What is Pre-Flashing Paper in Photography?
- Martin Vanners
- Jun 10, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 31, 2025
(and what are the benefits?)
As you have probably noticed, Harman Direct Positive paper is very, very contrasty. Highlights tend to blow out fairly quickly and, depending on the scene you're capturing, metering for those highlights can result in (very) underexposed shadow parts of your final result.
The solution? PRE-FLASHING!
Pre-flashing your (Harman Direct Positive) paper will increase the tonal range of the paper a lot, meaning you will end up with a photo that shows much more detail in both the highlights as well as the shadows. As a bonus, pre-flashed paper allows for much shorter exposure times, which can be desirable in some cases.
How does it work?
The Pinsta Pro has a diffuser spot on the shutter disc - a milky white circle with a black dot in the center of it. All you have to do is place the diffuser spot over the pinhole, put a torch over it (making sure the torch is centered over the diffuser spot) and turn it on for the desired amount of time. To stop the pre-flash, simply turn off the torch and turn the shutter disc to the closed position. You're now ready to compose and expose your shot.
Will any torch work?
We've tested many different torches and reached by far the best results with a small, 1,000 lumen LED torch (see video above).
How long do I have to pre-flash with the torch?
As with anything (pinhole) photography, there are no rules :^). Experimenting with different pre-flashing- and exposure times, is a lot of fun and you may come across surprisingly amazing results in the process! We've been experimenting a lot and came to these estimates:
For 4x5" Harman Direct Positive paper:
Pre-flashing for 10 seconds, cuts your exposure time by 30%
Pre-flashing for 20 seconds, cuts your exposure time by 50%
Pre-flashing for 30 seconds, cuts your exposure time by a whopping 75%
For preflashing 8x10" Harman Direct Positive paper through the diffuser spot: multiply the pre-flashing time times 4 to get the same decrease in exposure times.
Two examples of 30 second pre-flashed results, all <1 minute exposures. Captured by Martin Vanners
Happy pre-flashing! Please remember to tag us when you post your beautiful Pinsta art on social media! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us.
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