Outdoor Potrait Photography + right exposure

[Josh66]

hum ... ND filter may not work since the effect apply on the object(s) and the background at the same time.

I think Nate meant that he used the ND so that he could get a usable aperture. He said he uses a 3 stop ND to get something around f/4. Without the ND he would have to shoot at f/11 to get the same exposure.
f/4 is generally better than f/11 for portraits.

 

[musicaleCA]

*smacks head* I knew there was a reason that I should get an ND other than daylight long exposures.

 

[Dao]

haha .. I miss his post.

I know what he mean now. I think he want to make sure that the shutter speed is slow enough so that it will not faster than the max sync speed. (if not using high speed sync)

 

[AtlPikMan]

Nice Vid..It shows me how little i know...

 

[NateS]

Yeah, Josh up there got it right. I use a ND filter to block out light so I can use a nice aperture and get some decent background blur still. I fired a couple of shots to show what I mean.

No ND obviously, no fill flash and you get blown out background but properly exposed subject.

Throw the 3 stop ND filter and some fill flash and now both the background and subject are properly exposed (I actually like the background a tad underexposed).

Anyway, point is to show that you can get a much more appealing shot by using fill flash and an ND filter if you need to block some light. I honestly would rather have a 1 or 2 stop ND filter as well. As it sits, I need to shoot at 1/100 and f/4 with the 3 stop in the above lighting conditions. I'd prefer to be at 1/200 and f/4 which could probably be done with a 2 stop ND.

Oh, and those above shots were merely quick snaps with absolutely no PP so, don't judge me by their quality...lol.

 

[NateS]

haha .. I miss his post.

I know what he mean now. I think he want to make sure that the shutter speed is slow enough so that it will not faster than the max sync speed. (if not using high speed sync)

Yup...exactly. And high Speed Sync won't work at all for this type of shooting since the flash power is way to weak. I've tried it and that's why I use the ND filter now. Just wish I had a 2 stop for shaded areas instead of my 3 stop.