The Look of Nighttime Fill Flash Photography

This week, the New York Times published an insightful opinion piece titled When Instagram Killed the Tabloid Star. In the article, it recounts how tabloids, through the efforts of paparazzi used to be the typical conveyance of celebrity life. But since celebrities can now easily share their own lives without the unwanted intrusion of an outside third party publisher, the role which tabloids and paparazzi once held in giving us a peek into the lives of celebrities is no longer essential for those waiting at the supermarket checkout line.

Gone are the days of unscrupulous paparazzi taking compromising photos of starlets getting out of their cars. Instead, what we have today are the same starlets sharing revealing photos of themselves on their own social media accounts. And why should they not do that? After all, they get the final editorial say in how their likeness is portrayed in public. No more unflattering photos of themselves plastered all over the gossip columns. Now, they can control the way they are portrayed by sharing only what they deem acceptable.

From the perspective of the celebrities, this is a positive development, given the inherently exploitive intent of the tabloids. That said, this industry changing shift away from opportunistic to staged photos has transformed the look of contemporary photography. I mean, the serendipity of happenstance that was once characteristic of photos taken under unideal shooting conditions has now been replaced by the uniformity of premeditation characteristic of photos taken under ideal shooting conditions with a chance of a do-over.

Fujifilm Superia Venus 800 + Fill Flash @ 28mm Focal Length

How very very boring the world has become with the new same-old same-old. Nowadays, it seems as if every photo is shot in more or less the same cookie cutter way - under ideal light - whether natural or supplemented with logistical preparedness. And even without the sun or studio strobes, high ISO functionality can always be counted-on to extend the brightness of available light in poorly illuminated circumstances to produce picture perfect photos - albeit boring. When every photo is perfect, they all begin to look the same.

What is missing in picture perfect photos is an impression of variance. Editorial oversight of photos taken only when the light is abundant, controlled, or manageable seems rather one sided in presentation - as if the world can only be shown in photograph documented during normal working hours. Invariably, lost in the reshuffle of photo taking norms is the disappearing practice of fill-flash photography once prized by paparazzi for getting the nighttime money shot of starlets behaving badly in the wee small hours of the morning.

Of course, in no way am I condoning the practice of photographing starlets in unflattering and compromising ways during the wee small hours. In our present day era of #MeToo and renewed respect for personal privacy, the days of harassing celebrities like blood sucking mosquitoes for that illicit money shot is long gone - given that the tabloids today are in cahoots with the celebrities themselves in lifting photos directly from their social media accounts. That said, there is this part of me that misses that burst of light in the night.

Frankly, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the high contrast look of nighttime flash photography. For me, the feel of those photos always seem voyeuristic in how that burst of light abruptly interrupts the subject’s space. Essentially, there is always that distinct look of intrusion that permeates the documentation. The drama created by the fill-flash adds to the image capture by giving it an extra layer of narrative complexity. It leads us to believe there is relevance to the photo, given the additional attention of secondary lighting.

When the lens is shot stopped down at lower apertures - being my preference - the background is noticeably simplified. Objects and surfaces off at a distance are all blackened out, except for points of light and reflective materials. Thus when coupled with the burst of light in the foreground, the juxtaposition from the background darkness emphasizes the subject in-frame - much like how a spotlight can cast attention upon a performer on a pitch black stage. With everything else in the dark, the only thing that matters is in the light.

Because the lens is stopped down, hitting tack focus is no longer an issue. This is a departure from the hassle of shooting at maximum aperture, typical of available low light photography. As such, the look of nighttime fill-flash photography tend to have more clarity in subject definition. From head to toe and side to side, all of your subject will be perceptibly in focus, which in my opinion creates an impression of presence. To my eyes, it just makes the subject look more real, especially when the absence of light can often dim reality.

Fujifilm Superia Venus 800 + Fill Flash @ 28mm Focal Length - Background, subject, and on-camera flash are all parallel to one another.

Another advantage of nighttime fill-flash photography is how the bursts of light overpower unsightly shadows under the subject’s brow ridge - what photographers affectionately call raccoon eyes. Generally with low light photography - whether through the employment of high ISO digital imaging devices or the resourceful use of stray light from overhead - the absence of forward facing illumination makes ridding these unsightly shadows undoable. Given that, employing flash photography in low light situations makes good sense.

As a trade-off, you must then deal with increased highlights on the subject’s face. Typically, facial regions that are on a closer focal plane to the burst of light - like the nose and upper cheekbones - do tend to drown out in color. Even so, there is a benefit from the increased highlights on the face. Often times, fill flash can drown out other unsightly details too - like wrinkles, bumps, and ridges on the skin - given an absence of harsh shadows. This produces a more flattering look to the documentation than what is typical of available light.

Of course, an absence of shadow does not mean there is no shadow when firing off an on-camera flash. It can still cast unwanted shadows in the background. However, that can easily be managed with some forethought. If the subject is far from the background, the burst of light from the fill-flash will not be strong enough to cast a shadow. If the subject is close to the background, the shadow casted by the fill-flash can be concealed by the subject, as long as the on-camera flash, the subject, and background are parallel to one another.

Still, it is not all smiles and sunshine with fill-flash, given the inherent limitations of flash synchronization. When shooting a Leica M-mount film camera, the synchronization speed is 1/50s. When shooting any other camera, the synchronization speed is around 1/200s to 1/250s. When shooting a Leica M10, the synchronization speed is 1/180s. Because of that, nighttime fill-flash photography tend to be less animated with the subjects in-frame usually posing motionless or just not moving around much for the sake of avoiding motion blur.

Despite the limitation in shutter speed, I enthusiastically prefer fill-flash photography to high ISO and available light photography for nighttime (and low light) documentation. Overall, I like the manner in which fill-flash puts a spotlight on the subject in adding an extra layer of narrative complexity, elevates clarity in subject definition, and drowns out unsightly details like raccoon eyes and skin imperfection. That said, what I like the most about it is that serendipitous look of happenstance. It can be very cool when the result turns out well.

Obviously, I have seen the light with nighttime fill-flash photography. It is just unfortunate that it has become a lost practice in mainstream photography. After all, when the paparazzi are side-lined because the tabloids are now in cahoots with the celebrities, who else out there would take their place with fill-flash photography in the small wee hours of the morning? Between the convenience of high ISO technology and our mainstream fetish for very fast lenses, the majority of photographers today may very well never touch a flash at all.

Fujifilm Superia Venus 800 + Fill Flash @ 28mm Focal Length - Notice the shadow casted by the fill-flash.

That is just too bad. It just means that most the photos we see these days are shot when the light is abundant, controlled, or manageable - usually during working hours. How very boring! But, at least they will all be picture perfect.

PS - What I mean by the serendipity of happenstance is that you never really know how the introduction of fill-flash would affect the overall image capture.

All images have been digitized on a Pakon F135, automatically cropped from full negative during the scanning process, and fine tuned very slightly in Adobe Lightroom.