Flash Photography

Sierra O’Connor

Period 2

Mr. Sandoval

11/2/11

Flash Photography

A flash is a device in photography that produces a flash of artificial light which is 1/1000 to 1/200 of a second.  A major purpose of flash is to illuminate a dark scene. A flash refers to a flash of light itself or to the electronic flash unit. Most flash units are electronic.  Flash units are built directly into the camera. Modern cameras often activate flash units automatically. Flashes may be large, standalone units, or studio strobes. In the 1960’s Kodak improved their instamatic camera line by replacing the individual flashbulb with the flashcube.  Flashcubes had four electrically fired flashbulbs with an integral reflector in a cube shaped arrangement that allowed the camera to take four images in a row. The later Magic cube retained the four-bulb format, and was similar to the original Flashcube. The Flip flash included ten or so bulbs in a single unit. The intensity of an electronic flash can be adjusted on some units. The small flash units vary the length of time of the discharge, and the large units typically charge the capacitor less. Electronic flash units have compatibility issues with focal plane shutters. Focal plane shutters expose using two curtains that cross the sensor, the first one opens and the second curtain follows it. A regular modern focal plane shutter takes about 1/200s to cross the sensor.