I was wondering would it be easier to simply take a manual meter reading with your camera of the ambient light and then under exposed that reading by a stop or two and then work with the flash On manual and simply make the adjustments with the flash as needed till you get the effect that you want?
The problem with your suggestion is he's showing how to accomplish balancing the background while the flash is in TTL. As to your suggestion of using manual flash being easier to accomplish the balancing of the light that that would depend on your equipment and or your knowledge.
great way to balance out the subject and background plus always keep the gel in mind when are facing a deep tone of light one need to hind of balance color to match the scene Nice one David
Great presentation David Bergman! I will dare mention that also using a longer lens may help the background look more out of focus but for sure difusing the Flash the way you did does the trick. Thanks for all the great videos you make so we can all better our Photography! P.S. couldn't help to notice the squirl moving all around, Lol!
Theses short videos are very effective and to the point. Even with a lot of experience, they are nice refreshers. The key to realistic Balanced Flash looking natural is that large source. TTL BL as Nikon terms it will do a very good job of balancing the light from the background and foreground subject so the photographer is left with two tasks, communicating with the model and creating a large effective light source.. The small snap-on defusers sold in every camera store are still a small source so they are not effective in creating a large relative source. Be creative, a piece of white Foamcore from the hobby store to bounce the light towards the subject is cheap and effective. Even a bedsheet if you have helpers to stretch it out will work A small 40cm folding softbox if you can bring it close can be both cheap and effective. One photoshoot I used my white Toyota FJ-40 Landcruiser as the source to bounce the speed light from
This was a good video and left very little room for making it more complete I would have liked to see other options in the video, too. 1. Aperture priority mode vs shutter priority with iso increase? What challenge to overcome w both 2. The convenience of just using the light meter along with manual priority? Again - thanks for the fine presentation as it was.
In the days when there were no digital cameras, I shot in daylight with fill in flash. I took a meter reading of the subject area and set up the shutter speed and f stop to the flash output. Example daylight meter is 1/125 at f 5.6. I would set the flash output at 5.6 & shutter at 1/125. By adjusting the shutter speed with the flash on, I was able to tweak the background darker or lighter. This was very simple and was applied to group and social events. So, I matched the f stop to the flash output and worked within the needed shutter speed for the meter reading.
I work it differently. I first do the exposure without flash and then I use the flash to fill the front a bit. Looks really natural and it's really fast ;)
Most people do it this way. Not sure why Dave uses the flash from the start instead of this method. It's not easier and it certainly doesn't save any time. But we all have our ways we're comfortable doing things I suppose.
You mean you take the photo without the flash in program or aperture mode, get the shutter speed (in other words use your camera as a light meter), then to into Shutter or Manual mode, set the shutter speed to what it was before, turn on the flash and take your photo. Check your foreground lighting level and power down if the flash is too strong. You can adjust either ISO or shutter speed, but I usually adjust the shutter speed unless it gets too extreme.
I'm so glad I get to watch all these educative videos from David..... I can gladly say that I'm getting better and better at using flash, even much better than my peers. Good bless for these videos
100 iso to 640 is 2 2/3 stops. This is how much he initially underexposed the ambient at the very beginning. This is why the first images had such deep black shadows across her face and the shadow was harsh even though he used a 60" modifier which is generally considered to "soften the light" at a relatively close distance. Therefore, the size of the light source is not only relative to the distance from the subject but also relative to the available ambient light. Also, if only a small speed light was used with no modifier and the ambient was 2/3's of a stop under it would give the very similar results as the 60" modifier.
David you always amaze me on how you can simplify things and make it look like it's just a simple one two three type of thing you always make it look like a plug-and-play type of deal I love it please keep doing what you do best Adorama is lucky to have you goodbye and good luck
what was your flash power when you first started and what were the numbers when you turned it down? 1/2 > 1/4 or 1/8? My subjects are somewhat washed out and the background is dark?
Great Great simple and effective tutorial video as always David. Question: I noticed, and you said that you were in a shaded area. However, if the sun was to creep through and lit up the area, where would you place the model and the soft light relative to the Sun? Thanks in advance.
I havent tried this myself, and maybe I'm wrong, but when David bumps his ISO to 640, it brightens the background, but wouldn't it also brighten up his subject resulting in an overexposed subject (because of the fill flash)?
