![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/models\/sarah-r\/Sarah-R-0073.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When we think about overpowering the sun with flash, we are most often really considering to match the sunlight with enough flash. We usually want to lift the shadow areas to the same level as the sunlit areas. There’s a tiny bit of math involved here which makes the algorithm or thought-process predictable.\u00a0Since the Sunny 16 rule has it that broad daylight is in the order of 1\/200th or 1\/250th @ f11 @ 100 ISO … you’d either have to shoot with a bare speedlight, (which, as a small light source, will cause hard shadows) .. or use a much more powerful strobe with a softbox. But you want to be at (or near) that exposure level of f\/11 @ 100 ISO with your flash.<\/p>\n
If you want the flash to dominate, then you’ll have to be at f\/16 or even f\/22 to really be able to over-power the sun with flash.<\/p>\n
The sunlight on Coney Island was pretty harsh during this photo session with Sarah and Mark, and I needed\u00a0to \/ wanted to clean up the sun’s harsh shadows with flash.\u00a0For this image I used the Profoto AcuteB 600R lighting kit\u00a0with 2×3 Profoto softbox off to my right, adding flash at full power. These days it would be the Profoto B1 flash<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>) that I would use on location. I placed the softbox and flash to come in from the same\u00a0direction as the sunlight, adding as much light as the sun.\u00a0 The intention is to clean up the shadows caused by the sunlight, and because I am then under-exposing the background by a stop .. \u00a0thereby also saturating the sky.\u00a0Camera settings: 1\/250th @ 160 ISO @ f22<\/p>\n If you’re unsure how the Sunny 16 Rule and maximum flash sync speed come into play here with these decisions, check out these related articles:<\/p>\n Better yet, let’s step through the thought-process on working in bright sunlight with flash – one of the most challenging lighting scenarios we\u2019ll most likely encounter. \u00a0There are a couple of steps we can take to make things a lot easier for ourselves \u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If we can move our subject so their back is to the sun, we can get away without using flash. We make sure our subject is not unevenly lit with sun, and then we just let the highlights blow out as a rim light.<\/p>\n If we can use flash (whether off-camera or only on-camera)<\/strong>,\u00a0we\u2019d still ideally move our subject so that their back is to the sun, and make sure they aren\u2019t half-lit by sun and half in shade. But even if we can\u2019t move our subject, this easy algorithm is the best approach:<\/p>\n When using flash with bright daylight:<\/p>\n 1.) \u00a0Use your lowest ISO\u00a0<\/strong> 2.) \u00a0Go to your camera\u2019s max flash sync speed<\/strong> 3.) \u00a0Find the aperture<\/strong> 4.) Now, for that ISO and aperture combination, dump as much flash as is required<\/strong> .. and if you have reached your flash’s maximum, and still not getting enough light, then move closer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The recipe is as simple as that. And it is an easy enough approach to keep things on track when battling under pressure in hard sunlight.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With this book, I wanted the material in the book to flow as a truly accessible introduction to off-camera flash.\u00a0The techniques here are within the reach of everyone.<\/p>\n As always, the aim was for those aha! moments when things become clear and just makes sense. And then, hopefully, inspire the readers of the book to see how easily off-camera flash lighting can expand our photographic repertoire.<\/p>\n You can either purchase a copy via\u00a0Amazon USA<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Amazon UK<\/a><\/strong>. The book is available on the Apple iBook Store, and Amazon Kindle.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div> <\/p>\n If you find you have the flash range \/ energy \/ power to spare at max sync speed, and you\u2019d like the shallower depth-of-field that high-speed flash sync (HSS) affords us, then by all means go to HSS mode. But it is a good idea to start at max flash sync speed if you\u2019re unsure, because at max flash sync speed you have the most likely chance of success in adding flash to bright sunlight. If you can\u2019t do it at max sync speed, you can\u2019t do it at any other shutter speed. This is explained further in the article on\u00a0maximum flash sync speed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most often, when we\u2019re working in the f11 region of apertures, and using a softbox or some light diffuser, then we\u2019ll be at our flash\u2019s maximum output. So then\u00a0we\u2019ll move our flash closer or further to give us correct exposure.<\/p>\n Using a light meter is the easiest and most sure way of getting right exposure of your flash. But, this isn\u2019t an absolute. With the image at the top, I checked the back of the camera\u2019s preview and estimated how close I need to move my softbox to my subject to get the correct exposure. I know, it\u2019s strobist heresy.<\/p>\n If you don’t want to go to HSS, or your flash doesn’t allow it, then there is always the option of using a Neutral Density Filter to get to wider aperture.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And for comparison, here is a test photo without flash.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I wanted to distill the essence of what we, as photographers, work with – light! Before we can truly grasp on-camera flash and off-camera flash, and really, any kind of photography, we have to be aware of the direction and quality of light. We need to observe the light that we have, and then decide how best to use it, or enhance it.<\/p>\n With this book, I try my best to share those \u201caha!\u201d moments with you, and I do believe this book can make a difference to your photography.<\/p>\n The book is available on\u00a0Amazon USA<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Amazon UK<\/a><\/strong>, or can be ordered through Barnes & Nobles and other bookstores. The book\u00a0is also available on the Apple iBook Store, as well as Amazon Kindle.\n\t\t\t\t<\/div> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Flash photography: Overpowering the sun with flash When we think about overpowering the sun with flash, we are most often really considering to match the sunlight with enough flash. We usually want to lift the shadow areas to the same level as the sunlit areas. There’s a tiny bit of math involved here which makes Read more inside…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,22,24,422],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[7021,7019,7010,7005,7023,7022,7020,7008,7000,1857,1855,6994,2937,1580,6999,7011,6991,7009,7004,3817],"class_list":{"0":"post-1222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-flash-photography","8":"category-lighting","9":"category-models","10":"category-sarah-raley","11":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1222"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50222,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions\/50222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1222"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/models\/sarah-r\/Sarah-R-0077.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHow to overpower the sun with flash<\/h2>\n
\nWe don\u2019t need 1600 ISO in bright sunlight, so take your ISO immediately down to 100 ISO or 200 ISO. If you really need the extreme depth-of-field of f22, then you can raise your ISO. You would risk image softness due to diffraction though. But that is the option.<\/p>\n
\nThere is a reason why we\u2019d go to the maximum flash sync speed<\/a>,
\na.) and not lower (for then our aperture becomes smaller and our flash needs to give more output),
\nb.) and not (immediately) higher than max sync speed (for our flash loses power in high speed sync<\/a>.)<\/p>\n
\nIdeally you\u2019d use an aperture where you don\u2019t lose important detail in your subject. But we don\u2019t want to get too caught up in controlling all our highlights, for rim-light helps separate our subject from the background. So that controlled loss of detail where the highlights blow out, is a good thing. And also, sometimes we have to compromise and accept that some detail will be lost.<\/p>\n
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t![\"Off-Camera](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/books\/NvN\/2-offcameraflash-250.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\tOff-Camera Flash Photography<\/h2>\n
<\/div><\/p>\n
\nUsing High-Speed Flash Sync (HSS)<\/h2>\n
\n
\nCamera settings & photo gear (or equivalents) used with this photo session<\/h2>\n
\n
\nbut the current choice would be the\u00a0Profoto B1 flash<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0(B&H<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Amazon<\/em><\/a>)<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/models\/sarah-r\/Sarah-R-0069.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
Related articles<\/h2>\n
\n
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t![\"Direction](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/books\/NvN\/3-qualityoflight-250.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\tDirection & Quality of Light<\/h2>\n
<\/div><\/p>\n
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