how to shoot into a car with no flash?

[evilonion]

i feel like a complete tool for asking such a simple question but say you have a person sitting in a car, i want a shot of that person to be well exposed but also outside the car well exposed.

door is open, im drivers side shooting person in passenger side...

spot metering blows out the background, and other options make the inside of the car too dark.

is it a case of having to blend 2 exposures or can this be done?
using flash resulted in far too much shadow, or would you just use the flash on manual with a slight bit of fill?

I thought this shot would be easy but all my efforts have come out pretty rubbish to be honest.

some example of various shots. brides, models etc
http://www.ichauffeur.co.uk/a/i/rolls-royce-wedding-car-bride-gl.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ambermodels/6316907694/

As im writting this im starting to think maybe a low setting on manual flash as a slight fill with a diffuser of some sort. but i dont want to end up blowing highlights if the camera is metering the whole scene.

 

[18%grey]

You have virtually answered your own question a couple of times.

I would meter for surrounding daylight keeping every thing on manual with the shutter speed within the flash synch of the camera your using.
Then just add a bit of fill flash to taste on a manual setting, 1/8 1/4 1/2 power etc.

 

[specialman]

To keep the shadows in check, think about making the light bigger and closer - apparent light size and all that. Also, stick a reflector just out of shot to bounce some fill into the shot.

Shooting in open shade might help - interior and exterior light levels might be closer this way

 

[evilonion]

ok thanks i'll go back and try this....again!