Making better portraits - Part 4 - Using fill flash to improve your shots.

Fill flash improves shadows and adds saturation and contrast to subjects.

If you do portraits, one of the best pieces of equipment you can add to your arsenal is a good flash.  Yes, many cameras come with a built-in flash, but have you noticed that high-end cameras don't?  There is a reason for this.  High-end camera users know that a powerful external flash is the only way to go.

Flash adds contrast, improves saturation, and helps subjects stand out from the background.  It also fills shadows.  Even if the available light is good enough to illuminate subject and background alike, flash will improve the shot.  The trick, though, is using it correctly.

Sometimes the use of a flash can be as simple as turning it on.  Attach it (or pop it up), turn it on, and press the shutter.  Seems easy enough.  Rarely though, will this give you everything you wanted and the photo could be better if you make a few adjustments.

1.  Camera mode:  Any fully automatic shooting mode should be avoided, even if your camera comes with a portrait setting.  For me, I prefer manual, but shutter priority is a good second choice and aperture priority a good third choice.

2.  Exposure settings:  As a general rule, expose for the background.  You can do this in manual exposure mode with ease (assuming you know how to operate a camera in that mode).  If you are using a semi-automatic mode, you may need to apply exposure compensation.  This is not the same as flash exposure compensation which we will mention later.

3.  Shutter speed and aperture:  To maximize flash distance, you want to keep the aperture low.  This is one of the reasons why wedding photographers like to shoot in shade during bright-sunny days.  You can use smaller apertures to improve depth of field when you want the background in focus, but this comes with a cost.  A flash's power rating (guide number) dictates how far a flash will illuminate a subject at any given aperture, assuming the ISO is at 100.  As ISO increases, the flash's effective range also increases, doubling for each two stops.  But do you want to use high ISOs?

4.  HSS - High Speed Synch:  A camera can normally use shutter speeds as high as what the synch speed is for flashes.  Normally, it is between 1/180th up to 1/250th of a second.  On bright days with wide-open apertures, it is not unusual for shutter speeds to go beyond that.  Remember the sunny-16 rule?  Setting shutter speed and ISO to reciprocal settings at f/16 will produce a proper exposure on a sunny day.  So, an f/16, ISO 200, 1/200th shutter speed will produce a proper exposure in full sun.  If you want to get the aperture down to f/4, you have to increase the shutter speed to 1/1200th of a second and reduce the ISO to 100.  This is where HSS comes in.  You turn HSS on in your camera's settings menu.  The problem:  only higher-end cameras and certain flashes come with this ability.  And a flash's effective distance is reduced.

5.  Use flash exposure compensation:  Sometimes a flash's output is too much and it over exposes the subject.  You can correct this manually (use your flash in manual mode and dial in the best manual setting - usually expressed as a fraction of full power) or automatically by reducing the flash's output.  This is done using the flash exposure compensation feature that may be found on the flash or through the camera's menu.

6.  Broad vs point source:  An external flash tends to produce harsh shadows.  You can soften those shadows by using diffusers.  You can buy them or rig them, and there is always bouncing flash as an option.  Diffusers are great but they do reduce the working distance of your flash.  The more diffusion, the less effective distance. 

7.  Off-camera flash:  This is where things get complicated.  Strobes, reflectors, slave units, radio controlled flashes, and the requirements of a controlled setting (studio) are all part of this.  You can use off-camera flash through wireless control or a wired connector.  A simple setup involves a dedicated cable running from your camera's hotshoe to the flash and a good reflector to cast light on the shadowed side of your subject.  This generally reduces light by one to two stops.  You can get some good results by doing this.  However, unless you have experience with such a set up, I wouldn't suggest doing a professional shoot this way.  Practice first.

WOW! That's a lot of info.  The good news is that you can start simply and learn as you go.  Get the equipment, borrow a friend, and take lots of pictures.  Try different things.  Play and have fun.  Eventually you will figure it out, and your shots will improve.

Most of all, have fun.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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