<p>Have you reached the stage where you find your in-camera flash has become more of a hindrance than a help? Too many hard shadows and ghastly highlights can affect all your images when you use the built in flash in the wrong situation, or sometimes in the right situation it can really affect the aesthetics of an otherwise nicely composed image. In the first of this two-part series, I will cover camera mounted flashes and some of the accessories you can use to get the most out of your flash. In the forthcoming October issue, we’ll take a look at setting up a home studio with off camera flash units and accessories.The benefits of a mounted flash unit over a built in flash is like comparing chalk to cheese. <br /><br />The advantages you gain when you start using a mounted flash are well worth the cost you incur when you decide to purchase one. All DSLR’s, apart from the top of the range professional models, come provided with a built in flash. So initially when you start using your DSLR for the first time you may not even be considering a separate flash unit at that point. <br /><br />As your wedding wedding wedding rings Photography Packages skills improve, you will begin to notice discrepancies and small details, which you may not have seen at an earlier stage of your creative development. In many cases, these flaws are down to how you are able to use the available light and the built in flash.<br />The built in (pop-up) flash can only do so much; in most cases it can only have one output intensity (the brightness of the flash) so it is limited in range. Additionally, the flash will always be forward facing which will cause hard background shadows in many situations. Situations where you may require photographing reflective subjects (such as chrome), the flash will appear as a ghastly white spot in the image. <br />In addition, the range is much less than that of a mounted flash(range is how far the flash light travels before it loses strength).<br />When you get more into your wedding wedding wedding rings Photography Packages, naturally you will want to be able to take better pictures. Where better to start than going out and treating yourself to a mountable flash unit! Once you use one for the first time, you will wonder how you ever managed without one.</p> <p>The immediate benefit of a flash unit is that you can move the flash head around and point it in whatever direction you wish. Another benefit is that the flash range can be considerably more than a built in flash and you have the ability to adjust the flash output as well as use it in manual or automatic mode. To find out more about actually using the flash, please read the wedding wedding wedding rings Photography Packages 101 article that I have written in conjunction with this series (after you read this one of course!).<br />Once you have decided to buy a flash unit you should put into consideration how much money you wish to spend. <br /><br />Flash units can be quite expensive, and in some cases, they can be half the price or more of what you originally spent on your camera. Do not go out and buy a flash unit with too much haste because for each make of DSLR, there may be two or three different models to choose from. They usually begin at with a small basic model, which has a few functions such as ETTL (through the lens flash metering) and manual settings. Then there are the more advanced models with greater range and a multitude of functions to suit the professionals and experienced amateur photographers alike.</p>

The Chief Medical Officer recommended in early 2009 that alcohol should have a minimum price per unit. But what would that mean for UK drinkers?
r
rSir Liam Donaldson recommended that the minimum price for a unit of alcohol be raised to 50p, in an effort to try and reduce binge drinking in the UK. His recommendation was rejected by the Government but continues to be used by medical advisors and politicians as one of the answers to a growing social problem.
r
rIf enacted, minimum pricing would mean a 13% bottle of wine containing nine units of alcohol would be sold for a minimum of £4.50. It would also mark the end of supermarket promotions selling large amounts of alcohol at discounted prices.
r
rBars and pubs which currently promote happy hour offers, such as ‘all you can drink for £10′ and ‘women drink for free’ would also be affected. With alcohol having a minimum price of 50p per unit, a pint of beer with 3 units of alcohol would have to be sold for a minimum of £1.50 to comply with the rules.
r
rWhat exactly is a unit?
r
rWith all this debate over alcohol units – we wanted to get to the bottom of what an alcohol unit actually is. When it comes to units, it would be easy to assume that one drink equals one unit, but unfortunately it’s not quite that simple. A unit is 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol. Therefore one unit of alcohol can be found in a 25ml single measure of whisky (ABV 40%), or a third a pint of beer (ABV 5-6%) or half a standard (175ml) glass of red wine (ABV 12%).
r
rThe current guidelines recommend that men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 alcohol units a day and that women should not regularly exceed 2-3 units a day. However, research shows that eight out of 10 people don’t know the correct amount of units that are recommended in Government guidelines. This means that a large majority of drinkers may be exceeding government guidelines and binge drinking regularly, which can have a serious impact on health spa.
r
rSo is minimum pricing far away?
r
rIt is still not clear whether the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendations will ever come in to force and require each unit of alcohol to have a minimum pricing of 50p. Much of The Prime Minister’s reasoning for not taking on board the CMO recommendations was that it would be unfair on the majority of drinkers who drink alcohol in moderation.
r
rA strong media interest in the minimum pricing debate ensures that the UK’s alcohol culture is still a hot topic for discussion.