Questions regarding Sunlight (My arch enemy )

azlpeterson · Dec 30, 2011

So I want to preface this with a few points:
1. I am a newb here. Please be gentle.
2. For the most part, I only want to improve my photography for my own purposes; although, most of my friends suggest I get into business, I feel I have a lot to learn when it comes to lighting, especially in sunny, bright situations.
3. I have tried to search for answers to my questions, but I don't seem to word them to yield the right answers for what I'm looking for, so I'm hoping a "human" will be able to decipher exactly what I'm looking to do.

So... I take okay photos for what I want most of the time, as long as the sun isnt a part of the equation.

Exhibit A: Was taken on an overcast day, with my flash pointed up (something else I need to learn how to use better), but in any case, I was really happy with how this came out. There was some post-processing done to jazz it up a bit, but overall, happy with the SOOC version as well.

Now this morning, which has prompted me even further to look for answers to my questions is this:
Exhibit B:

It just looks awful! I can't seem to find the right settings to make the flash work in conjunction with the camera to give me exactly what I need. I HAVE to have a high shutter speed for when she starts waving her hands around, but with the flash I can only get up to 1/250. Aperature f/10-f/16 depending on where we were standing, ISO 200. Flash pointed straight ahead. Most of the time I take a lot of pictures in the house, but I REALLY desperately want to learn how to take pictures outside, in the BRIGHT sunshine and have them come out as professional looking as my lens will allow.

So, do I need an ND filter for this kind of work? How do I make my flash to do what I want, most of the time I use my flash indoors and bounce off the ceiling with a diffuser cap, and they come out usually looking really great to me. But outside is just a whole other game. Any tips, any reading material online or hardcopy, anything will be welcome responses.

I hope I made sense and I am really sorry if this kind of thing is somewhere else in the forum, I just wasn't using the right search words? Thanks in advance!

cgipson1 · Dec 30, 2011

#1 beautiful little girl! Not a bad shot.. but the TILT destroys the shot! Looks like she is going to slide right out of the photo!

#2 vertical orientation would be much better.. she wouldn't be cut in half! Outdoors in harsh sunlight.. the flash will act as fill, to lighten the shadows. If looks like it did this somewhat... but you will not be able to overpower the sun. You can see good facial detail.. so it is not bad at all. A little more flash wouldn't hurt, or even a reflector on the girls left.

What camera system do you have.. what flashes.... and how was the flash setup? TTL? manual?

creisinger · Dec 30, 2011

Shot #1: Awesome model. Lighting works great (she IS in the shade though so it's not direct sunlight!). The angle is a bit too much for my taste. A little less tilting would have done the trick.

#2: I couldn't get the on camera/speedlight work well in direct sunlight and still get a natural feel. I'd rather bounce the light off of a white sheet or reflector to diffuse the light and create nice soft fill light. Everything else (shorter exposure times) will come naturally and so will the photos. Keep going!

Sean1965 · Dec 30, 2011

Try to shoot a lil earlier or a lil later then the sun isnt as harsh

willis_927 · Dec 30, 2011

When the sun is overhead as in photo #2, try and find a nice shaded area to prevent the blotchy sunlight. Then, if you are keeping your flash on camera, point it up and use a bounce card on the flash, that works fairly well.

SCraig · Dec 30, 2011

azlpeterson said:
Exhibit A: Was taken on an overcast day, with my flash pointed up (something else I need to learn how to use better), but in any case, I was really happy with how this came out. There was some post-processing done to jazz it up a bit, but overall, happy with the SOOC version as well.

Unless you have a bounce card on your flash it isn't going to do much pointed up when you are outside. Or am I missing something?

willis_927 · Dec 30, 2011

heres a cool link for a DIY bounce card, which I use and it works quite well. Fairly cheap to make.... I picked up all the needed materials from Michaels Crafts...

Do-It-Yourself Flash Bounce Card

azlpeterson · Dec 30, 2011

I am actually quite happy with the first shot, this was actually for a friend of mine (her mother). There was some rubbish in the picture as this was shot in her garden, even with the DOF, it was a god awful bright yellow and all I could do was to tilt and crop. Although I agree, less tilting would have been preferable, I was happy I caught the expression in the end. The mom of this little girl had paid over 200.00 for a photo shoot with a seriously retarded guy who was shooting in a studio with a low enough shutter speed that when he finally managed to take one decent photo of her, her leg was blurred when she kicked out and took away from the whole picture. She was pretty upset but too nice to have said anything so I asked her if she'd like for me to get some shots for her for free and see if any of them were a winner.
But anyhow, I used this picture as an example of how disappointing the SECOND photo was for me to take, it just felt like nothing I did this morning made any different to trying to get a realistic but not overblown picture. I took this around 10 AM.