The thing about raising the ISO is that it will raise the exposure of the ambient light in the scene, resulting in having to dance with balancing ambient light and flash even more. It's counterproductive to use ISO for flash exposure here.
Hi Niranjan. It may depend on your camera model, but in general the answer is no - once you have a flash on, you can only decrease exposure compensation, not increase it. The best way to have control over the background exposure is to shoot manual (the background shouldn't be changing exposure too much) and then use E-TTL and flash exposure comp to light your subject. Some very modern cameras give you the option to balance more ambient light into a flash picture, but you still won't have much control over the background. Start by exposing for your background, lock in those settings, and then let the camera figure out flash exposure with E-TTL. I recommend against manual flash power settings - if the distance from flash to subject changes even a bit, the flash power has to change.
@@davelaird I actually prefer Manual flash for actual photo shoots. You can get your model to stay within a certain distance to the flash. It's not an event. If TTL works for you with the way you shoot then awesome but for my shoots it's Manual flash for me. I really only use TTL for events.
Great videa Dan but I still have a few questions mostly related to camera settings. I am shooting with the R5 as well and when I shoot outdoors with fill flash I am typically using my Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 or my RF 24-105 along with my Godox AD200 pro. That said I have the EF50 but i have not tried that lens. I often add either an umbrella or softbox. When shooting your first shots I am assuming you were in manual mode. Were you using spot or evaluative meetiering?
Hi 👋🏿 I want to thank you 🙏🏻 BUT When I raise the ISO in my Apc-s camera the pictur quality come bad …. Because ( Noise ) so better keep iso low and shutter speed control 🙄
Same thing as you would with wide aperture lenses. You'd actually have an easier time of managing bright sunlight because kit lenses don't open up to really wide apertures. You would still expose for your ambient light the way you want it then turn on your flash and expose for your subject. The only real difference is at 5.6 and smaller you probably won't need High Speed Sync (but that depends on how bright the sun/background is at the location you're shooting).
Hi, I am using film photography such as my canon f1 new and the 199 flash. I need to learn how to use this flash properly and other technical lighting skills. So where do you start on this subject?
@@abadjoseph Except you usually can't use exposure comp to increase the background exposure. If you need the control, manual camera exposure + E-TTL flash is the way to go. Even in Av you can't control your exposure compensation to brighten the background.
Yes, you can. Exposure Compensation and Flash Exposure Compensation are two different things. With Canon cameras, Exposure Compensation is used to adjust ambient light exposure when in AV and Flash Exposure Compensation is used to adjust flash power when using TTL. @@davelaird
Thanks for the video. Your procedure works with specific photographic hardware, but I shoot with: 1. Film cameras and digital cameras 2. Cameras with built-in light meters and cameras with no light meters 3. Leaf shutters or focal plane shutters 4. Manual flash or automatic flash 5. Maximum camera sync speeds that vary from 1/60th second to 1/500th second 6. Flash units with flash intensity controls (full, ½, ¼, 1/8, etc.) to flash units with no flash intensity controls (full power only) I need to use a fill-flash procedure that works with any combination of diverse photographic equipment. Also, in addition using fill-flash when shooting individual portraits, I also need it when shooting group portraits, weddings, social events, and architectural interiors.
Well, no. You use what is the best for this technique. You would obviously not use a flash that will only give you full power. That's a no brainer. Just one example of a piece of gear you don't want to use for this. You obviously need to be able to control your ambient light exposure and be able to control the power of your flash. If you actually think about it, you won't be able to achieve certain things with certain bits of your gear. The obvious solution is to use the pieces of gear that will let you achieve this technique when you want to achieve it. Not rocket science, bud.
Canon cameras make things so much easier because you can control flash exposure and ambient exposure via exposure compensation independently. My normal process is use aperture priority with flash off and use exposure compensation to darken ambient exposure, usually -1 exposure compensation, which will push the shutter speed up. I would then activate the flash to light up the subject accordingly.
No, only the ambient light will change (it will get brighter). Here's why. If you change your aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings (within your camera's flash sync speed), TTL ignores all that and adjusts the flash power in an attempt to give you the same exposure every time. The one setting it can't ignore is Flash Exposure Compensation because that's what you adjust when you want to override the flash exposure TTL wants to give you.
Great video as usual David. Why did you use higher ISO to bright background, since you would have had same effect with longer exposure? You didn't wanted to go in high flash sync speed, or some other reason?
