Outdoor portrait Lighting question

redmonkee

redmonkee

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PHILIP
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Hi guys

I want to try some outdoor portraits using my 580EX. I really like those shots where the subject is exposed using the flash and the background is underexposed.

Now I understand this shot can be achieved even in bright sunny weather but I'm not sure how one goes about metering for this.

I understand that aperture controls flash and the shutter speed controls the ambient light but I am still unsure as to how to go about doing this.

Any tips?

Phil
 
Just consider the flash exposure to be independent from the ambient exposure and deal with each separately. Firstly set a manual exposure that underexposes the background. e.g. on a sunny day a "correct" exposure might be 100 ISO, f/8, 1/400. If you want to make the background darker then either stop down further or increase shutter speed. It's your choice how far to go.

Then add the flash and adjust FEC until your subject is illuminated as you wish. You will need to enable HSS on the flash in order to shoot at shutter speeds above 1/200.

You just need to be aware of how much flash power you have and how much it is reduced when shooting with HSS. The guide on the back of the 580EX will show you the range for the settings you choose. It can get very short, especially at higher shutter speeds, so you may need to take the flash off camera so that you can shoot with a nice perspective and get the flash close enough to be effective. It is tough for one little 580EX to fight the power of the sun. Duller days makes things far easier.

Here is a test sequence I just shot at 100 ISO, f/4.5, on camera 580EX at +1 FEC. The first shot is at 1/400 and then the shutter speed is increased in 1/3 stop increments until the last shot at 1/3200. You can see that I have managed to darken the sky somewhat, while keeping my subject illumination roughly constant. At 1/3200 the flash had very little reach - these were shot at a focus distance of 1.22m...

20100227_141833.JPG


See this thread for more discussion - http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=206427
 
JasonRS said:
You're going to struggle in bright sunny weather.

Speedlights are just not powerful enough to overpower the sun and allow you to underexpose the background in such conditions.
Click to expand...

Very true, using speedlights under high sun is a bit of an uphill battle, but there are some work arounds for using them for outdoor portraits, like finding shade:

2590297090_1a126407c6.jpg


or shooting later in the day:

3791247507_3f4a5301af.jpg


It's quite possible lighting outdoor portraits speedlights, you just have to light as close as possible and pick your spots knowing that the power issue needs to be respected.
To see how bright it was for the above frame, have a look at the video.
 
JasonRS said:
Yep, later in the day the sky gets much more interesting too ;)
Click to expand...

Darn tootin' mate :thumbs: Despite having invested in higher output lighting, roll on those summer evenings for those special portraits ;)
 
Tomas Whitehouse can i ask what set up you have love the elvis shot

thanks
 
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