{"id":11800,"date":"2012-10-22T02:45:34","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T06:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=11800"},"modified":"2023-10-10T02:29:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T06:29:18","slug":"controlling-bright-daylight-with-direct-off-camera-flash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/controlling-bright-daylight-with-direct-off-camera-flash\/","title":{"rendered":"Controlling bright daylight with direct off-camera flash"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Controlling bright daylight with direct off-camera flash<\/h1>\n

Working with Molly K as our model during an\u00a0personal photography workshop<\/a> in New York, we put into action the thought-process when using flash in very bright light. There’s a specific algorithm that gets us to optimal settings.<\/p>\n

But, as usual, there’s more to a final image than just the numerical settings on the camera …<\/p>\n

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Camera settings and decisions<\/h2>\n

When trying to\u00a0over-power the sun with flash<\/a>, the best algorithm is usually:
\n– maximum flash sync speed<\/a>,
\n– lowest ISO,
\n– find the aperture for your brightest area that you want to expose correctly for,
\nat that specific shutter speed and ISO.<\/p>\n

So that brings us to the central question … what should I be metering for?<\/p>\n

Here is the test shot where I decided how I wanted to frame Molly K …<\/p>\n

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There are three broad areas here to consider in terms of the ambient exposure:
\n– the bright sky, (which is unevenly bright),
\n– the shadowed areas of the building on the left,
\n– the sunlit building on the right.<\/p>\n

In this instance I wanted to frame her against the bright sky, and allow the exposure for the sun-lit building to fall where it may. That hot-spot where the sun reflected off a window, was a lucky accident in a few frames.<\/p>\n

Metering for the sky, I got: \u00a01\/250 @ f8 @ 100 ISO
\nIt made more sense though to get a bit more depth-of-field because of how I composed the shot.
\nSo I settled on: \u00a01\/250 @ f11 @ 200 ISO<\/p>\n

I wanted more depth of field because of my angle of view. I wanted that low view-point. So low that I couldn’t actually look through the camera’s viewfinder.<\/p>\n

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I pre-focused on Molly’s hands on her hips … and then held the camera to the ground.<\/p>\n

I fired off several sequences of photos, changing the camera’s angle slightly with every shot … just to make sure that I do end up with a few good compositions. My success rate was surprisingly good because the wide-angle view was forgiving of slight framing errors. This is why the reflection of the sun in the windows was a lucky accident in a few frames. I couldn’t actually see it in my viewfinder at the time and make sure I got it every time.<\/p>\n

For the off-camera flash portion of the workshop, we had been working with my regular\u00a0Lastolite EZYBOX 24\u00d724″ softbox<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>). However, trying to match the bright sky with a speedlite, I knew that a softbox would just eat up too much of the light. Therefore I went with bare, un-diffused off-camera flash.<\/p>\n

Bare flash is less forgiving of how you pose your subject and position your light. A softbox on the other hand, is quite forgiving in how you place the light.<\/p>\n

The flip-side though, is that with bare flash, you can use simple methods of figuring out the flash exposure<\/strong>:
\n– you can\u00a0use the guide number of your flash<\/a>, or
\n– use the distance scale of your flash \/ speedlite \/ speedlight<\/a><\/p>\n

The Nikon SB-910<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Canon 600EX-RT<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>) speedlites\u00a0have\u00a0a distance scale<\/strong> on the flash. This allows you to balance that equation for correct manual flash exposure<\/strong> – aperture \/ ISO \/ distance \/ flash power.<\/p>\n

Since the aperture and ISO is given for us … and we have our speedlight to manual output, then the distance scale will tell us approximately how far to hold the flash from your subject. Of course, a few test shots will allow you to finesse this for better exposure. I worked with the flash at full output.<\/p>\n

And there you have it: \u00a0f11 at 200 ISO … for the distance shown in this pull-back shot. The speedlight’s head was zoomed to 28mm, if I recall correctly.<\/p>\n

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The important step here though, was deciding on a specific background<\/strong>. That’s one of the key elements with\u00a0effective on-location portraits<\/a>\u00a0– what is our background, and how do we want to use it?<\/p>\n

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Photo gear (or equivalents) used during this photo session:<\/h2>\n