Camera Flashes for Your DSLR

You’ve probably been busy mastering your outdoor photography skills all summer. Taking photos of vivid sunsets and the kids playing on the beach under the glowing light of the sun don’t usually require the use of a flash. With the arrival of fall, you will be working under less favorable lighting conditions outdoors, or you’ll be taking your camera indoors for your photoshoots. In these instances, you are most likely going to have to rely on some flash photography to capture quality images. Check your calendar. You have just enough time to master your flash photography skills before you gather everyone up for those holiday parties.

How Will You Use the Flash?
The first thing you need to know when searching for a camera flash for your DSLR is what you’ll need the flash to do? An external DSLR flash can come in handy for more than just aiming straight ahead and taking photos in low light. However, if this is your main objective, or if you are a novice photographer, then you may want to opt for an inexpensive flash model like the Sakar Digital Concepts TTL Flash from Beachcamera.com. Are you a wedding photographer searching for a flash to use for bounce flash to add natural shading tones to improve your images? This will require a flash, like the Canon Speedlite EL-5 External Flash. It has a head that tilts and swivels so you can aim the DSLR flash towards the ceiling or white wall to create the bounce flash. If you do a lot of macro photography work, you’ll be interested in a DSLR flash that uses an off-camera remote to trigger the flash without causing camera shake. 

Depending on how comfortable you are with your camera skills, you’ll also have to decide which type of flash to choose. If you are a beginning photographer, you’ll most likely want to stick to a type of automatic flash, or TTL. A TTL flash will communicate with your camera and choose the amount of light needed for the image. Once you become more at ease, you can also use a TTL in full manual mode if you so choose. The second type of flash is the manual flash. As the name indicates, a manual flash is directed manually by you, the photographer.  These flashes are cheaper than a TTL flash.


When searching for a flash for your DSLR, it basically comes down to what you are comfortable with as a photographer and how you will be using it.