Fireman's Parade - Use Flash?

[Miss Kelly]

The local Fireman's Parade is tommorrow. Do I use my built in Flash or No Flash at all? Any other tips?

Thanks!

Kelly

 

[ukcatfan]

Please give us more information on the settings of the parade so we can offer better advice. (i.e. time of day, expected weather, your camera model, etc.)

Kevin

 

[mabas9395]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am going to assume that the parade is at night, which is why you are thinking you need a flash.

So I would say that yes, you will probably need it. However, you shouldn't use it.

If you are watching a parade from the side of a street, most on board camera flashes will not be strong enough to light up much of what is going on in the parade. And if you do have a flash that is strong enough, it will probably be distracting to everyone around you.

So when you get there, if everyone else is using a flash and it doesn't seem to bother anyone, then go ahead, but don't expect much. It can't hurt anything, other than drain your battery faster.

 

[kbnovak]

I add my vote for no flash. Another problem you will encounter if you use flash is the reflective emblems on fire equipment. The flash will bounce very brightly off of those emblems, fooling your camera's meter into underexposing the rest of the image. Your result will be bright emblems/logos and very dark engines.