Improve background lighting with slower shutter speed

There are many secrets the professional photographers apply to shoot beautiful quality light and pro-looking images with their dedicated flash units.

First is create directional light by using remote flash. The second is to make sure the flash blends in with the available light already in the room, so the background behind the subjects looks natural. Without using this technique, the background behind the subjects turns black. As a result they look harsh and the shot will look pretty awful, which is why most beginners hate flash shots.

To blend the background, you need to slow down the camera's shutter speed so that it allows in the existing light, then arm the flash to light the subject. This technique is called 'dragging the shutter':

1. Set up your camera to shoot in program mode.
2. Aim at the subject and hold the shutter button down half way so your camera takes a meter reading of the scene
3. Look in the camera's view finder and see the f-stop and shutter speed your camera select to properly expose the subject. Remember the figures.
4. switch to manual mode and dial in the same two numbers.
5. If the shutter speed selected by the camera was 1/60 of a second, then drag the shutter speed to about 4 times slower, which is 1/15 of a second.
6. Take the shot and compare the two photos.

You may be worried that the subject will be blurry. However, because the flash fires it will freeze the subject. Compare the photos taken with the different settings and you'll realise that quality of the technique you just learnt.

Techniques of using cameras flashes