yes, correct. Exposure compensation still affects the visible light meter you see, perhaps affecting how you might zero it in Manual operation, but in Manual mode, it does not affect aperture or shutter speed settings (like it does in A, S, or P modes).

But if you set Auto ISO, it will affect the exposure target goal (and ISO) of Manual too. In Auto ISO, in that way, it can affect manual exposure.

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That would be why it hasn't been working LOL

Thanks for the post, @grandpaw! Just ordered my flash today, so the next couple of weeks are going to be spent learning to use it properly. This little tidbit will probably save me a lot of up-front frustration!

What an adorable girl!!!

You said you were only able to get one shot before she took off. How did you meter, or did you simply guess at the amount of underexposure? I've done it this way a few times myself in the past but always guessed at about 1 stop under exposure. Any suggestions on how to quickly determine the amount especially if you are standing pretty close? Thanks for any info!

hark said:

What an adorable girl!!!

You said you were only able to get one shot before she took off. How did you meter, or did you simply guess at the amount of underexposure? I've done it this way a few times myself in the past but always guessed at about 1 stop under exposure. Any suggestions on how to quickly determine the amount especially if you are standing pretty close? Thanks for any info!

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Sometimes your meter can be fooled and needs some help because it is not perfect. Neither are you or me so you will just have to do a little practice. I have done this before and since I was so very close , about 2ft away, I jumped right to minus four and got it pretty close. It might have been a little better at minus 3 1/2 but she didn't stay there long enough for a second shot. This is my granddaughter on Christmas Day.