{"id":128,"date":"2008-05-11T20:05:29","date_gmt":"2008-05-12T01:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetneil.com\/tangents\/?p=163"},"modified":"2020-06-12T23:11:37","modified_gmt":"2020-06-13T03:11:37","slug":"direct-on-camera-fill-flash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/direct-on-camera-fill-flash\/","title":{"rendered":"direct fill-flash from your on-camera speedlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

using direct fill-flash from your on-camera speedlight<\/h1>\n

Here\u2019s a question that comes up often in emails I receive:\u00a0 Do I use a diffuser of some kind outdoors or do I just use direct flash, with the flash in the straight ahead position.<\/p>\n

The simple answer is that yes, outdoors I most often shoot with my speedlight straight-on with no diffuser or light modifier, especially if I only use my speedlight for fill-flash.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But then again, the answer is not quite that simple – so let’s take this back a few steps:<\/p>\n


\nShooting with your on-camera flash in a straight-ahead position while indoors is possibly the worst way to use flash. \u00a0We are far better off creating softer directional light by bouncing off a wall or other surfaces.<\/p>\n

In this example from a wedding I photographed recently, the flash is both diffuse<\/strong> and directional<\/strong>.\u00a0 And it should be noted that even though the flash used here was an on-camera speedlight, there is no<\/strong> light coming directly from the camera’s viewpoint.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

.
\nThis would be ideal the ideal way to use flash outdoors as well, and where I am able to, I do use off-camera lighting that is diffuse.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here I\u00a0 used a Quantum T5D-R in wireless TTL mode and with the Q-flash in a Westcott Apollo softbox<\/a>, creating a very pleasant fill-flash.\u00a0 The Q-flash (with Quantum 2×2 battery) and the softbox was held up high by my assistant.<\/p>\n

.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

In this example, I bounced my on-camera speedlight into a reflector that my assistant was holding up – and this once again, gave me soft but directional light.<\/p>\n

So where I can, I do try to use soft directional flash outdoors, but quite\u00a0often there are compromises of some kind to deal with.\u00a0 There might not be a handy surface to bounce flash off, or perhaps the available light may be too bright to allow me to bounce light effectively off outside surfaces.\u00a0 Or I might be without an assistant.<\/p>\n

When I am working outside and I only have my on-camera speedlight to help me with less-than-ideal available light\u00a0… and I have these above-mentioned limitations\u00a0… then I accept the compromise of direct on-camera flash.<\/p>\n

Since I can’t bounce flash off the clouds – although I have seen photographers apparently try that, strangely enough\u00a0– I accept that straight-on flash is all that I have\u00a0at my disposal at the time.\u00a0 BUT, when working with subjects outside, I will try and position them such that the ambient light is\u00a0fairly even (or pleasant looking) light on them … and then I use fill-flash to lift the shadow areas.<\/p>\n

So in that case, I am using just a touch of fill-flash, and the flash is barely noticeable.\u00a0\u00a0 Therefore the fact that it is direct flash barely detracts from the overall image.<\/p>\n

I very rarely use a diffuser of any kind when I shoot outside with direct flash (as fill-flash).\u00a0 The reason is that we only get softer light by creating a (much) larger light source.\u00a0 And plonking on a Stofen on the front of the flash does NOT create a larger light source.\u00a0 Similarly, pretty much every light modifier that is attached to the speedlight and used directly, will not create a much larger light source than direct flash.\u00a0 It is therefore just a simpler way to use the flash direct – straight-on and without a diffuser – and dial my flash compensation way down to around -2EV or -3EV.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

more examples from engagement photo sessions<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My settings:
\n1\/250th @ f5 @ 500\u00a0ISO – manual exposure mode.
\nOn-camera TTL flash, dialed down to -2EV.<\/p>\n

As you can see, I carefully placed my subjects in open shade and I used un-diffused direct on-camera flash <\/strong>to lift any shadow areas just a touch.\u00a0 It does not look like direct flash, because the flash was dialed way down … and the flash exposure rides on top of correct exposure for the available light.\u00a0 ie .. the flash just sweetens the scene a bit.<\/p>\n

.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

My settings:
\n1\/320th @ f4 @ 500\u00a0ISO – manual exposure mode.
\nOn-camera TTL flash, dialed down to -3EV.<\/p>\n

Once again, I made sure I had even light on my couple by having them turn away from the sunlight, ie\u00a0 I\u00a0 placed my subjects in open shade.\u00a0 And similarly to the previous example,\u00a0I used undiffused direct on-camera flash<\/strong> to lift any shadow areas just a touch.<\/p>\n

.
\nWhy -3EV here and -2EV in\u00a0the previous example?\u00a0 Purely whim. No real reason aside from that.<\/p>\n

You see, since the flash is just a soft ‘touch’ of fill-flash, the exact value isn’t of that great an importance.\u00a0 The fill-flash just\u00a0rides on top of correct ambient exposure.\u00a0 And THAT is key here – that my available light exposure is correct.\u00a0 In both these examples (and in every other example on this website), I shot in manual exposure mode<\/strong>.\u00a0 It really is the only<\/em> way to achieve consistency in exposure, and achieve consistently correct<\/em> exposure.\u00a0 Trust me on this one.<\/p>\n

Here’s one more example to show that using direct flash like this as fill-flash, and that getting these results aren’t merely flukes:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My settings:
\n1\/250th @ f4 @ 800\u00a0ISO – manual exposure mode.
\nOn-camera TTL flash, dialed down to -3EV.<\/p>\n

.
\nNow, what about those times when flash isn’t merely delicate fill light ?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My settings:
\n1\/250th @ f7.1 @ 200\u00a0ISO – manual exposure mode.
\nOn-camera TTL flash, dialed up a touch to +0.3EV.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned earlier – using the speedlight for a touch of\u00a0fill-flash means that the direct flash is barely noticeable.\u00a0 However, if I have to use flash as a main source of light, then the flash is noticeable\u00a0– but not necessarily objectionable.\u00a0 And I’m of the opinion that using a\u00a0flash modifier on a speedlight would barely have made a difference … except cut down on my speedlight’s power.\u00a0 And few flash modifiers offer a substantially larger light source over that of the speedlight’s flash head – and therefore to my mind, using a flash modifier outdoors isn’t often of much use.<\/p>\n

In the image above you can see that flash was used, in that there is a distinct flash shadow\u00a0– but this was a slight compromise on this photo shoot, since I knew I would\u00a0be moving around a lot.\u00a0 And therefore when I had to lift the shadow areas to that of the brighter sunlit areas of the scene, I knew I would have to use more than just a hint of fill-flash.<\/p>\n

So yes, I do use direct on-camera flash when shooting outdoors.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But even then I take care in how I use flash, and specifically how I use flash in relation to my available light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

using direct fill-flash from your on-camera speedlight Here\u2019s a question that comes up often in emails I receive:\u00a0 Do I use a diffuser of some kind outdoors or do I just use direct flash, with the flash in the straight ahead position. The simple answer is that yes, outdoors I most often shoot with my Read more inside…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30029,"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":[15,42,1],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[9727,9710,9725,9707,5638,6828,9722,9736,9733,6318,6301,1786,9734,4127,9731,9717,9703,9729,9735,9719],"class_list":{"0":"post-128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-flash-photography","8":"category-technique","9":"category-uncategorized","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128"}],"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=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48970,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions\/48970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}