Good question. All I can assume is that if the model is moving around, slowing down the shutter speed could cause ghosting around the model. Her main exposure would be locked in by the flash, but there could be some streaking from movement lit by ambient light. The shorter shutter speed will yield a crisper image.
@@davelaird His shutter speed would have to be super slow for that and/or she'd have to be moving pretty quickly. Otherwise, whatever slight movements she'd make while posing wouldn't yield any motion blur and the flash would take care of freezing the action. So he didn't have to raise his ISO. His method seems very backwards and actually *MORE* time consuming than just getting your ambient exposure first then getting your flash exposure on your subject. His way seems convoluted.
Yes possibly but lowering the shutter speed however dropping below 1/60 may create a less sharp image due to introducing motion blur and double exposure.
@@TheSunnySuttons It depends on the photographer. Lots of people can handhold even down to 1/30th shutter speed when using flash and get a sharp image, myself included. Raising your ISO in many cases would only make things a bit more difficult as ISO raises image exposure globally, which means it will raise your flash power by the same amount. It could work but it wouldn't be the first thing I'd do. And it definitely won't work for all or even most scenarios. I'd first go down to the lowest possible shutter that I know I can safely handhold and work from there.
@@jasonbodden8816 I was wondering myself whether to post a comment asking about the option of lowering the shutter speed instead to allow more exposure for the background and it seems to have been answered here. I myself would go for the shutter speed adjustment first, same as you.
You raised ISO by 2+ stops, which improved exposure of bg and brightened subject, you lowered flash output by 2/3 which darkened subject. to achieve balance. TTL metering was controlling the flash output based on the camera exposure reading. What exposure metering mode were you using?
@@lakebummer Yes he set the shutter speed and f stop manually but he said he was using TTL on his Canon. TTL means the camera was controlling the flash output based on the feedback from the metering system. If he was not using camera metering then he would set the flash to manual mode. In Nikon bodies, the i-TTL uses matrix metering for "balanced fill flash". if you select spot metering it meters the subject and ignores the background. Nikon calls that "Standard TTL" . Since he adjusted exposure for the background, I assume he used spot metering for the TTL flash control, but I am not familiar with Canon Cameras so I am asking the question.
I wouldn't mind being in the park with a beautiful model even without the camera..... just using Exposure compensation will affect the entire photo I see. This is always an issue with me here in Florida with the bright sun, having to increase shutter speed to expose the background a stop or two darker then using HHS flash. Always great tutorials !!
With all respect, and compliments for your very educational explanations. But when i'm going for a walk with my grandchildren in the woods, i am not going to carry around with a softbox..... Besides that it wil blow away with the smallest wind. So, perhaps can you explain on how to do all this with only a flash on top of the camera???
Same premise, just the flash is on camera instead of off of it. Get your ambient light exposure first (via your shutter speed) then adjust your flash exposure on your subject to your liking.
This is a nice video, but not tremendously useful for a LOT of people. You have a stand and a big diffuser and a radio transmitter. If I took those out to a location where I shoot, I'd get laughed at, kicked out or stumped by having to move all that STUFF!
David is a great pro.. I have tried both lowering shutter speed and increasing iso in the past and realized the best way to match your background is the iso. shutter speed makes no difference as opposed to other's suggestion.
Well, this isn't true at all because shutter speed definitely matters outdoors and is more effective and logical than ISO. Adjusting ISO means that you're adjusting exposure globally, meaning both the shutter speed and flash exposures would be adjusted by the same amount at the same time. That makes it more difficult to balance flash and ambient light, especially on a sunny day, than if you had first just gotten your ambient light exposure with shutter speed then add flash on your subject after.
Changing the shutter speed should make a noticeable difference to the background exposure. It's handy for making adjustments that are independant of the flash exposure so you have more control over both parameters.
Well, since he's in TTL, TTL would compensate for the ISO. If he was using manual flash then you'd be correct. I still wouldn't have adjusted ISO here as my first go-to. Guess everyone has their own way of working but this is very backwards to me.
I was wondering would it be easier to simply take a manual meter reading with your camera of the ambient light and then under exposed that reading by a stop or two and then work with the flash On manual and simply make the adjustments with the flash as needed till you get the effect that you want?
Absolutely.
Lot easier 👌
yep, far easier
The problem with your suggestion is he's showing how to accomplish balancing the background while the flash is in TTL. As to your suggestion of using manual flash being easier to accomplish the balancing of the light that that would depend on your equipment and or your knowledge.
