My example of the day demonstrates how flash can improve your photography in creative ways. In this image, I shot the lucky cat at a very high shutter speed of 1000/s with a flash to give it a more dramatic effect. The other example was taken just using the available light in the room. I was able to achieve a high shutter speed by using high speed sync. Olympus flashes such as the FL-600R support this feature but they brand it as “Super FP” mode. If you don’t use that mode, you’ll be limited to the native sync speed of the camera that you’re using. In my case, the OM-D E-M1 can max out a 1/320s while most other MTF cameras in their catalog usually cap out a 1/250s.
Shooting in manual mode helps you override the automatic exposure that would normally be selected by the camera, resulting in the more dramatic lighting in the top image. You should avoid shooting in other modes such as A, P, Auto, etc.
Equipment used in this example:
- Olympus OM-D E-M1
- Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens
- Olympus FL-600R flash
