ABSTRACT
Flash is an extremely useful, if not essential, tool for taming dark shadows that ambient light often creates. Many cameras provide a built-in flash on top of the camera. The flash pops up at the push of a button, and some cameras automatically sense that a flash might be needed. Irrespective of how activated, these often convenient light devices suffer from the flash frailty of little power. Even cameras with built-in pop-up flashes can often benefit from the greater power and increased controllability of the external flash. However, that red-eye can be worsened in dimmer ambient light as the subject's eyes dilate to accommodate the lower light levels. A "dedicated flash cord" makes using flash off-camera both inexpensive and reliable. Within the confines of its length—and some camera systems offer dedicated flash cords in various lengths—have the freedom of pointing the flash this way and that to take advantage of lighting direction, subject shaping, texture enhancing and more.