David.Very nice to watch and informative but I was busy watching the squirrel running around behind you !
great way to balance out the subject and background plus always keep the gel in mind when are facing a deep tone of light one need to hind of balance color to match the scene Nice one David
Great presentation David Bergman! I will dare mention that also using a longer lens may help the background look more out of focus but for sure difusing the Flash the way you did does the trick. Thanks for all the great videos you make so we can all better our Photography! P.S. couldn't help to notice the squirl moving all around, Lol!
Theses short videos are very effective and to the point. Even with a lot of experience, they are nice refreshers. The key to realistic Balanced Flash looking natural is that large source. TTL BL as Nikon terms it will do a very good job of balancing the light from the background and foreground subject so the photographer is left with two tasks, communicating with the model and creating a large effective light source.. The small snap-on defusers sold in every camera store are still a small source so they are not effective in creating a large relative source. Be creative, a piece of white Foamcore from the hobby store to bounce the light towards the subject is cheap and effective. Even a bedsheet if you have helpers to stretch it out will work A small 40cm folding softbox if you can bring it close can be both cheap and effective. One photoshoot I used my white Toyota FJ-40 Landcruiser as the source to bounce the speed light from
I would expose for the background first at ISO 100. Then add just enough flash in manual mode to light her properly.
Master educator. Thank you for walking us thru.
Thanks David! This is the info I needed 2 weeks ago while trying to take sunset pics in Maui. Now I'll be ready for next time.
This was a good video and left very little room for making it more complete
I would have liked to see other options in the video, too.
1. Aperture priority mode vs shutter priority with iso increase? What challenge to overcome w both
2. The convenience of just using the light meter along with manual priority?
Again - thanks for the fine presentation as it was.
Thank you this is so helpful! Good blues for the se videos Good job!
Very well explained & demonstrated
In the days when there were no digital cameras, I shot in daylight with fill in flash. I took a meter reading of the subject area and set up the shutter speed and f stop to the flash output. Example daylight meter is 1/125 at f 5.6. I would set the flash output at 5.6 & shutter at 1/125. By adjusting the shutter speed with the flash on, I was able to tweak the background darker or lighter. This was very simple and was applied to group and social events. So, I matched the f stop to the flash output and worked within the needed shutter speed for the meter reading.
That’s how I still do it too.
I work it differently. I first do the exposure without flash and then I use the flash to fill the front a bit. Looks really natural and it's really fast ;)
Most people do it this way. Not sure why Dave uses the flash from the start instead of this method. It's not easier and it certainly doesn't save any time. But we all have our ways we're comfortable doing things I suppose.
You mean you take the photo without the flash in program or aperture mode, get the shutter speed (in other words use your camera as a light meter), then to into Shutter or Manual mode, set the shutter speed to what it was before, turn on the flash and take your photo. Check your foreground lighting level and power down if the flash is too strong.
You can adjust either ISO or shutter speed, but I usually adjust the shutter speed unless it gets too extreme.
Anyone see the squirrel? hahaha
Next week's topic? "How to wrangle photo-bombing squirrels." 😉
I'm so glad I get to watch all these educative videos from David..... I can gladly say that I'm getting better and better at using flash, even much better than my peers. Good bless for these videos
Why not expose for the background first and then adjust flash compensation? 2 steps instead of 3
This is the easier way for sure.
Thank you!
100 iso to 640 is 2 2/3 stops. This is how much he initially underexposed the ambient at the very beginning. This is why the first images had such deep black shadows across her face and the shadow was harsh even though he used a 60" modifier which is generally considered to "soften the light" at a relatively close distance. Therefore, the size of the light source is not only relative to the distance from the subject but also relative to the available ambient light. Also, if only a small speed light was used with no modifier and the ambient was 2/3's of a stop under it would give the very similar results as the 60" modifier.
cool video, thanks. Plus - she's a beauty, joy to watch
Just great as possible 👍🏻
In the sunset, if you don't use a gel but change in cloudy the withe balance, don't you get a yellow girl and a wonderful ultra red background?
David you always amaze me on how you can simplify things and make it look like it's just a simple one two three type of thing you always make it look like a plug-and-play type of deal I love it please keep doing what you do best Adorama is lucky to have you goodbye and good luck
Valuable and insightful material or educational insights in the year 2024.
