Poolside Portraits and sad news

Coney_Island_Gary

Today I tried to take portraits outside. It was sunny so I tried to use “fill flash”. Every photo with fill flash was completely washed out, like polar bears in a snowstorm. I should be disappointed. However, since somehow, I had the image size set to small super fine, all of the images taken were pixilated (pure rubbish) with the exception of these three. As I do not know how to add more than one image at a time the other two will follow. (Sorry)

Char Outside 2.jpg

I now have my camera set to RAW.

Coney_Island_Gary

Second Image
Char Outside 4.jpg

Coney_Island_Gary

Image 3
Char Outside 3a.jpg

PremiumMalt

I personally never use the flash on sunny days. I do not know if that is good or bad.

Coney_Island_Gary

PremiumMalt wrote:

I personally never use the flash on sunny days. I do not know if that is good or bad.

In my inexperienced hands it is a bad thing!

cmason

These are especially tough because the background is so bright. There is just too many stops difference between the background and the subject.

I find that fill flash is incredibly important taking portraits outside. If not electronic fill, then using a reflector to get natural fill. The trick is to dial the fill back considerably, to get the image you are after. I usually start by reducing the output of my flash by -2 EV or more, and that gives me a good place to start.

A great tool to help you along with this is an old PopPhoto article that you can read here, since it is no longer on the PopPhoto web site.

edit: found it on Popphoto: http://web4.popphoto.com/howto/706/fill-flash-cheat-sheet.html

After you absorb that, then the graduate level course is the famous EOS Flash tome at photonotes.org
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Nikolai

PremiumMalt wrote:

I personally never use the flash on sunny days. I do not know if that is good or bad.

1) Rule#1: do NOT shoot people on a sunny day under direct sun
2) Rule#2: if you have to break the Rule#1 - use fill flash, dialed down -2/3 .. -1 stop from the ambient. Better yet, add 1/4 CTO gel, which will take care of dialing down the flash and bring the color temperature where you want it.

Qarik

for outside fill flash..you can not use ttl. It has to be manul flash set at maybe 1/8 power or so

cmason

Qarik wrote:

for outside fill flash..you can not use ttl. It has to be manul flash set at maybe 1/8 power or so

Of course you can. You simply need to inform TTL that you wish the flash to be lower power. Dial in the FEC and shoot away.

Nikolai

Qarik wrote:

for outside fill flash..you can not use ttl. It has to be manul flash set at maybe 1/8 power or so

Why?
I'm not saying that you should (I don't personally, but I'm a control freak) but you most certainly can... Just FEC it down a stop or so...

Flutist

Qarik wrote:

for outside fill flash..you can not use ttl. It has to be manul flash set at maybe 1/8 power or so

I always use TTL outside

momwac

A tip for your "sad news" ...
You (OP) were using a wide aperture in bright sunlight. That's a sure recipe for blown-out overexposure, unless you were using high-speed sync on the flash (if you were using the on-camera flash, no joy there).

Reason: High-speed sync allows you to use higher shutter speeds, a necessity with wide apertures in bright light. Using a flash that doesn't support HSS (or using it in some mode other than HSS) will force your camera to use a shutter speed of 1/250s or even slower -- which will result in an image several stops brighter than the images you've posted here with shutter speeds of 1/2000s. Those highlights will still be blown too much for you to recover them from a RAW file.

If your flash supports HSS, you can use E-TTL outdoors. First, take an exposure in aperture priority without the flash, with the aperture you want to use (e.g., f/2.5). Then set your camera to manual exposure with those settings (e.g., f/2.5, 1/2000s) -- dial it down (to a faster shutter speed) if you want the background to be darker.

After you've set your camera for those settings, mount the flash, turn it on, and set it to HSS mode. Then take the picture. If you want less flash and more natural light, set the flash exposure compensation to -1 or so (or more, if you wish) and take it again.

Doing it takes a lot less time than typing or reading it.

Rhuarc

So I've actually been wondering some of these same things. I have the 420EX, which does not have a manual mode. Most articles I read are directed at someone who has a manual mode!! So how should I properly use my flash for things like indoor main light, outdoor fill, indoor fill, etc... Also, and perhaps most importantly. What mode should I use the camera in? I normally shoot Av, but I find that if I shoot Av outdoors in sunny light with the flash for fill it seems to overblow the shots, even if I dial in FEC down.

momwac

Hi Rhuarc,
Here's an article you might find useful. Among other things, it describes how the EOS flash system operates in your camera's P, Av, Tv, and M modes. http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index2.html

Your 420EX supports E-TTL and high-speed sync, so the technique I mentioned above would work for you. No need to put the flash in manual mode; pick your aperture and shutter speed based on the ambient light, and put the camera in manual (M) mode with those settings. Then put the flash in HSS mode, adjust the FEC to where you'd like it, and shoot.

What's happening to you is the same thing that's happening to the OP: Shooting in Av mode, you're limited to your camera's maximum x-sync speed, which ranges between 1/60s and 1/250s for most Canon cameras (a few high-end cameras go down to 1/300s or 1/500s). And those shutter speeds are typically too slow for shooting wide open in bright sunlight. That's what high-speed sync is made for... but even if you've put your flash in HSS mode, you still have to set the shutter speed, which you can't do in Av mode.