Improving your on camera flash

I thought when I built my house that having one wall that was mostly windows would add lots of light…and it does…in the middle of the afternoon. But I want to take photos throughout the day, so I end up using my flash…A LOT.  I know there are all those fabulous natural light photos, and I have some of those.  I know there are tricks for adding more light to your photo situation (like a fixed 50mm lens & upping the ISO).  I use both of those tricks as well, but the reality is, with a busy 2 year old, sometimes I need a flash.

Last week I was perusing my blog reader when I ran across this article on improving your on camera flash.  My favorite part of Sarah’s suggestion was that it doesn’t involve any fancy or expensive equipment…just a simple piece of white paper and a little piece of tape.  In a nutshell, Sarah recommends you roll a piece of paper into a tube and place that over your camera flash.  The diffused light will give you a much more “normal” looking photo.  Here’s Sarah’s tube rolled up:

She shows a with/without comparison in her tutorial.  We decided to give it a try.

Here’s Fonetta’s “with” photo using Techno Love Bundle, In Harmony, & Love My Fans Alpha:

Here’s her “without” photo:

Here’s Ronnie’s “with” photo using Tutu Cute:

And here’s her “without” photo:

Jami reminded us that sometimes even when outside we need to use the flash.  Here’s her “with flash” photo using Let’s Camp S’more:

And here’s her “no flash” photo:

Our consensus is DO IT!  It’s not very difficult, not expensive, and we loved the results.