(This post is from an email conversation with two friends. I thought the content might be useful for others.)

Q:  How can I cause flash pictures to not look so much like they were taken with a flash?

A:  Up until I got the D70 I never used a zoom lens. I tried to get a series of lenses that roughly doubled the focal length from lens to lens.  My normal kit was a 20/2.8, 35/2, and 85/1.8 (like a 14, 24, and 55 on DX). When I needed telephoto, I carried the 180/2.8 and 300/4. With that kit, I generally had a lens that was close to right and moved around or cropped. But I was carrying a lot of lenses and had to change lenses all the time. (That doesn’t even include carrying multiple bodies so I could shoot color and b&w.)

Back then zooms had visibly inferior image quality. And they were slow. I really got used to having sharp, fast glass.

But I’ve gotten lazy. These days, I hardly ever shoot with primes except the 300/2.8. It’s great to just carry one lens, the 18-200, and have the right focal length for nearly anything. In my mind, the one big negative about the 18-200 is that it is f/4.8 or slower for most of its range. And it’s not because that makes me use slower shutter speeds, but just because it affects the look of the shots. When I’m shooting with a fast lens, like the 50/1.8 or 85/1.8, I’ll usually be shooting at f/2 or f/2.8 and very seldom smaller than f/5.6. The 18-200 starts at f/4.8 at 50mm and to be honest I shoot it at f/8 when I can to maximize the sharpness. If it were just about brightness, I would just get a new D300 or D3 and jack up the ISO a couple of stops to make up for the slower lens.

I just like the look of a sharp lens shot around f/2 or f/2.8 with great out of focus blurs in the background. You can’t get that from a slow zoom. But you can get it from lenses like the 14-24/2.8, 17-35/2.8, 24-70/2.8, 70-200/2.8, and 200-400/4.

What I’ve seen from my 70-200 so far makes me think I will never use my 180/2.8 lens again, even though that’s one of the great Nikon lenses of all time (http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html).

So I think my opinion has changed now that there are some truly excellent quality, reasonably fast (f/2.8) lenses available. I don’t see any special virtue in primes, so if a zoom is as sharp, fast enough (and sharp wide open), attainable, and luggable, then I think it’s an easy decision to go with the zoom.

Well, maybe there is some virtue in primes:  they are less expensive; they are smaller and lighter; they force you to think more about composition and shooting distance.

My perfect kit would definitely include the 14-24/2.8 and 70-200/2.8. Possibly the 24-70/2.8, but I’m not real thrilled about the limited range on that one. And then a very fast prime or two in there, like maybe the 50/1.4 or the 85/1.4. But I would also keep the 18-200 for the times I don’t want to lug all that other stuff around.

And relating this all back to the original question, a fast lens gives you all sorts of flexibility when it comes to flash photography. As Jim mentioned, there are two things you can do to extend the range of your flash:  open up to a wider aperture and / or increase the ISO. But in normal settings like you are shooting at church, both of those options can also reduce the need for flash or at least how apparent the flash is.

Whenever I use flash, my goal is to make it look like I didn’t use a flash. There are two main ways to get there:  diffusion / bounce, and balancing with available light. Both techniques will reduce or eliminate the tell–tale shadows. Sometimes due to distance or, more often high or colored ceilings, I can’t bounce or diffuse the flash effectively (I haven’t figured out Jim’s 45 degree method yet), so then I will do what I can to raise my ISO and shoot wider apertures so that I can get my exposure to within one or at most two stops of what I would use w/o flash. Then the flash will help stop the action and keep the color balance, but the shadows won’t be horrible and there won’t be the possibility of the people in front being blown out while those in the back are too dark. The shot at the top is an example.

BTW, your camera meter tells you how close the ambient light is to your flash exposure. With the flash turned on and exposure set, look at the “analog” exposure indicator and see how much to the right (-) the exposure shows. I try to keep that to between one and two stops.