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Off-camera flash vs. available light

April 25, 2013 Neil vN 16 Comments

Off-camera flash vs. available light

With this background, I liked the way the dots were repeated in Olena‘s dress in reverse – white dots on black, instead of black dots / holds on silver. I liked the repetition, and decided to work with the composition of this photograph a bit.  For the final sequence of images – of which the image at the top is one – I asked Olena to really exaggerate the curve of her body to create an S-shaped, which in turn contrasted boldly with the rigid pattern of the background.

This article’s original title was going to be:  Off-camera flash vs the snobbery of “available light is always better”. When you look at the available light photo of Olena, you’ll see that the available light was pretty sweet – soft and flattering. But it lacked punch. It needed just that little bit of drama to it. The available light shot just looked a touch too bland. Off-camera lighting to the rescue!

I had the flash in a soft box to create flattering, yet dynamic light on her. I wanted her shadow to be more defined and become part of the composition, but that would’ve meant a harder light source. Holding the Lastolite EZYBOX 24×24″ softbox (affiliate) fairly close to her was the compromise. This way her shadow added a subtle element to the composition.

 

camera settings: 1/200 @ f/4 @ 200 ISO

This gave me correct exposure for the ambient. It looks good. Now, to have the flash have the impact it has, I had to under-expose the ambient. Therefore I pulled the exposure down by 2 stops: camera settings: 1/250 @ f/7.1 @ 200 ISO  … TTL flash.

 


Direction & Quality Of Light

Lighting & Design for Portrait Photography

Lighting & Design is a follow-up of sorts to Direction & Quality of Light. It’s a slightly eclectic mix, discussing the thought-process with various scenarios shooting portraits. The examples use available light, bounce flash, off-camera flash as well as studio lighting.

The idea is that in every one of the 60 sections, there is something to be learnt and applied, regardless of your level as a photographer or where you shoot – all shaped to form a cohesive narrative arc throughout the book.

You can either purchase a copy via Amazon USA or Amazon UK. The book will also available on the Apple iBook Store, and Amazon Kindle.


 

 

These photos were taken during a photography workshop in New York.

As an aside: I used the same background to different effect with a previous photo session where Nicole Jolly was the model – photo-shoot with a model: the progression of an idea.

 

Photo gear (or equivalents) used in this photo session

  • Nikon D4
  • Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II  /equivalent  Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II
  • Nikon SB-910 Speedlight  /equivalent  Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite
  • Nikon SD-9 battery pack  /equivalent  Canon CP-E4 battery pack
  • Lastolite EZYBOX 24×24″ softbox

 

A little bit of homework

Before we get to the little bit of homework – on a forum I once saw someone sneer that with off-camera flash photography on location, it seems that everyone just under-eposes the ambient by a certain amount and then add flash. My thought was, well, that’s how you do it, because over-exposing the ambient isn’t a good start.

Now the homework:
Because the light from this relatively small light source (the flash in the softbox) is directional, you can now in a sense control the contrast by how much ambient light you let. How and why?

 

Filed Under: available light photography, Book: Lighting & Design, composition, off-camera flash, Olena Tagged With: off-camera flash, off-camera flash tips


 

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If you find these articles of value, please help support this website by using these B&H and Amazon affiliate links to order your photo gear.

I also offer photography workshops and tutoring sessions, whether in person, or via online video tutoring sessions.

Please follow me on Instagram for more.

You can also join our thriving photo community in the Tangents group on Facebook, where we show our photos and discuss all things photography.

Thank you,

Neil vN

Books by Neil van Niekerk


 




16 Comments, Add Your Own

  1. 1Christal says

    April 25, 2013 at 11:03 pm

    Hi Neil,

    I’m just curious in situations like this do you use TTL BL or just TTL? Does it matter which TTL I use? Thanks for the great blog.

    Reply
  2. 2Neil vN says

    April 25, 2013 at 11:12 pm

    Christal, in this case, I was using the Phottix Odin TTL Flash Trigger for Nikon that belonged to the photographer who I tutored during the workshop.

    So I have no idea what the system does to the Nikon flash settings, but I would guess it is just plain old TTL.

    Reply
  3. 3Roy Barnes says

    April 26, 2013 at 6:36 am

    Neil
    You’ve often demonstrated the idea of underexposing the ambient light and then using flash to add that ‘punch’ to the subject. In these images I think you’ve really underlined in red just what difference it makes. Looking at the above pictures really does make it oh so clear. Terrific!

    Reply
  4. 4Yasmeen Anderson says

    April 26, 2013 at 11:29 am

    Really helpful example of how the same elements can either be eh or wow with a few adjustments. Oh and I love the background. You always choose such interesting textures.

    Reply
  5. 5Jorge Garcia says

    April 26, 2013 at 11:45 am

    Neil, Any reason why TTL over Manual if subject is static?

    Reply
  6. 6Neil vN says

    April 26, 2013 at 11:48 am

    It was faster to adjust and get results with TTL flash. I only needed a few frames.

    Reply
  7. 7Jan van de Maat says

    April 27, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    Hi Neil,

    Thanks for the workshop, I learned a lot and can’t wait to bring it into practice.
    I really enjoyed it and had a wonderful time. I also created an article on my blog here:

    Regards,
    Jan

    Reply
  8. 8Neil vN says

    April 29, 2013 at 8:52 am

    Jan .. thank you! It was cool hanging out with you on the day.

    Reply
  9. 9Jason Kimmings says

    July 23, 2013 at 5:40 am

    You’re absolutely right about the available light snobbery. So many photographers label themselves as ‘an available light photographer’ as if it’s better and more natural. I think they just don’t know how to handle flash properly to make a good image. I want my clients to have great images, and if that involves using flash then fine, if it’s all available light, great! I’ll go either way to make the image we’re happy with.

    Reply
  10. 10John Burridge says

    January 30, 2014 at 3:12 pm

    Regarding controlling contrast with ambient… If you let in more ambient, you have more fill, making for less contrast with the main. Less ambient, less fill, more contrast with the main.

    Reply
  11. 11Baart1980 says

    March 29, 2014 at 3:40 pm

    Homework:

    In TTL mode , you can control the contrast by changing FEC for example -1 stop.

    Reply
  12. 12Neil vN says

    May 27, 2014 at 1:47 am

    When you under-expose the ambient by two stops, as in this example, then the flash becomes a dominant light source.

    Pulling the FEC down by -1 stop right then, will just under-expose the photo.

    Reply
  13. 13Mihai says

    September 2, 2015 at 11:03 am

    The flash being the dominant light source will create the shadow effect when you under-expose for the ambient…

    Reply
  14. 14Marco says

    November 10, 2015 at 9:38 pm

    I believe I’m starting to understand when you talk about local contrast.

    I hope it is not wrong to make a reply to this old post.

    Now about that homework.

    If we under expose ambient light by about two or three stops for example and use our off camera flash without any FEC to get a good exposure of our subject, then the difference in tones between our subject and the background will be quite remarkable. Being our flash is a small source of light, it creates shadows that bring more definition between those two light sources.

    We control contrast by controlling the power or distance of our main ligth in this case our off camera bare flash and by how much ambient light we let to affect our scene.

    If we use our flash just as a mere fill light then our light will just blend with the overal scene adding no contrast to the scene.

    Am I right?

    I really like to learn more

    Reply
  15. 15Neil vN says

    November 10, 2015 at 11:28 pm

    You’re pretty much spot on.

    Reply
  16. 16Peter Salo says

    November 10, 2015 at 11:48 pm

    Thanks! That was good. Simple, sensible and good.

    Reply

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