New Camera Gear: Let there be Speedlite

Pin It My soon to be sister-in-law decided to throw a surprise party for my brother’s 30th birthday this past November.  I knew I wanted to capture the night with my camera, but also knew what I was up against. 

1. A loft apartment with really high dark ceilings
2. An evening event with NO natural light

Which leads me to my newest piece of camera gear:

First of all, I LOVE natural light photography and never use my built in flash.  Never.  I’d rather not take a picture, than to have it all blown out by my flash.  Snob, I know.

So the though of buying a big ol’ flash kind of worried me.  It’s expensive.  Would I like it?  Would I use it? 
Then Jen, another camera toting buddy of mine, kind of sold me on the idea of getting a bounce flash.  After I saw some shots of her girls that  she was able to capture indoors, I was floored.  Indoor shots during the dark Illinois winter months that looked like they were taken on a sunny day. 

Yes, I needed this flash.  And my brother’s surprise birthday party was just the excuse I needed to hit the “purchase” button.

Here are a few shots from the par-tay.

The lighting isn’t perfect, but I think it turned out pretty well for being bounced off of that high loft ceiling.


Of course, I have to show off my mom’s talent again.  She makes the best cakes!

So flash…not so scary after all.  Quite helpful in certain situations actually.   Without it these bday pics would either be in the dark or blown out for direct onboard flash.  I’m looking forward to using it more…especially in the area of fill flash.  Any pointers out there??

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