question for fill flash experts....

[adam75south]

so i'm taking my girlfriend to the movies last night and as we get in the car, i realize that the sky was absolutely beautiful...very red clouds and everything...so i run inside to get the camera and the sky already changed to gray...seriously within 30 seconds..but i went ahead and took a pic of her and it turned out horrible...she was way too dark and the sky was too.

but we had to go so i couldn't mess with it.

my question is...should i meter for the sky, then set the camera exactly at that and let the flash do the rest? thanks in advance.

[aparmley]

I struggle with flash too so I'm not an expert, but I believe one of the beauty's of TTL-II is that you can exposure lock on the sky, and then recompose, focus on your subject and the camera will figure out a pretty accurate fill flash output to properly eluminate your subject. . . Please everyone correct me if I'm wrong, but thats how I under stood it to work.

[DonSchap]

I use a bounce reflector for this kind of shot... it keeps the light soft and you meter for the sky.

Similar to this diagram...
16225

You may want to substitute a mini-flood light for the strobe pictured here, but remember... incandescent light flutters at 60hz... causing a pulsating light during long exposure. Any movement by your subject will be noticed. (Notice the amusing effect of how the pig's wings are frozen... in mid-flap) ;)

[jamison55]

I struggle with flash too so I'm not an expert, but I believe one of the beauty's of TTL-II is that you can exposure lock on the sky, and then recompose, focus on your subject and the camera will figure out a pretty accurate fill flash output to properly eluminate your subject. . . Please everyone correct me if I'm wrong, but thats how I under stood it to work.

That's exactly how you do it.

Or if you're taking more than one shot, put it into P mode, aim at the sky look at the aperture/shutter speed that the camera chooses and switch to M mode. In M mode put in the settings that the camera selected in "P", aim your flash at your GF and fire:

http://k53.pbase.com/o5/30/516430/1/68105154.QqdXDkMi.NicoleCarlosP14.JPG


Even better if you have a Gazebo or something to bounce your flash off of:

http://k43.pbase.com/o5/30/516430/1/68105155.KqaLVTew.NicoleCarlosP15.jpg

[timmciglobal]

Should be a warning under Jamison's posts that say

"Warning: Shots posted as example, skill is required along with above listed directions to acheive similar results"

:p

Tim

[24Peter]

Jamie!
Well I think that technique is sound for the lighting conditions Jamie so beautifully presented. But I'm not sure that's gonna work under the midday sun. Adam - I know you were talking about driving home and getting some shots before the sun set. But for anyone who is going to be outside in the middle of the day, metering off the sky will way underexpose your subject and all the flash in the world may not help. Under those conditions, if I'm relying on an on-camera flash (e.g., Canon speedlite), I use center-weighted metering off my subject and let the E-TTL II do it's thing and live with bright skies. An alternative is to get an off camera flash setup and then go into manual mode. That's what I did here: http://imageevent.com/24peter/modeljenla I even used a polarizer to darken the skies but had enough fill flash to make it work.

[noyjimi]

Not sure I got what the exact conditions you have in mind, but on my Metz I'd meter for ambient if there's plenty and set the flash two stops under that. (probably the conditions Peter shows) On something like the first image that Jamie posted, I'd meter for the sky and set the flash about one stop under in auto mode. You can try HSS in the first scenario if it's very sunny to exceed the flash sync.

[adam75south]

well here's the conditions i'm talking about...that's my girlfriend. i know she looks about 16 but she's really 20. she satisfies my pedofilic urges.

p.s. that's a joke in case some of you are sitting there wondering.

anyway, that is with a crapload of photoshopping. both the sky and her were underexposed...she was WAYYY underexposed, you can tell by the almost frecklish skin tone on her chest and face. she's gonna kill me if she sees i posted it haha. and this is really small so it would look ok, the original is horrible.

[24Peter]

both the sky and her were underexposed...she was WAYYY underexposed...
B/c you metered off the sky not her face right?

[adam75south]

funny thing is they were both way underexposed...just the sky not as much as her. but yea, i definitely need to get a chance to play with it some more and get it right.