Portraits in Full Sun

[PEC]

Hi Folks!

Hope you are having a great day!

A bit confused about shooting in mid day. I know I can reduce my expose easily (up to 5 stops) still shooting in Aperture preferred. I know I can use FE to do +3 stops of flash.

If I am shooting at 1/250 (sync speed) with my 85 1.4... i might want to under expose the ambient to keep the sky from blowing out... normally in A mode the camera would increase shutter speed but with a flash attached, it will not go higher then 1/250, right?

Do i need to shoot manual and stop down the aperature?

I have heard of people using ND filters to help knock down the ambient but don't you run into a limit on how strong the speedlight is?

Can someone help explain how you do shot in these less then desirable situations?

Thank you :)

[KenJulio]

You need to go into your custom menu, under flash and enable high speed sync, basically, you'll want either 1/250* or 1/320*. Also, to shoot higher than that, you'll need to shoot manual.

[venchka]

You left out the ISO variable. Knock it down to the minimum allowed with your camera.

[adamsheehy]

^^^What they said. Just shoot manual, set speed to 1/250 and play with the ISO and aperture.

I had to go look at what my settings were for my last shot outdoors - 1/100 f/8 ISO 125. I didn't touch the sky in pp and it looks like I could have stopped down a bit more.

[MyKey]

What was said above it is called "Auto FP" just set it and forget it in your menu system.

Shooting on A or in Manual mode on your camera and either iTTL or M on your flash you can now get up to 1/8000 of a second on your camera settings without a black bar on the bottom of your image.

Remember though due to how High Speed Sync (FP Auto) works you will "loose" power the faster your shutter goes since the amount of space in the curtains is so small not much light hits the sensor exposing your image. However with practice you will find it allows you to shoot wide open f/stops and still get nice light in your clients eyes.

This is the method we have shot for almost 20 years and have taught professionally for around 5-6 years now. It works and works well but it can be quite cranky if you do not know all the variables which your camera and flash meter by. :)

Hope it helps.

[texxter]

aul, shooting in full sun is tricky! Here are some ideas, in addition to using high speed sync:

• Just work with the sun and pose your subject to avoid harsh shadows.
• Diffuse the light on the subject by using a diffusion panel. This will lower the value on the subject while keeping the same value on the background - you may overexpose the background for a high key look.
• Add light to the subject by using a reflector that bounces sun light on your subject - this is particularly useful if you position the subject with the sun behind him/her and not redirect the sun light to the face with a white reflector. A silver one will produce too much specularity and cause squinting. Note also that when you add light to the subject you'll raise the value while keeping the background constant - this will darken the background when you expose correctly for the subject - perfect for lower key portraits
• Add light to the subject using a flash - instead of a reflector. You'll run into the sync speed limit unless you use high speed sync, but the principle is the same. In order to shoot wide open without high speed sync you'll need neutral density filters and a powerful strobe.
• Move to the shade and now use either reflected sunlight or flash (diffused or not) to create a sunny feel.

Here are some examples I have posted here in the past:

1. Just work with the sun and pose your subject to avoid harsh shadows. In this case I didnt use anything, just made sure the model was positioned right to achieve a "sunny" warm feeling.



2. Diffuse the light on the subject by using a diffusion panel. This will lower the value on the subject while keeping the same value on the background - you may overexpose the background for a high key look.

In this image below I had a large 4x6 difussion panel over the model in full, hot sun. The panel created soft, nondirectional iight. In order to avoid an overexposed sky I shot from above and used the grass as background.



3. Add light to the subject by using a reflector that bounces sun light on your subject - here I used a large reflector in front of the model - the light on her hair is the sun, slightly behind her, and the key light on her face is also the fun but reflected and diffused by the large reflector. The reflected light was a bit too strong and made her squint a little.



4. Add light to the subject using a flash - instead of a reflector. In the image below, taken in full sun, I overpowered the sun with massive 1,200 ws of strobe power for an unnusual effect.



5. But overpowering the sun is usually not needed, you just need to light the face when pointing away from the sun - I did that in this portrait below. The key light was a x-small Photoflex softbox with a portable flash. As above, the light on her hair is the sun, and the light on her face is the flash + sun.



6. Move to the shade and now use either reflected sunlight or flash (diffused or not) to create a sunny feel. That's what I did here, for this recent portrait of Salma. The light on her hair and arm is not the sun but a bare bulb portable flash - the day was cloudy and dull, but I wanted sunny and spring-like, so I created the perception of sunny by adding flash to the side.

[PEC]

Thanks everyone!

[jstevensphoto]

Used one Nikon sb600 with a Gary Fong do-dad. The trick is to expose for the background, where the flash will have absolutely no effect. Camera was on manual, white balance on flash.

[rebardwg]

i use ND filters and powerful strobes to compensate for the light lost while using ND filters. If you position the sun behind the subject, you wont need a flash at all. Adjust your shutter accordingly. But in the end, i guess it depends on the look you are trying to achieve.

[Donb10]

Something else that might help.

On-Camera Flash Basics

[ttruelove]

It's been mentioned, but shooting in the sun is tricky, but do-able. I tend to shoot on manual so I have the choice to increase/reduce ambient light through the shutter while controlling my DOF. Also, I never shoot outdoor without my diffuser close by. It's a cheap, but extremely useful tool. Also nearby is my off-camera flash for fill.