I use: Canon 50D, 18-200mm EF-S IS Canon Lens, and a Canon Speedlite 550EX TTL, was set up TTL, not manual. I will admit, I don't know how to use it very well. I find it really useful inside as I mentioned, but really knowing how to use it outside is something I'm still learning. I have tried to find some good literature about it but I am more of a practice/trial & error at the end of the day.

Naturally I could try to situate all of my photo shoots during overcast days or in the shade, but I have seen some great shots during a sunny day, wide open out in a field, kind of thing and I want to know basically how to obtain the same great shots.

I have a reflector but since its usually just me and my daughter, and I'm trying to capture her running around so its hard to really do both. even with putting the camera on a tripod and using a remote would probably not yield very good results, either I'd be in the shots or she'd be nowhere to be seen and I'd be running around behind her with a reflector, oh could you imagine that with a 2 year old? LOL! The bounce card looks like a great idea though!!! I will try that and see how I go! Thanks for that one!

willis_927 · Dec 30, 2011

azlpeterson said:
Naturally I could try to situate all of my photo shoots during overcast days or in the shade, but I have seen some great shots during a sunny day, wide open out in a field, kind of thing and I want to know basically how to obtain the same great shots.
!

Why don't you post a link to some of the examples you like, and maybe we can help you figure out how to achieve the results.

rexbobcat · Dec 30, 2011

Use a diffuser/reflector.

cgipson1 · Dec 30, 2011

Try one of these: Demb Flash Products - Flip-it! the variable-angle flash reflector

I use one a lot when shooting moving subjects outdoors and in.... this was a bright sunny day...

Hannah by CGipson Photography, on Flickr

Tony S · Dec 31, 2011

Have you tried using the high speed sync on your camera/flash for those outdoor shots? You are not trying to light the whole scene with the flash when shooting a subject like that, you are only looking for small bit of fill light to touch up the shadows a bit, the sun is your main light source. In bright sun it's often times easier to use a reflector only, a large piece of white poster board can work nicely for this. There's been a few times I resorted to pulling out the sun shade my wife puts in the windshield of her car as a reflector. It's handy and since it folds it can be set up so no one has to hold it by using the folds.

azlpeterson · Dec 31, 2011

willis_927 said:
azlpeterson said:

Naturally I could try to situate all of my photo shoots during overcast days or in the shade, but I have seen some great shots during a sunny day, wide open out in a field, kind of thing and I want to know basically how to obtain the same great shots.
!

Click to expand...

Why don't you post a link to some of the examples you like, and maybe we can help you figure out how to achieve the results.

I can't actually send you a link to the specifics in my mind but here is one photog who has some great daytime shots in her portfolio:
http://my4hensphotography.com/index2.php#/gallery_sec1/

azlpeterson · Dec 31, 2011

cgipson1 said:
Try one of these: Demb Flash Products - Flip-it! the variable-angle flash reflector

I use one a lot when shooting moving subjects outdoors and in.... this was a bright sunny day...

Could you tell me which of these you prefer most and why? It looks very useful!

azlpeterson · Dec 31, 2011

Tony S said:
Have you tried using the high speed sync on your camera/flash for those outdoor shots? You are not trying to light the whole scene with the flash when shooting a subject like that, you are only looking for small bit of fill light to touch up the shadows a bit, the sun is your main light source. In bright sun it's often times easier to use a reflector only, a large piece of white poster board can work nicely for this. There's been a few times I resorted to pulling out the sun shade my wife puts in the windshield of her car as a reflector. It's handy and since it folds it can be set up so no one has to hold it by using the folds.

I didnt know about High Speed Sync, I just googled it and enabled it! I tried it out and I am excited to see it in action! I will try it out tomorrow if I get the chance and report back my results! Thanks for that! There is a lot I don't know yet!

If its just you & you have to shoot a child (boy that sounds wrong).... how would you go about using the reflector? Any tips?