“Drag the Shutter” to See More Background

SCOTT KELBY

There are four big secrets the pros use to get beautiful quality light (and professional-looking images) from their dedicated flash units. One, you’ve already learned, is getting the flash off the camera so you can create directional light. The second is to set up your flash so it blends in with the available light already in the room, so the background behind your subjects looks natural. Without using this technique, you’ll get what everybody else gets—the background behind your subjects turns black, they look harsh, and the shot will look pretty awful, which is why most people hate flash shots. The technique is called “dragging the shutter,” and what you’re doing is slowing down your camera’s shutter speed so it allows in the existing light, then your flash fires to light your subject. Although this sounds complicated, it’s incredibly simple. First, set your camera to shoot in program mode. Then, aim at your subject and hold the shutter button down halfway so your camera takes a meter reading of the scene. Look in your viewfinder and see the f-stop and shutter speed your camera chose to properly expose your subject, and remember those two numbers. Now, switch to manual mode and dial in those same two numbers. If the camera showed a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second, to drag the shutter you’d need to use a slower shutter speed, right? So try lowering the shutter speed to 1/15 of a second and take the shot. Don’t worry—your subject won’t be blurry, because when the flash fires it will freeze your subject. You’ll be amazed at what just lowering the shutter speed like this will do to the quality of your flash photos.