Thank you so much!
That dog in the background stole the show
I love the squirrel in the background
😂😂😂from kenya loving it
what was your flash power when you first started and what were the numbers when you turned it down? 1/2 > 1/4 or 1/8? My subjects are somewhat washed out and the background is dark?
Great Great simple and effective tutorial video as always David. Question: I noticed, and you said that you were in a shaded area. However, if the sun was to creep through and lit up the area, where would you place the model and the soft light relative to the Sun? Thanks in advance.
Yes, lovely Sarah, very sweet and beautiful model uuummmm...
That’s Sarah Pribis! 😍
One of the best videos ever! Many thanks and hugs from ATL
For the casual shooter who doesn't walk in the park with a studio lighting setup, there is TTL...😂
He's not talking about the casual shooter, obviously.
Squirrel alert @05:00.
Was that a photex? Lol should work steeple around
Thank you very much for your video. I wonder if it would not be better to slow down the shutter speed to control the ambient light.
I would never recommend bumping the iso up to 640 unless you absolutely must.
I havent tried this myself, and maybe I'm wrong, but when David bumps his ISO to 640, it brightens the background, but wouldn't it also brighten up his subject resulting in an overexposed subject (because of the fill flash)?
I ask myself the same question!? Maybe to compensate the compensation?
Since the flash is in TTL mode it automatically adjusts to the increased ISO and maintains a consistent exposure.
The thing about raising the ISO is that it will raise the exposure of the ambient light in the scene, resulting in having to dance with balancing ambient light and flash even more. It's counterproductive to use ISO for flash exposure here.
nice but not every photographer has your setup🥴
This was super informative and useful. Thank you David!
This is as usual a great video. I have one qn - can we use exposure comp instead of iso to increase background exposure?
Hi Niranjan. It may depend on your camera model, but in general the answer is no - once you have a flash on, you can only decrease exposure compensation, not increase it. The best way to have control over the background exposure is to shoot manual (the background shouldn't be changing exposure too much) and then use E-TTL and flash exposure comp to light your subject. Some very modern cameras give you the option to balance more ambient light into a flash picture, but you still won't have much control over the background. Start by exposing for your background, lock in those settings, and then let the camera figure out flash exposure with E-TTL. I recommend against manual flash power settings - if the distance from flash to subject changes even a bit, the flash power has to change.
@@davelaird I actually prefer Manual flash for actual photo shoots. You can get your model to stay within a certain distance to the flash. It's not an event. If TTL works for you with the way you shoot then awesome but for my shoots it's Manual flash for me. I really only use TTL for events.
Hooooooonnnnnnnnnnkkkkkk
Great video
That squirrel and dog lolol!!!
Ps holding camera wrong way
Great videa Dan but I still have a few questions mostly related to camera settings. I am shooting with the R5 as well and when I shoot outdoors with fill flash I am typically using my Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 or my RF 24-105 along with my Godox AD200 pro. That said I have the EF50 but i have not tried that lens. I often add either an umbrella or softbox. When shooting your first shots I am assuming you were in manual mode. Were you using spot or evaluative meetiering?
Hi 👋🏿 I want to thank you 🙏🏻 BUT When I raise the ISO in my Apc-s camera the pictur quality come bad …. Because ( Noise ) so better keep iso low and shutter speed control 🙄
Just how high are you raising your ISO, dude? Most modern cameras - even old ones like my Canon 60D APS-C - produce clean images up to about ISO 800.
Can you make a video on how to potrait photography with kitlens and oncamera flash outdoor in sunny sky
Same thing as you would with wide aperture lenses. You'd actually have an easier time of managing bright sunlight because kit lenses don't open up to really wide apertures. You would still expose for your ambient light the way you want it then turn on your flash and expose for your subject. The only real difference is at 5.6 and smaller you probably won't need High Speed Sync (but that depends on how bright the sun/background is at the location you're shooting).
Woops! When I first read your comment, I thought that you wanted to do portraits with kittens and outdoor flash. Cat photography would be a challenge.
Sarah is actually famous...
Man, first of all, that model is unbelieveable beauty, not only outside, i´m flashed :-) 2nd, great tutorial .. thank you david. greets from germany..
Did High Speed Sync kick in? Shooting at 2.8/ISO 640 with flash seems a challenge
Wow, how come you skipped right over the High Speed Sync issue? Not everyone uses Canon's ETTL, or wants to.
