 Tammy L. Odell |
How to Take Portraits with Fill Flash Why am I having a problem with inconsistent background exposure when using fill flash? Sometimes when I do portraits in the evening the background comes out much darker than it really is. How can I correct the problem? I am using program mode.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Is this with the sun behind the subject? It might be because sometimes you're closer to the subject so it takes up more of the frame, so what the camera reads as how much it needs to fill with flash is different than when you have more area of the frame filled with the background. Or it could be because you have the sun in the frame sometimes. If your subject is a backlit person, you could try aperture priority or shutter priority, just as long as the shutter speed ends up being the same as the sync speed. Then use exposure compensation at +1 with flash compensation at -1 and see how that works. There's a more precise way with using a flash on manual and a flash meter, but you may not have one or want to go out and buy one.
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Tammy L. Odell |
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
can you put two pictures up?
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Tammy L. Odell |
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Tammy L. Odell |
have been using a -1 1/2 exp. comp. on my flash. Is that a good thing to do??
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Tammy L. Odell |
Also, should I buy a diffuser of some kind like the ones that fit like a box over my flash, or just use the exposure compensation? Thanks so much for the advice, it helps me a great deal.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
See if you are on center-weighted metering, and try evaluative. Look at the negative and see if your subject is overexposed; that will give you a clue as to whether the flash got messed up by the background. Instead of depending on program, try to use aperture or shutter priority modes more. Or at least pay more attention to what the settings are that the camera is choosing. Cameras still get fooled by the same things. ... A diffuser can make the light more appealing, but you won't be able to have the camera or flash sensor determine what settings for you. You have to become more familiar with power settings according to distance, as well as ambient light levels through some experimentations. But diffused light as a fill looks better than a straight light, given the same exposure values. You don't have to have a soft box, but they can be useful.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
A diffuser can make the light more appealing, but you won't be able to have the camera or flash sensor determine what settings for you. You have to become more familiar with power settings according to distance, as well as ambient light levels thru some experimentations. but diffused light as a fill looks better than a straight light, given the same exposure values. don't have to have a soft box, but they can be useful.
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Tammy L. Odell |
Thanks again Gregory. Yes I have my meter set to evalutaive. Should I try useing aperture mode and use a large opening? Will that help let more light from the background in? I notice this only happens on very overcast days or late in the eve. I just can't figure out why flash changes the whole background exposure.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Half my reply is gone. This site still has a lot of bugs to work out. Part of what I said before seeing what happened is easier than why. In the second picture I can see by the shadow under her chin that the flash did go off. And I can tell by the shadow from the trees that you got the ambient light. But with the 1st picture it's just flash. Just a shutter/aperture combo that was exposing just for the distanceb between you and the girl. And why could be more than one reason. One possible reason is that cloud cover may have been thicker when she was lying back, maybe causing a darker background making the flash shoot too much power. Another reason could be when she sat up the camera read more of her dress. When she laid back the sensor may have read the back ground more and thought it had to shoot for the darkness and distance of the background. That's why I wanted you to check the negative to see if she is over exposed but printed darker. Program modes always have the camera pick a shutter/aperture combo so the shutter is always above 1/60 or 1/125 to prevent camera shake blur. So with the 1st picture it may have chosen a shutter/aperture combo that didn't let ambient light add to the picture. A shutter/aperture combo could have done it with 1/45 or f/4. But since program always tries to play it safe and conservative, it may have just gone up to 1/125 with f/5.6 and just shot to expose just for the distance to the girl.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
If you use aperture mode instead of program, you can shoot wide open if you choose with out a problem. But program modes may not do that because it will play it conservative and choose one that's smaller for depth of field. It's always trying to give a safety net even if you don't need it. The reason a back ground goes dark with a flash is you have a subject a few feet away, light that goes beyond that falls off very quickly in terms of intensity. So if with the flash the proper exposure for a subject a few feet away is f/5.6, anything behind it the proper exposure would quickly drop to f/2.8. So you end up with a dark background. But the key to use fill light with ambient light is to let ambient light expose everything with the shutter/aperture combo. Then use just a little bit of flash to add a little brightness to the subject, or fill in a shadow under the eyes or something.
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Steve E. Beust |
Tammy, I don't prose to be an authority on flash photography. However that being said, I may have a suggestion that will help. If you use ttl metering and a slower sync speed, you should pick up more ambient light behind your subject. She may have to be still a little longer but I believe this should help you.
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Tammy L. Odell |
Thanks for your response Steve. I have never used that setting, but I will read my manual and try it. The only puzzling question is why were the background exposures were so differnet. One was the one I wanted, and one was not. Maybe it was a fluke or something. I know sometimes things happen that way.
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Piper Lehman |
Tammy, It's not a fluke. Look again at your settings for each photo. It is the aperture setting on your camera that determines the amount of light in the background. Read your flash manual to determine the correct combination of settings for your flash and camera. It's confusing, but once you have the general idea of which apparatus is doing what, you should be able to predict your lighting pretty easily.
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Tammy L. Odell |
Thanks Piper, so do I need to use a large aperture when I want to capture my background light? I am new to this, so it's very confusing. I get the camera's part with aperture settings, but when you involve flash that throws me off track.
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Piper Lehman |
Tammy, It is very confusing. You are not alone. Here are some helpful links - I've included some for both Nikon and Canon. Hope this helps. http://www.planetneil.com/nikon/flash-exposure-comp.html http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/flashfaq.htm http://www.moose395.net/howto/flash.html http://www.photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/
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Piper Lehman |
Oops. Forgot to answer your question. Think of it this way: Your camera's settings will affect the amount of AMBIENT light. The flash settings are usually just FILL. If you want to light the entire scene with the light from your flash, you will get a dark background. Using your flash to just FILL in the void will cause your camera to choose an aperture that will let the AMBIENT, or AVAILABLE light to enter the lens. Depending on your camera's flash sync speed, you will be limited as to what aperture you can use effectively. Try using shutter priority or manual mode on your camera instead of the program auto. Not knowing what camera and flash combo you use, it's difficult to explain specific settings.
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Tammy L. Odell |
Thanks so much Piper!! I think I am beginning to uderstand somewhat. Those websites were very helpful. I just have to study the info I've learned and do some experimenting. Thanks again!!!
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