Do you use flash outdoors on a nice day?

p1tse

p1tse

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Say forexample now during the day with good natural light do you use fill in flash or your flashgun
 
depends on the light, what focal length etc, but usually, for fill, yes.
 
thanks

bit of a newbie to lighting.

do you just use the onboard flash and pop it up as manual (or is there a specific fill in option on dslr's)?
 
p1tse said:
Say forexample now during the day with good natural light do you use fill in flash or your flashgun
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Natural light can be very harsh and you cant always get the light where you need it.

I did an outdoor shoot at sunset yesterday and will post some pics soon as iv processed em... as an example heres a test shot I did in the garden yesterday at around 4pm to check my triggers and batteries were all ok.

4541872464_a30b1d858a_o.jpg


I used 1 flash at 1/8th power off camera fired by a radio trigger.. available on here for pennies from flash in the pan.. I used max sinc of 250th second to kill as much ambient and f22 again due to brightness.
hope this helps a little il post the shots of people later when iv uploaded em and explain the setup.
Cheers Andy
 
Yup, tis very useful when the Sun is behind the subject.
 
ah sweet

99% of pictures will be of people, so thinking of skin tones etc.
is it ok to direct flash with the onboard flash?

any special settings for onboard flash on a d90, or just pop it up
 
The on-board flash can't compete with the sun from a normal shooting distance, you should have a real flashgun, preferably off-camera.
 
For people shots I almost always use a SB-900 on the camera - either to add a little sparkle or to soften shadows from harsh sun. Depends on the conditions but use flash compensation of anything from -0.3 to -2.0 if I only need a touch! Experiment - every situation is different. Used correctly in this way most people wouldn't know a flash had been used at all.
 
ok i see

i do have a sb600, although missing the stand (if required)

however i'm more a general pic taker of family/baby etc.

if say the family/babies were in the garden, what would be the quick & best set up? i.e. have no time to compose off camera flash really when baby is sat still or crawling etc.

should i use fill in flash on board or get the sb600 out onto the camera and direct it at the baby (not use to this as i trial and error with indoor bounce).

there's no way i can do off camera, unless i hold camera and flash the same time LOL. put the flash down and by the time i get back to compose the baby will be sucking on it ;-)
 
awp said:
For people shots I almost always use a SB-900 on the camera - either to add a little sparkle or to soften shadows from harsh sun. Depends on the conditions but use flash compensation of anything from -0.3 to -2.0 if I only need a touch! Experiment - every situation is different. Used correctly in this way most people wouldn't know a flash had been used at all.
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thanks may take the camera with me this evening when i take the 8 month old for a stroll after work.

need to decide to use the 50mm or the 18-200
 
Just keep trying different things till you get a result you are happy with - post some pics up here too.

If the sun is out - use that as your main light and fill in with flash - or use the sun as a back light and use your flash for front light. Lots of ways to do it without getting too complicated - just try to get a nice balance between the two - keep it subtle. Once you've mastered the basics then you can start playing with off camera flash - multi flash - all sorts of interesting stuff. But for subjects on the move nothing like an on camera flash just to make the pic come alive.
 
i might travel light on our walk as i carry my 8 month old

take the D90 + 50mm 1.8 and use the onboard camera.
I'll stick it in Aperature mode with manual on camera flash later
 
went out just after 6pm with the 8month old

d90 + 50mm, played about with Aperatures, had flash on.
does it matter on rear flash etc.

anyway i stopped low f's and pics came out very over blown too much light LOL

i took a few with and without flash on at f8 area which was better, and can see the difference with the flash.

but none were any good lol
 
p1tse said:
there's no way i can do off camera, unless i hold camera and flash the same time LOL. put the flash down and by the time i get back to compose the baby will be sucking on it ;-)
Click to expand...

