outdoor shoot : strobist style

[pongerts]

Good day peeps!

Hope everyone's doing great!

I have a question regarding outdoor shoots and exposure metering.

I would like to shoot outdoors involving both the subject and the sky (cloud formations)

(I have an off camera flash available to me, (GadgetInfinity stuff))

my question is, what exposure metering should I use? (spot, centered, matrix)?

do I first exposure lock onto the sky then recompose with the subject?

or do I expose for the subject and let the camera do the rest?

thanks again guys!!!

 

[Derrel]

I think the easiest way to do this type of shot is to meter the ambient highlight areas and set the camera,in manual exposure mode, to the correct exposure for the highlights. Determine how you want the highlights to look first--bright, normal, or dim, and use an appropriate combination of ISO, shutter speed, and f/stop to get the ambient light level right. Shutter speed can only be set as high as the maximum synch speed, so that tops out at 1/250 or 1/200 on many current d-slr models.

Say the light is dim outdoors. Let's say the ambient light looks good at ISO 200, 1/125 second at f/4.8. Adjust the flash so that the flash exposure is correct for an ISO setting of 200, and an exposure of roughly f/4.8 to f/5.6. Adjust the flash-to-subject distance to get the correct flash exposure for the "look" of the flash that you want to have. Making minor flash exposure adjustments can usually be done by moving the flash and umbrella a bit closer or farther from the subject.

There *are* other ways to do this. This is a simple,fast way.

 

[pongerts]

great! thanks for the ideas.

does anyone else have tips for me? thanks!

 

[Big Mike]

That sounds like how I would probably do it. Meter the ambient light (using whatever method) and set your exposure for that (in manual mode). I tend to like slightly underexposing the background, especially when there is sky in the scene. Remember to keep your shutter speed at or under the max flash sync speed.

Then all you have to do, if figure out what power the flash needs to be set at. A flash meter can be very handy but trial and error can get you close if you don't have a meter.

Depending on how bright the background is, you might need a lot of flash power and/or have your flash rather close to your subject. The problem is that because you are limited to the max sync speed, say 1/200, you might need a rather small aperture to keep the background exposure under control. But as the aperture gets smaller, you need more flash power. This is why it takes a powerful flash to compete with bright sunlight.