Flash photography tip: Overpower daylight for a studio effect

Thursday 2 January 2025, 20:10 by Elja Trum | 2,639 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

With flash photography, you can create your own studio almost anywhere by overpowering the available daylight. You are then left with only the flash light, giving you full control over where you want the light.

Isabelle, ambient light (left), overpowered with flash (right)
Is the location you are in not interesting? First, make sure that the available light disappears by increasing your shutter speed, stopping down your aperture and lowering your ISO.

Do you get a black photo? You now have a black canvas on which to create your photo. By adding flash light where you want light, you retain full control over your lighting, just as in a studio.

If there is a lot of ambient light, such as outside on a sunny day, this is more difficult. You may need one or more powerful flashes, or you need to use your flash's high-speed sync option to overpower the daylight. Also, look for a shady spot.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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2 comments

Thijs wrote on Friday 3 January 2025 at 06:59 | reply
In too much daylight, you could also use an ND filter to make your base canvas darker.
Translated from Dutch.

Elja Trum wrote on Friday 3 January 2025 at 09:00 | reply
Sure, it can happen that you need high-speed sync. You still need a powerful flash then; after all, the ND filter also blocks your flash light.
Translated from Dutch.

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