Bungee / Tape / Tie the flash to a tree / fence / stick in the ground, set it then sit down let the little one play in the grass and compose away.
 
yep -0.7

f1.8 was a no no lol

putting them on photobucket as we speak just to show you guys.

the photos are jpegs from the camera.
if edited only cropped or in iphoto 09 enhance picture selected which adjusts exposure, saturation etc. automatically.

just need a faster internet connection LOL
 
going to feel embarrassed as my pics are rubbish to the ones above, but as you guys helped, worth showing what i did in 5-10mins, jpeg out of camera.

without flash:

DSC_2958.jpg


with flash:

DSC_2956.jpg


cropped:

DSC_2957.jpg
 
examples of how f1.8 doesn't work in my situation lol

DSC_2964.jpg


DSC_2952.jpg


DSC_2950.jpg
 
more examples:

DSC_2968-1.jpg


DSC_2947.jpg


DSC_2967.jpg
 
why on earth were you shooting at 1/200th @ f/1.8 - how were you metering these?
 
awp said:
why on earth were you shooting at 1/200th @ f/1.8 - how were you metering these?
Click to expand...

amateur i am - hands up to that LOL

just got the camera out quickly after work, put it on Aperature setting and played with different f number settings
 
oskanoears said:
I used 1 flash at 1/8th power off camera fired by a radio trigger.. available on here for pennies from flash in the pan.. I used max sinc of 250th second to kill as much ambient and f22 again due to brightness.
hope this helps a little il post the shots of people later when iv uploaded em and explain the setup.
Cheers Andy
Click to expand...


i should have tried f22 too due to brightness
 
You shouldn't have to do any guess work at all - put it on aperture priority - choose f/8 200ISO and see what shutter speed you get. Let the camera do the work - at least until you know what you are doing. You need to expose correctly - or slightly underexpose the ambient light - and then add flash. You need to take it one step at a time though.
 
awp said:
You shouldn't have to do any guess work at all - put it on aperture priority - choose f/8 200ISO and see what shutter speed you get. Let the camera do the work - at least until you know what you are doing. You need to expose correctly - or slightly underexpose the ambient light - and then add flash. You need to take it one step at a time though.
Click to expand...

ah thanks

i'll give it ago next time
 
Very rarely, prefer to shoot in soft natural light, the only time I do use flash is in bright sunlight to fill shadows.
 
Soft flatish light can be great but tends to look a bit cr+p in newsprint - so a little boost from the flash just sorts that and gives the pic some life. All depends on what you're going to do with the picture.
 
awp said:
Soft flatish light can be great but tends to look a bit cr+p in newsprint - so a little boost from the flash just sorts that and gives the pic some life. All depends on what you're going to do with the picture.
Click to expand...

Fair comment, I think in these situations, where the image needs a bit of a boost it's realistic to use.

Soft natural light, particularly overcast cloud is my favourite light.

Flash would have destroyed an image like this.

111779084_QFhnY3an_VK0I3549m.jpg
 
thanks

this was just experimenting in a 10 minutes window of using flash outdoors

the white top and white ish sky doesn't help

really need to learn the basics, and just never really find the time.

although the D90 gives great pictures out of the box too
 
Important as it is to learn using your speedlite in different situations, don't dismiss using a reflector now and then. A small tri-flector for around £15 can make all the difference, and can fold down into a small pouch and is light to carry.
 
Les: that is a great picture.
 
As promised I havent processed any others yet!

4544622918_55ba4d820b_o.jpg


Settings are as as follows x2 flash units used off camera in a cross lighting setup i.e light in line with each other either side of the model lights were set to 1/8 power and a CTO (colour temp orange gel was used on both lights as we shot at sun down to warm the image up sun was behind rob although near set at this juncture! iso200 1/250 and f8 24-70 lens used and the low angle for that donald trump look lol
 
awp said:
why on earth were you shooting at 1/200th @ f/1.8 - how were you metering these?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing the OP's flash was either left 'normal' or set to rear-sync. Therefore the camera defaulted to the sync speed.

@OP if shooting in daylight, you may well need a shutter speed faster than 1/200th (or whatever the flash sync speed of your camera is). In this case, set your flash to high speed sync, or whatever Nikon call it. This will reduce the effective power of your flash, so you won't be able to shoot at great distances, but it allows you to fill in when using faster shutter speeds. :thumbs:
 
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