Portrait Photography How To

On-camera flash tends to get a bum rap, especially for portrait photography. But if you want to shoot stunning people pictures at night, unencumbered by flash brackets, light modifiers, or other flash attachments, all you have to do is watch the quick tutorial below.

Andrew Boey is a professional photographer and instructor based in Japan, and in this video you’ll see him demonstrate a simple on-camera flash technique while photographing a model on the city streets at night. The beautiful images he captures speak for themselves.

When using flash at night, it’s important to position your model with some city lights or illuminated signs in the background, otherwise your images will look as though they were shot against a black backdrop. Boey’s other tips include using exposure compensation with both your camera and flash, and the ISO and exposure settings he recommends for optimum results.

After watching this video you may also want to look an indoor portrait tutorial from Boey we posted recently, explaining how to turn a white wall into a dramatic black background without any post processing. You can find more tips and tricks on Boey's YouTube channel.