Flash photography outdoor/daylight?

LawrenceChiu · Feb 25, 2012

I've been reading some articles and people say that using flash for portrait outdoor/daylight is the best to fill in the shadow.
I have a pretty cheap flash, but still better than a popeye flash, a Sunpak PZ40XII.
What's the best way to use it?
Should I find something to diffuse it with?
I find that if I put printer paper over it, the light gets soften.
Should I use the flash as normal for outdoor and put a diffuse over it?

scorpion_tyr · Feb 25, 2012

I use a diffuser outside, and fill flash is a GREAT tool for outdoor photography. With a simple external flash that swivels and tilts and a reflector your possibilities are endless.

Patrice · Feb 25, 2012

A flash can be very effective outdoors. You can use it to light a subject against a bright background, you can use it to reduce the hash shadows caused by bright sun overhead (racoon eyes), you can use it to light a subject standing in shade,.... many uses for a flash outdoors.

It's a different story with those little plastic diffusers though. In most instances when used outdoors they simply rob your flash of power without contributing anything to the image. Diffusers are used to soften the light from the flash. To soften the light on a subject you have to increase the size of the light relative to the subject. Diffusers do not increase the light size, they spread it out in all directions. Thus they are most effective inside in modest to small rooms. The diffuser essentially turns your flash from a uni-directional light to and omni-directional light (similar to a bare bulb flash). The little plastic dome, or cube, or whatever, takes the light from your flash and redirects it in all directions. It is this light which is bounced back from all the surfaces around you that creates the softening effect. In essence, it is the large flat surfaces from which the light is bounced that become the main light source.

So, putting a diffuser on your flash outside redirects the flash's light in all directions but there is nothing to bounce that light back to the subject. The flash is still only a relatively very small light source in relation to your subject but with only a minute amount of its power left to actually light your subject. You have simply waisted your battery power and increased your recycle time for the sole purpose on sending photons out into open space.

The previous poster's most useful suggestion is the use of a reflector. The reflector becomes the light source and is a much larger one in relation to the subject. Remember, large light sources in relation to the subject usually means softer light on the subject.

2WheelPhoto · Feb 25, 2012

google fill flash. I know a lot of what you read on google is BS, but that topic is nailed in the 1st few hits

KmH · Feb 25, 2012

You can also visit www.planetneil.com and www.strobist.com for more info on using flash.

LawrenceChiu · Feb 25, 2012

Wait, is it a good idea to use a diffuser outdoor or just leave your flash be?

Edit: Nvm, I read some more articles and saying that it is not recommended to use a diffuser on the flash, otherwise you'll be taking the same picture without the flash. You only use a diffuser if your flash is the only main source of light. Correct? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Tiberius47 · Feb 26, 2012

If you are using one of these:

Don't use it outdoors.

The way they work is to spread the light out, so that instead of a directed beam of light coming from the flash (like you'd find in a flashlight), you get light going in all directions, like a bare lightbulb. If you are indoors, it works okay because there's usually a wall or a ceiling that the light can bounce off, which helps to fill in some of the shadows. But if you are outdoors, there are no walls, and you are just sending light off in directions where it won't work for you. This wasting of light means that you have to increase power to your flash to get the proper exposure, and you just waste your flash batteries.

To get softer light, you need to make the light source LOOK larger. A softbox or an umbrella is a good way to do this. If you have a friend with a reflector, you can bounce the flash off that.

As to your question about whether the flash is used only if the flash is the main source of light, then the answer is sometimes. It depends on the lighting effect you want to achieve. However, if you are using more than one off camera flash, then you'll have more control over the effect by using the second flash to fill in the shadows rather than relying on a diffuser to do the job.

Simply put, all the diffuser will ever do is emit light over a wider angle. There are times when this will work for you and times when it won't. It depends on the situation.