Outdoor Night Photography

KevinTCary · May 3, 2013

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum and I've heard it's really nice in here, so I've decided to give it a try.

)
Actually, I'm sort of in the need of advice. I'm going to shoot a birthday party that's going to take place outdoors and I don't really know what the lighting is going to be like. My fear is that there won't be anything to bounce my flash off of, and I work without an assistant, so off-camera flash isn't possible.
Should I use any kind of light modifier? I am thinking of Gary Fong's Lightsphere, for instance, or those white caps made by Sto-Fen or Vello... What do you guys think? should I bother buying any of those?
I've been photographing for quite a while as an amateur, but I've only started professionally, so I really want my clients to be happy about my work.
Thanks for reading, I'll be waiting for your answers.

)

Stacylouwho · May 3, 2013

I went to a wedding this weekend and the photographer only used a diffuser cap on her external flash. I would recommend that. I am still pretty new, but that might help make the lighting a bit softer.

tirediron · May 3, 2013

Seems to me that if you've started out professionally, a fairly basic issue like this shouldn't need mentioning, but, yes, I would definitely use a diffuser of some sort; ideally one of the the small soft-box style and perhaps even in conjunction with one of the translucent 'Tupperware' caps. More importantly though, will be the use of a bracket to get the speedlight off of the camera.

TCampbell · May 3, 2013

Stacylouwho said:
I went to a wedding this weekend and the photographer only used a diffuser cap on her external flash. I would recommend that. I am still pretty new, but that might help make the lighting a bit softer.

Recognize how those "diffuser" caps work. It's not like you can just pop one on and everything is fixed.

When we talk about "diffused" light, we're not talking about shooting through a milky plastic... we're talking about making the light appear to originate from a broad area rather than a pinpoint source. Take the shade off of a table lamp and you'll notice objects cast shadows from the relatively confined size of the light bulb. Put the lampshade back on (needs to be the type that allows light to glow through the shade) and you'll notice that the entire shade appears to glow... now instead of a "bulb" a few inches across, you've got a glow that's a few feet across. Suddenly all shadows are very soft... they don't have well-defined edges, but instead have gradual transitions from light to shadow. That's what we mean by "soft diffuse light".

When you point a flash straight up to the ceiling, you get a diffuse shower of light raining down from the ceiling. BUT... what you lack is light coming forward from the point of view of the camera. If you're too close to a subject, you get "raccoon eyes" (shadows in the eye sockets because all the light was coming from above.) When you put one of those diffuser caps on the camera, it causes some light to kick sideways (even though the flash is pointed straight up). That fills in some of the shadow that would have occurred had you bounced the flash with no diffuser.

BTW, you can ALSO diffuse the light by sliding out the flash's bounce card (which kicks light forward) -- provided the flash has a bounce card. If not, you can attach any white card to the head of the flash to help it kick a fraction of the light forward... I've seen people use a piece of white plastic flexible material and a rubber band -- though commercial solution's like Peter Gregg's card are also available.

You can also "feather" the flash by tilting the flash head slightly forward rather than just pointing it straight up. If you're shooting a group from a bit of a distance you'd probably want to feather the flash anyway.

Sw1tchFX · May 3, 2013

KevinTCary said:
Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum and I've heard it's really nice in here, so I've decided to give it a try. )
Actually, I'm sort of in the need of advice. I'm going to shoot a birthday party that's going to take place outdoors and I don't really know what the lighting is going to be like. My fear is that there won't be anything to bounce my flash off of, and I work without an assistant, so off-camera flash isn't possible.
Should I use any kind of light modifier? I am thinking of Gary Fong's Lightsphere, for instance, or those white caps made by Sto-Fen or Vello... What do you guys think? should I bother buying any of those?
I've been photographing for quite a while as an amateur, but I've only started professionally, so I really want my clients to be happy about my work.
Thanks for reading, I'll be waiting for your answers. )

If you're outside, why not just 86 the flash alltogether? Why do you think you have to use a flash? Shoot at an angle where the sun is to their backs and call it good. On camera flash outside looks terrible anyway.

KmH · May 3, 2013

Uh, no Sun! - Outdoor Night Photography :lol:

OP. You can do OCF by yourself, and without a flash bracket. Just hold the flash in your left hand. You can then position the flash unit anywhere within the length of your arm - high. low, in between.

Of course you will need a way to trigger the OCF unit, either with a built-in OCF trigger system like Nikon's CLS Commander mode, a hot shoe to flash unit cable. or a radio trigger set up.

Tony S · May 4, 2013

When I'm out shooting an assignment I always carry my flash with a cable, that way I always have off camera flash available. No fancy brackets, no assistants needed, just stick out your arm. You can also adjust the direction of the light so you can feather it by using just the edges of the light the flash produces.

Figure out your set up before hand and practice. Also know how to light to use the ambient light with flash, how to drag your shutter for moition effects, and set the shutter curtain sync (and know the results from either).

ktan7 · May 17, 2013

Gary fong light diffuser will help a lot. Make sure you have it pointed it upwards toward the roof. The dome will spread the light evenly and soft.

rambler · May 18, 2013

With some shots especially at close range, underexpose your subject by at least 2 stops, probably 3, if it is quite bright, then use the flash held out to your side. Also experiment with your flash at different power levels.