reducing ambient ligth without reducing flash 2

[Kbarredo]

Here are the pics for my sis shoot. they are very overexposed and blown out. it was in direct sunlight and in our backyard. The bottom one was the best i could do. As you can see there are many blowouts. I was using an sb600 flash and yes i know the background is distracting but we didnt have the time to go anywhere nice.I was using a d5000 which does not have fp sync.

 

[gsgary]

Why did you get so low, shooting up the nose is not very flatering and it also meant that you introduced the sky into the shot which is probably 3 stops above your sister, I would have exposed for the sky and had my flash on high speed sinc

 

[Ed Bray]

To balance the exposure between ambient light and flash light is quite simple:

Ambient light is controlled by your shutter speed, flash/strobe light is controlled by your aperture.

In the scenario you have quoted above, it will be very difficult for you to overpower the ambient light with a single Sb600 in the middle of the day, what you could have done is either find an area with less ambient light (under a bridge, in a woodland in a building) or waited until later in the day when the light is much lower.

Then setting the aperture you require for a correct exposure when lit by the flash you can then control the amount of ambient light by altering the shutter speed from a slowish shutter speed of say 1/30th sec (the actual flash will be much quicker than this and will prevent subject movement from showing) to the maximum sync speed of your Camera.

You can also introduce some creative effects by slowing the shutter speed down even more and getting your sister to 'do a twirl' with you tripping the shutter at an appropriate time, the flash will freeze your sister whilst the ambient light will allow some movement to show in her dress, this will also pehaps lift your images into something a little more expressive than those shown above.

 

[Ron Evers]

The EXIF data says your flash did not fire in either shot.

 

[Pgeobc]

"The EXIF data says your flash did not fire in either shot"

Nice call, Ron.

 

[Kbarredo]

K this is gonna be the third time i have said this. MY CAMERA DOES NOT HAVE FP SYNC OR HIGH SHUTTER SYNC. As for my flash not going off it did go off i was just using a cheap chinese wireless radio trigger. My problem is that i could not get the shutterspeed high enough to meter properly for the background so it became very overexposed. I tried to turn up the aperture but it also weakened my flash. Also i didnt ask for composition advice

 

[Kbarredo]

To balance the exposure between ambient light and flash light is quite simple:

Ambient light is controlled by your shutter speed, flash/strobe light is controlled by your aperture.

In the scenario you have quoted above, it will be very difficult for you to overpower the ambient light with a single Sb600 in the middle of the day, what you could have done is either find an area with less ambient light (under a bridge, in a woodland in a building) or waited until later in the day when the light is much lower.

Then setting the aperture you require for a correct exposure when lit by the flash you can then control the amount of ambient light by altering the shutter speed from a slowish shutter speed of say 1/30th sec (the actual flash will be much quicker than this and will prevent subject movement from showing) to the maximum sync speed of your Camera.

You can also introduce some creative effects by slowing the shutter speed down even more and getting your sister to 'do a twirl' with you tripping the shutter at an appropriate time, the flash will freeze your sister whilst the ambient light will allow some movement to show in her dress, this will also pehaps lift your images into something a little more expressive than those shown above.

Not what i asked at all but ok. the pics are already very overexposed so why would i slow down the shutterspeed.

 

[joealcantar]

Be nice,
-
Shoot well, Joe

 

[Kbarredo]

Be nice,
-
Shoot well, Joe

Sorry im just getting very annoyed with people not reading the whole post. Its irritating how people will not take the time to read everything and offer answers that have already been deemed useless.

 

[vtf]

Are you sure her dress is not acting as a reflector and reflecting the light, creating even more light in the scene. Was the sun behind her or you?

 

[Ed Bray]

To balance the exposure between ambient light and flash light is quite simple:

Ambient light is controlled by your shutter speed, flash/strobe light is controlled by your aperture.

In the scenario you have quoted above, it will be very difficult for you to overpower the ambient light with a single Sb600 in the middle of the day, what you could have done is either find an area with less ambient light (under a bridge, in a woodland in a building) or waited until later in the day when the light is much lower.

Then setting the aperture you require for a correct exposure when lit by the flash you can then control the amount of ambient light by altering the shutter speed from a slowish shutter speed of say 1/30th sec (the actual flash will be much quicker than this and will prevent subject movement from showing) to the maximum sync speed of your Camera.

You can also introduce some creative effects by slowing the shutter speed down even more and getting your sister to 'do a twirl' with you tripping the shutter at an appropriate time, the flash will freeze your sister whilst the ambient light will allow some movement to show in her dress, this will also pehaps lift your images into something a little more expressive than those shown above.

Not what i asked at all but ok. the pics are already very overexposed so why would i slow down the shutterspeed.

I explained how you could get the correct exposure,shoot in an area with less ambient light and then set your exposure for your flash by setting the correct aperture and then ADJUST your shutter speed to give you the exposure you require for the background, this could mean setting a slower shutter speed or not.

You do not have the tools to enable you to carry out this type of shot with the setup you describe, you would need a much higher powered Strobe/flash to overpower the ambient light, it is not possible with what you have unless you have the flash so close to the subject that you can set a very small aperture to subdue the ambient light and it this case it would probably appear in the image..

My suggestion for a slower shutter speed was to give you an idea for a more creative shot if you were going to attempt the shot in an area or time with less ambient light, I am sorry now that I bothered.

Still, with your attitude I am surprised you requested help as you obviously couldn't be bothereed to read my initial reply properly, my suggestion for setting the shutter speed between 1/30 sec and your maximum flash sync was to give you a range depending on the ambient light to enable you to balance the ambient light to the degree you wanted whilst maintaining a correct exposure.

To be frank, your attitude for someone asking for help stinks and I am surprised anyone has bothered to reply. It does you no favours. You catch a lot more flies with honey!

 

[Ed Bray]

Be nice,
-
Shoot well, Joe

Sorry im just getting very annoyed with people not reading the whole post. Its irritating how people will not take the time to read everything and offer answers that have already been deemed useless.

How ironic!

 

[misstwinklytoes]

To be frank, your attitude for someone asking for help stinks and I am surprised anyone has bothered to reply. It does you no favours. You catch a lot more flies with honey!

This.

Not everyone reads all posts and your information could have been accidentally missed. As far as telling someone you didn't ask for specific advise is rude and pointless. They were trying to help,

Good luck.

 

[jritz]

How about using a neutral density filter to lower the ambient, then adjusting the flash to balance...

 

[joealcantar]

What ISO were you shooting at?
By the looks of things you were shooting around Noon (can see the shadow on the eve of the house) and your flash did fire (can see the hard shadow behind her).
An ND filter would have helped with the ambient lighting. (adjusting the shutter is how most folks do it and long as you do not to to MAX shutter speed) even if you do and you start to get a little banding try an old trick, flip the camera upside down and take the shot , if the banding in on the bottom of the shot it may not show up too much.
You could have moved her to full shadow area and then lit her up with a reflector or the flash.
Last thing is to get a little more powerful flash/strobe to overcome the ambient. (that is why they are expensive)
-
Shoot well, Joe