Bean's Random Ramblings!

Slower shutter speeds also mean more motion blurring in non-stationary objects. So if your subject moves, you get diminishing returns Usually you use aperture to adjust for more light, and shutter speed to frame your scene (faster the shutter, the less motion blur) So you want aperture to allow more light to hit your sensor, and shutter speed to compensate for lower lighting conditions by keeping the sensor exposed for longer. it's a balancing act.

There's a lot of discussion here about exposure compensation techniques, but I don't want to bore you guys with them. The take away here is to remember that if your phone will allow you to adjust aperture (f/stop), use that first to compensate for the amout of light (the lower the number, the more light gets in), and then adjust from there using shutter speed. But also remember that the slower your shutter, the higher the odds of motion blur become. Use your flash to help freeze things at slower shutter speeds.
You make me wish I continued with my digital photography elective. But maybe next year. I would love to hear more about it, it sure doesn't bore me. First off, why does flash have anything to do with it all? I rarely use flash because of the reflection and uneven lighting it gives off.
 
You make me wish I continued with my digital photography elective. But maybe next year. I would love to hear more about it, it sure doesn't bore me. First off, why does flash have anything to do with it all? I rarely use flash because of the reflection and uneven lighting it gives off.
The flash gives an instant bright light into your scene, freezing motion, vs no flash and the sensor needing more time (longer shutter speed) to capture enough light for an image. This is why they get used in lower lighting situations where otherwise long shutter speeds would make the image blurry. The flash allows the sensor to more effectively expose an element of the image at once, so you have a nicely lit subject for a longer exposure image where the rest of it may have movement or other lighting artifacts.

Reflection is definitely an issue with on camera flashes (like on a cell phone), as is washing out an image with too much flash bounce. Usually you have to solve that with 3rd party hardware (a la a paper diffuser or some such), or an off camera flash ( obviously not an option on a cell unless you have bluetooth flash pots)

There are a lot of "but" discussions around flash, shutter speed, how to balance them in what scenarios, and the like. different scenarios call for different uses and there are probably as many theories out there about it as there are grains of sand in the Sahara. Best thing I can say is "experiment, find what works for you, and write it down so you remember next time"
 
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