Hi,
I am using film photography such as my canon f1 new and the 199 flash. I need to learn how to use this flash properly and other technical lighting skills. So where do you start on this subject?
shout out to the squirrel
What mode? manual?
Thanx David! ,,,very timely for us as we have a similar scenario coming up.
That is a big help to me, I’m just getting started shooting people. I look forward to giving it a try!
what do you do if its windy. can you put sand bags on the base of the umbrella stand?
The models in NYC are awesome. They just are dialed in from the first shot. Good video David.
Squirrel!!!
Awsome sir🤝definately practice this
Thank you! This is so helpful! I always overfiddle with the flash instead of using exposure comp.
I always seem to forget how useful exposure comp is! (Not to mention TTL!) [face palm]
@@abadjoseph Except you usually can't use exposure comp to increase the background exposure. If you need the control, manual camera exposure + E-TTL flash is the way to go. Even in Av you can't control your exposure compensation to brighten the background.
Yes, you can. Exposure Compensation and Flash Exposure Compensation are two different things. With Canon cameras, Exposure Compensation is used to adjust ambient light exposure when in AV and Flash Exposure Compensation is used to adjust flash power when using TTL. @@davelaird
Why didn't you simply lower the shutter speed for a couple of stops (1/50) ? Then you could rize the ISO, just a bit. And had the same exposure.
Probably concerned about a moving model. 1/50 and there could be some blurriness from ambient light.
Thanks for the video.
Your procedure works with specific photographic hardware, but I shoot with:
1. Film cameras and digital cameras
2. Cameras with built-in light meters and cameras with no light meters
3. Leaf shutters or focal plane shutters
4. Manual flash or automatic flash
5. Maximum camera sync speeds that vary from 1/60th second to 1/500th second
6. Flash units with flash intensity controls (full, ½, ¼, 1/8, etc.) to flash units with no flash intensity controls (full power only)
I need to use a fill-flash procedure that works with any combination of diverse photographic equipment.
Also, in addition using fill-flash when shooting individual portraits, I also need it when shooting group portraits, weddings, social events, and architectural interiors.
Well, no. You use what is the best for this technique. You would obviously not use a flash that will only give you full power. That's a no brainer. Just one example of a piece of gear you don't want to use for this. You obviously need to be able to control your ambient light exposure and be able to control the power of your flash. If you actually think about it, you won't be able to achieve certain things with certain bits of your gear. The obvious solution is to use the pieces of gear that will let you achieve this technique when you want to achieve it. Not rocket science, bud.
You kept the iso on 640. To obtain this natural look.
Thanks David, very clear and informative....
Canon cameras make things so much easier because you can control flash exposure and ambient exposure via exposure compensation independently. My normal process is use aperture priority with flash off and use exposure compensation to darken ambient exposure, usually -1 exposure compensation, which will push the shutter speed up. I would then activate the flash to light up the subject accordingly.
Yip. It blows my mind why ANY camera manufacturer will link Exposure Compensation with flash.
u always come with practical solutions nice presentation 😍😍
This is just what I needed. Thank You David. Awesome!!
what a smile... and good avices :-)
Good info David.. Cute Model too..
Excellent explanation, very lucid
When upping the ISO and then turning the flash back on, would this change the TTL power by lowering it?
No, only the ambient light will change (it will get brighter). Here's why. If you change your aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings (within your camera's flash sync speed), TTL ignores all that and adjusts the flash power in an attempt to give you the same exposure every time. The one setting it can't ignore is Flash Exposure Compensation because that's what you adjust when you want to override the flash exposure TTL wants to give you.
Fantastic, thank you ..
Very nice informative video 📸
Thanks a bunch! Very helpful!
Thanks from Ankara
Great video as usual David. Why did you use higher ISO to bright background, since you would have had same effect with longer exposure? You didn't wanted to go in high flash sync speed, or some other reason?
Good question. All I can assume is that if the model is moving around, slowing down the shutter speed could cause ghosting around the model. Her main exposure would be locked in by the flash, but there could be some streaking from movement lit by ambient light. The shorter shutter speed will yield a crisper image.
