How do i reduce ambient light without affecting flash

[Kbarredo]

So i took some prom pics of my sis in direct sunlight. Let me just say it was all overexposed. I was at max shutter 1/200 and it was still overexposed. I highered the aperture and it stopped the sun but it also stopped the flash. Is there anything else i can do other than getting a better camera with higher sync speed. My camera does not have the feature that allows sync at higher speed. Nikon d5000. I would post some pics but im so embarrassed at how blown out some were

 

[OrionsByte]

Well it sounds like you already know that shutter speed is your ambient control I'm flash photography, but yeah when you bump up against that flash sync wall you don't have many options. Basically you just have to adjust the ISO or aperture to get the ambient light where you want it, and then bring up the flash power (either manually or using flash compensation) to make up the difference.

Also don't forget that you can make your flash "brighter" by moving it closer to your subject, so assuming you're using it off-camera, that could help you overcome the difference in exposure as well.

This is actually something I've been playing with for the last couple weeks, and it definitely takes practice, but it's rewarding when it works. Good luck!

 

[Propsguy]

This is exactly when you should post an image... this is a common difficulty, and is often simple to remedy, but an example of the particular conditions you are shooting in will get you the best advice on solving your problem....

 

[Derrel]

High Speed Synch (Canon) or FP Synch (Nikon) will give you the ability to break free of the 1/200 shutter blues.

 

[OrionsByte]

High Speed Synch (Canon) or FP Synch (Nikon) will give you the ability to break free of the 1/200 shutter blues.

Yeah, but it also takes lot of power away from the flash and drains batteries like a starving mosquito.

 

[Derrel]

High Speed Synch (Canon) or FP Synch (Nikon) will give you the ability to break free of the 1/200 shutter blues.

Yeah, but it also takes lot of power away from the flash and drains batteries like a starving mosquito.

Yes, but the loss of power in bright sunlight situations isn't that big of an issue. Since a typical well-exposured fill-flash exposure has a flash exposure component that's about 2.5, 2.7, or 3.0 f/stops less than the ambient light exposure, full-power flash in daylight for fill-in is seldom needed. And since wider apertures can be easily used, it more than offsets lowered flash power. Consider the amount of flash power that makes it through a tiny f/16 lens aperture; then, consider the amount of flash that can make it through an f/4 lens aperture. And then, consider the shutter speed hike possible...from 1/200, the user can go all the way to 1/8000 with many bodies. Any way one slices it, HSS or FP synch flash is the easiest way to reduce ambient light while providing fill-in flash. Which, as I pointed out, typically looks best somewhere between 2.5 and three full f/stops UNDER the ambient highlight exposure level.

 

[Village Idiot]

So i took some prom pics of my sis in direct sunlight. Let me just say it was all overexposed. I was at max shutter 1/200 and it was still overexposed. I highered the aperture and it stopped the sun but it also stopped the flash. Is there anything else i can do other than getting a better camera with higher sync speed. My camera does not have the feature that allows sync at higher speed. Nikon d5000. I would post some pics but im so embarrassed at how blown out some were

What flash are you using? Photos and settings would help a lot. There's tricks such as Nikon's FP Sync or bumping up your shutter speed to help kill the ambient while still allowing enough of the frame to be exposed by the flash where you can crop out the part of the photo where the black bar creeps into the frame from having too fast of a shutter speed.

High Speed Synch (Canon) or FP Synch (Nikon) will give you the ability to break free of the 1/200 shutter blues.

Yeah, but it also takes lot of power away from the flash and drains batteries like a starving mosquito.

And sometimes there's only one solution. If your flash isn't strong enough to use with an ND filter, for example, then using HSS may be the only way to kill ambient off enough to be able to use a flash.

 

[vtf]

Did you meter on the background or subject?

 

[OrionsByte]

High Speed Synch (Canon) or FP Synch (Nikon) will give you the ability to break free of the 1/200 shutter blues.

Yeah, but it also takes lot of power away from the flash and drains batteries like a starving mosquito.

Yes, but the loss of power in bright sunlight situations isn't that big of an issue. Since a typical well-exposured fill-flash exposure has a flash exposure component that's about 2.5, 2.7, or 3.0 f/stops less than the ambient light exposure, full-power flash in daylight for fill-in is seldom needed. And since wider apertures can be easily used, it more than offsets lowered flash power. Consider the amount of flash power that makes it through a tiny f/16 lens aperture; then, consider the amount of flash that can make it through an f/4 lens aperture. And then, consider the shutter speed hike possible...from 1/200, the user can go all the way to 1/8000 with many bodies. Any way one slices it, HSS or FP synch flash is the easiest way to reduce ambient light while providing fill-in flash. Which, as I pointed out, typically looks best somewhere between 2.5 and three full f/stops UNDER the ambient highlight exposure level.

Okay, good point. I've been playing with using my flash as a key light and mixing in the ambient, so I wasn't even thinking in terms of fill flash. My bad. Comes from too much indoor photography where my flash is almost always my only source of light.

 

[Kbarredo]

Ok guys I have a d5000 it does not have fp sync. I'll post pics up when I can find a comp that can read a sdhc card

 

[Derrel]

Ohhhh,sorry, I missed the D5000 reference...yeah, no FP Synch mode on that body. Well, the best way to overpower ambient with your camera model and its flash is to get to a place where the ambient light is pretty dim, such as deep shade, or late in the afternoon, closer to twilight than to noon, so that the light levels are "lowish"...when you get into that kind of ambient light, then you can overpower it with just one speedlight.

 

[Overread]

Another idea is to have a 5in1 reflector and use the diffuser panel to block out the light from the sun (though for this you would need something/someone to hold the diffuser between the light source (sun) and the subject (whilst remaining out of shot of course)). That would at least help if there were no natural points of shade or if any point of shade was still getting strong light areas present.