Here is one cool trick worth knowing about – rear curtain sync. It is not as technical as it sounds. And it has to do with flash (ugh!) But wait, a flash can be used as a creative tool too. A flash occurs in an instant but the shutter stays open for longer. Rear curtain sync makes sure the flash happens towards the end of the interval the shutter stays open. Why would you care about that? Typically, to create an illusion of motion. A still photo challenges the ability of the photographer to induce a sense of motion in the picture. With rear curtain sync, the frame is exposed with available light at a shutter speed slow enough to blur motion, which is then frozen using the flash. So the right mix of available light and flash is the key here. If the shutter speed is too high or aperture too low, the exposure may not capture the parts meant to be exposed by available light and the result will be the usual flash photograph. Also, tripod is a must since the stationary objects must not get blurred due to the slow shutter speed.
I was shooting an indoor party where the ladies happened to play a game of musical chair. This was an ideal situation to try out rear curtain sync. As you can see the ladies going around the circle have a trailing blur – much like the way an artist would depict motion. This is most visible where the motion is lateral to the frame as in this case with the person in magenta dress. When you consider the effect of the trailing blur, think about the streaks you see trailing a running cartoon character. The trailing blur is caused by the extended exposure of the slow shutter speed and this happens in available light. The freeze happens at the very end of the exposure window using the flash. Unfortunately, at that time, I did not have a way to use the tripod, so I had to improvise the best I could to keep the camera steady – I did not have a VR lens on. The exposure was 0.5 sec. at f 3.5 with
SB-700, which I used with a diffuser and pointed at the ceiling. Rear curtain sync is a feature of the camera, not of the flash. All pro SLRs and most high end amateur SLRs would have this setting. People have used rear curtain sync at
weddings, parties, busy night life and so on. So give this a try and see how it works out. You can try it out with a friend into sports or with a street corner at late afternoon when available light is poor and requires slow shutter.
