Flash Know-how
PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 89
S
HOOTINGPORTRAITSAGAINSTTHELIGHT
oftenresultsin eithera shadowysilhouettedsubject,
orwithwashed-out,overexposedbackgrounds,likethe
exampleon theright.Thisis becausethedynamicrange
ofthesceneextendsbeyondthesensor’scapabilities.
Butyoucanuseyourflashgunto ‘fill’theshadowsin the
fo regroundandcreatea morebalancedshot.T
you canpreservehighlightdetailin thebackg
and alsohavea well-exposedsubject.
THREE EASY STEPS TO USE
FILL FLASH OUTDOORS
NEXTISSUE LEARNHOW TO
MASTERBOUNCEFLASH SKILLS
1
DIAL IN YOUR
CAMERA SETTINGS
2
TAKE
A TEST
FRAME
To take complete control of the exposure,
switch your camera’s shooting mode to manual.
If you don’t know the flash sync speed ofyour
camera then check in the menu. This is the
fa stest shooting speed you can use withflash,s
se t your shutter speed to match – it’s likelyto be
1/ 200sec. As it’s not possible to increasethesh
speed, you’ll need to control the exposurewiththeISOandaperturesetting.
To shoot with maximum image quality, settheISOto 100– thiswill also
make your sensor less sensitive to light.Finally,takecontrolof theaperture
- adjust your camera’s f/number until the metering indicator is showing
a balanced exposure. On a bright day this might be around f/11.
Frame up on your
su bject and take
a test shot. Ignore
the light on your
su bject, as you
want to turn your
attention to thesky
and background.
Is there detailin
the highlights,
or are they blown
out? If you need
to make the
background
brighter, dial in
a l ower f/number
like f/8. If you
need to makethe
background darkerstill,then
se lect a higherf/numberlikef/16.
Adjust as needed and takefurther
te st shots until you’re happywith
th e background exposure.It’salso
smart to consult the histogram
at tached to the image to checkth
to nal information – this willshowif
losing any detail in the highlights.Adjustyourexposureso there
ar en’t any tones on the farrightof thehistogram.
3
ADJUST THE
FL ASH POWER
With your camera’s exposureall
se t, the final thing to do is turnon
yo ur flashgun and select manual
mode. Start off by setting thepowe
to 1/16, and with your
flash head pointing
directly at your
subject take a test
shot. Check the
re sults and see
if your subject is
correctly exposed.
If they are too bright
then decrease the
flash power by
selecting a lower
se tting like 1/32.
If you need to add
li ght to your subject,
increase your flash
power to 1/8 andtry
again. It’ll only take
a couple of quick
adjustments to get
th e perfect exposure.
