Mid-Day seaside shoot advice

SimpsonBrothers

I'm shooting a couple at the worst time of day (1:30pm) next to the ocean. (the only time they have available)

Advice please?

I thought I read something about going down 2 stops and using a flash to fill? I've got a 580exII and a 550ex I could slave.

Help!

Qarik

the key to mid-day shooting people with no shade is hi speed sync along with some post processing that you might not use normally. You are trying to over power or balance the sun as ambient with your flash and it is difficult to do solely with aperture imo. You still may want to blur the background a bit as well so shooting at f22 may not be the best choice. see this thread of mine:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=170164

I was riding my flash exposire from -1 to -2 stops which is more flash then you might use for fill flash in shade since you are fighting the sun and shutter speed ranged from 1/3200 to 1/500 sec.

for processing in light room I had to bump up my fill light considerably still to reduce shadows and then readjust blacks to fit taste then touch up with curves to get the overall look back to something I liked.

dogwood

Another way to do it is to get an assistant to hold a scrim over the couple and have someone else hold a reflector to boost the light on the couple.

That's how this was shot (mid-day, no shade):