The Flash Book

What to Do When 1/2 Power Is Too Bright

You know how life is—1/4 power is too dark, but then 1/2 power is too bright. Too bad there isn’t some setting in between, right? Actually, there is. This is where the weird part of controlling the brightness (power) of your flash comes in. Between 1/4 and 1/2, there are 1/3 increments (in most flashes anyway). So, you can have your flash set at 1/4 power and turn it up by +1/3 (which means, you’re at 1/4 power, plus you’re 1/3 of the way to 1/2 power). So, what this means is that there are two power settings between 1/4 and 1/2 (and between all the lower power settings, as well). For example, let’s say ...