This colorful character was participating in New York’s annual Halloween parade. Because the parade is held at night, I employed TTL flash on camera—the only practical way to shoot this. The Shutter Priority exposure was set for slow-sync, so a tiny bit of blur is visible, which seems suitable to a painting.

    Indoor lighting tends to fall off dramatically, no matter how soft it is to begin with, creating harsh contrasts. Reflective walls are rarely close enough to serve as fill. Relatively low indoor light levels, without the benefit of flash, may mandate the use of a tripod, or a lens or camera with image stabilization. Otherwise, camera shake may intrude on the shot. But that still doesn’t address contrast. A fill source would be needed, the easiest, of course, being flash.
    If you start with window light, sheer white curtains can help to soften the light further and may even help prevent blowing out the windows in the photograph. Turning on nearby lights can have unpredictable results. A warm bulb might add a nice touch, but a cool fluorescent will likely ruin a romantic feel.
    While we often turn to flash at parties and family get-togethers, routinely calling upon the services of the built-in flash, this should be a last resort. The built-in flash is slow to recycle, which interferes with spontaneity, and it produces red-eye—no one likes that—along with harsh shadows. Bounce flash is perhaps the simplest work-around, provided you have white surfaces nearby, adding a kicker panel for catchlights. Of course, if you’re photographing a Halloween party, then redeye and lifeless eyes might be a scream.
    The only practical way to tackle nighttime photography of festive occasions is with flash, to freeze the movement. You could also play around with slow-sync flash to add a little more sparkle to the party atmosphere. It works especially well with dancers, particularly when you employ second-curtain sync. For me, the obvious choice, especially at a parade, is a robust shoemount flash, which has enough oomph to reach people on the other side of the street, with fast recycling to boot, since you never know where or when that next interesting character will be coming from.
    Outdoors, considerable light is lost to the black void of night. With autosensor flash, you would have to increase the exposure 1/2 to 1 stop or more, depending on distance and subject reflectance. TTL flash is designed to provide more reliable results under these conditions, but when shooting digital, keep an eye on the LCD playback for signs that things aren’t going as they should—and be prepared to make adjustments. I’ve found that Program mode, which on my camera selects a slower flash sync setting when needed, works best.

A professional photographer himself, John Neubart has been writing about all aspect of photography for more than twenty-five years. He is the author of Amphoto's Studio Lighting Solutions, among other books, and his popular column, "Technically Speaking," appears regularly in Photo District News. His book is available from Watson-Guptill Publications as well as other retailers.