@@davelaird His shutter speed would have to be super slow for that and/or she'd have to be moving pretty quickly. Otherwise, whatever slight movements she'd make while posing wouldn't yield any motion blur and the flash would take care of freezing the action. So he didn't have to raise his ISO. His method seems very backwards and actually *MORE* time consuming than just getting your ambient exposure first then getting your flash exposure on your subject. His way seems convoluted.
sir this is best video 👍
David would you have obtained similar results simply by exposing for a longer time instead of increasing ISO? Thank you.
Yes possibly but lowering the shutter speed however dropping below 1/60 may create a less sharp image due to introducing motion blur and double exposure.
@@TheSunnySuttons It depends on the photographer. Lots of people can handhold even down to 1/30th shutter speed when using flash and get a sharp image, myself included. Raising your ISO in many cases would only make things a bit more difficult as ISO raises image exposure globally, which means it will raise your flash power by the same amount. It could work but it wouldn't be the first thing I'd do. And it definitely won't work for all or even most scenarios. I'd first go down to the lowest possible shutter that I know I can safely handhold and work from there.
@@jasonbodden8816 I was wondering myself whether to post a comment asking about the option of lowering the shutter speed instead to allow more exposure for the background and it seems to have been answered here. I myself would go for the shutter speed adjustment first, same as you.
Thank you.
Squirrel!!!
like it.
Thanks million
nice one thanks
You raised ISO by 2+ stops, which improved exposure of bg and brightened subject, you lowered flash output by 2/3 which darkened subject. to achieve balance. TTL metering was controlling the flash output based on the camera exposure reading. What exposure metering mode were you using?
In the beginning he said he was at a sync speed and F2.8 so he must’ve been shooting manual hence no metering.
@@lakebummer Yes he set the shutter speed and f stop manually but he said he was using TTL on his Canon. TTL means the camera was controlling the flash output based on the feedback from the metering system. If he was not using camera metering then he would set the flash to manual mode. In Nikon bodies, the i-TTL uses matrix metering for "balanced fill flash". if you select spot metering it meters the subject and ignores the background. Nikon calls that "Standard TTL" . Since he adjusted exposure for the background, I assume he used spot metering for the TTL flash control, but I am not familiar with Canon Cameras so I am asking the question.
Just try a few of them , there are only 3 or anyway, right? Probably Evaluative would be a good start.
☺️ cool
I wouldn't mind being in the park with a beautiful model even without the camera..... just using Exposure compensation will affect the entire photo I see. This is always an issue with me here in Florida with the bright sun, having to increase shutter speed to expose the background a stop or two darker then using HHS flash. Always great tutorials !!
There's always ND filters (there are really good Variable-ND filters).
With all respect, and compliments for your very educational explanations. But when i'm going for a walk with my grandchildren in the woods, i am not going to carry around with a softbox..... Besides that it wil blow away with the smallest wind.
So, perhaps can you explain on how to do all this with only a flash on top of the camera???
Same premise, just the flash is on camera instead of off of it. Get your ambient light exposure first (via your shutter speed) then adjust your flash exposure on your subject to your liking.
If not iso higher,can bring the shutter speed down for ambient light more bright?
Flying the space shuttle was easier :)
This is a nice video, but not tremendously useful for a LOT of people. You have a stand and a big diffuser and a radio transmitter. If I took those out to a location where I shoot, I'd get laughed at, kicked out or stumped by having to move all that STUFF!
What is your opinion of stopping the background down one stop to make the model pop more off the background
That would be a good thing to do. 👍🏻
David is a great pro.. I have tried both lowering shutter speed and increasing iso in the past and realized the best way to match your background is the iso. shutter speed makes no difference as opposed to other's suggestion.
Well, this isn't true at all because shutter speed definitely matters outdoors and is more effective and logical than ISO. Adjusting ISO means that you're adjusting exposure globally, meaning both the shutter speed and flash exposures would be adjusted by the same amount at the same time. That makes it more difficult to balance flash and ambient light, especially on a sunny day, than if you had first just gotten your ambient light exposure with shutter speed then add flash on your subject after.
Changing the shutter speed should make a noticeable difference to the background exposure. It's handy for making adjustments that are independant of the flash exposure so you have more control over both parameters.
I'm surprised that you adjusted ISO, I expected you to adjust shutter speed? By increasing ISO don't you also increase flash quantity?
Well, since he's in TTL, TTL would compensate for the ISO. If he was using manual flash then you'd be correct. I still wouldn't have adjusted ISO here as my first go-to. Guess everyone has their own way of working but this is very backwards to me.