Photo tips by Frank: OK so here is a Tuffy. Off Camera Flash. I recently took a shot of my wife with the fiery sky in the back and i used fill flash to brighten her up once i got the background properly exposed. However, when i posted to a strobist group there were critics; one in particular stood out, he said it was hard to believe it wasnt a backdrop because there wasnt a proper white balance match to the ambient light (setting sun) and some other stuff i wont go too much into. Well heck i took that as a compliment but it bugged me. So i asked some more questions and after a so-so nights sleep, lousy day at work and some talks with my wife (i snuck in a few YouTube videos by Joe McNally Photography while at work) it hit me. Whenever we use flash its not just a fill - but in fact it is supposed to mimic the sun. Although the sun is one of the largest sources of light out there - by the time it reaches earth the same turns into a small source hence the harsh light. When using off camera flash we learn to place the flash not necessarily opposite of the sun but rather with it shining the light in its same direction. This light we can diffuse or make larger by virtue of modifiers like umbrellas and soft-boxes. The end result being a nice soft light that mimics natural sun light but is softer because we turned the same into a large source of light covering more surface area. Then the question came up about gels and how they function. Well, if you are using your OCF in bright daylight you can just diffuse with soft-box, umbrella or the like. However, when shooting in either golden hour or even blue hour youll want to place the same color gel on your flash. Once again mimicing the sun. Place your key light in the same direction the sun is casting its light - and then you can get creative adding a fill, rim light etc. The background will be properly exposed to bring in all those radiant colors and your fill flash will bring in your darkened subject into frame. Now, you have a well exposed nicely lit shot and all lights are in close to perfect balance. NOTE: I am not a pro OCF photographer. I am learning like most. Im a bit past the newbie level and just below intermediate if i were to gauge myself. My intention behind these posts is to share what i have learned and am learning, in hopes that things will be easier for those to follow. The way i see things is God did not give me a good brain to learn things to take it to the grave but rather to pass along. Ive run in to many seasoned photographers that have the skill and experience but do not know or like to teach. And that is perfectly ok - but dont try to be a mentor to anyone if you cannot articulate into words the simplest of photography concepts. So if shooting during high noon for instance use just a diffuser or light modifier with flash and white or silver reflector for fill or other flashes. If sun rise or sunset use an orange gel and if indoors use green or blue gel to mimic incandescent Cheers.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 00:27:06 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015