Photography Challenge: Only Shoot with a Flash

Photography is only fun when we challenge ourselves and push ourselves outside of our comfort zone. Here is a fun challenge in photography: experiment by shooting all of your photos with a flash for a week.

Why flash?

Shooting with a flash is fun, becauss you don’t know with precision what your photos will look like! Shooting with a flash adds more randomness to the results of your photos, which are fun!

Furthermore, flash adds a nice aesthetic to your photos, especially if you’re shooting monochrome. Today I shot all the photos on the Fujifilm XF10 with flash, and I had a ton of fun! Generally speaking, photos shot with a flash look more interesting than photos without a flash.

Also the benefit of shooting with a flash: you darken the background. This gives you stronger “figure to ground” in your photos. In short, shooting with a flash helps simplify your photos.

Use a camera with an integrated flash

Generally speaking, I recommend using a small compact camera with integrated flash, like RICOH GR II, FUJI XF10, or the Fujifilm x100 camera. Or if you have a camera with a small external flash, use it. Or even shoot with your phone and flash.

Give yourself the creative rule of shooting all of your photos with a flash. No looking at the photos until you get home.

When you review your photos at home, process them in an aesthetic which looks beautiful to you. If you shoot raw and use Lightroom, try out ERIC KIM PRESETS. Or if you’re using a mobile device or iPad, use VSCO.

It is fun to process photos shot with a flash, especially RAW files which have a ton of fidelity and detail in them.

Have fun, and see what kind of stellar and refulgent photos you can make with a flash!

Shoot bright!

ERIC