This topic - balancing flash and ambient exposure - seems to one that many newer photographers struggle with. The big hurdle seems to be the basic starting point - how do you decide on the exposure for each?
I'd like to explore this topic a bit with this post. The trigger for this was a question that someone emailed me regarding an image in one of my books on flash photography. Instead of answering the question directly, I thought that a wider answer might be more illuminating. We're still on that perpetual quest Read more inside...
Lighting for on-location photo sessions - pick your battles
When doing a photo session with a couple on location, I mix up the lighting as needed. Some sequences are shot with shoot available light only; for other sequences I may use off-camera flash with a softbox. Sometimes I use on-camera TTL fill-flash if that helps working faster.
Even in varying the way I may use the available light and flash, I still aim to have a consistent look to it all. My specific style has to be apparent. Or perhaps, in the way that I work, my style becomes apparent. The one way that I help make Read more inside...
Going by the emails that I receive, one of the areas that many photographers struggle with is that of combining ambient exposure and flash exposure. This question is also expressed in other ways. It can be a frustrated, "where do we even start?" I also often see it expressed as an involved step-by-step deconstruction of technique, making the entire process more complex than it is.
In reply to that, and many other emails I've received in the past few months, I'd like to offer an analysis of a few images from a recent shoot.
One of my Read more inside...
