How do you balance flash and ambient light
Wednesday 12 December 2018, 21:07 by Michelle Peeters | 11,855 views | 1 commentThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
Combining flash and ambient light can be tricky. Gavin Hoey has a few very simple tricks that can help you with this. In three different setups, Gavin works with both low and moderate levels of ambient light.
If you normally meter the light with your camera and don't use any additional light sources apart from the available light, you end up with a correctly exposed, but flat and sometimes rather dull photo. He then shows you how to make your photo more exciting and make your subject stand out more from the scene.
He starts by metering the light with an external light meter and sets the camera to Manual. He makes sure that the shutter speed is still just fast enough to shoot handheld, with image stabilisation, and that there is still detail visible in the background.
He ends up with a shutter speed of 1/30 second. He also makes sure that the aperture still comes out at f/2.8 after metering the light. He does this by turning down the flash unit, with softbox and battery, so no cables or generator are needed, by two stops.
He still creates underexposure by keeping the ISO value very low, at 100, and shortening the shutter speed slightly. He then adds flash so that only the model is lit extra, while the background remains darker. This makes your model stand out from the scene, so to speak.
After the shoots, he shows a few more interesting Photoshop tips, including how to add light rays with his free downloadable light ray brushes.
Basic course in on-location flash photography
Would you like to learn more about flash? Then take the Basic Course in On-Location Flash Photography and discover, with the help of instructor Piet Van den Eynde, how you can also take beautiful photos using flash.
Piet is the author of the book Flash! Flitsfotografie op Locatie and an expert in using compact (studio) flash units.
About the author
Michelle Peeters is fotografe en oprichter van DeuxBleus Fotografie. Michelle herkent het bijzondere in het gewone en het gewone in het bijzondere. Ze heeft zich nooit willen specialiseren en is daardoor van alle markten thuis.
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1 comment
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Theotje wrote on Tuesday 9 January 2018 at 18:53
| reply
Mooie video! Heel leerzaam. Alleen die beam op het eind is niet mijn ding.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.
groet Theo
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