We’ve all been there when you are taking a photo of a friend, your partner, or whoever happens to be in front of your camera and there is a beautiful vista behind them. You snap the photo, hit the image review button, and wouldn’t you know it the person in your photo is underexposed but the background is perfectly exposed! Or vice versa, the person in your photo is exposed for properly but your background is washed out and lacking detail. The easiest way to conquer this is with a little fill flash.
Fill flash can help even out tones in high contrast photos
Using a fill flash is a daunting task for some; I’ve heard it time and time again: “I can’t stand using flash, it makes photos look ugly”. Don’t get me wrong nothing can replace natural light, but sometimes our camera’s technological limitations prevent us from taking the photo we see in front of us. Lucky for us the technology in flashes has progressed and it is now much easier to get the right balance between flash and natural light in photos. I’m going to focus on using fill flash with an external flash, as there is not as much versatility with the pop up flashes built in your camera. The easiest way to get a nice balance is to trust your flash in TTL mode. Meaning “Through the Lens”, TTL in theory should add just the right amount of flash to give you a proper exposure in a photo that would usually be too dark. By setting your flash to TTL (or E-TTL) and setting your camera to expose for the brighter background, the flash will kick a bit of light into the foreground of your photo illuminating the subject in front of you that you are trying to photograph.
Every situation is different and sometimes it may take a bit more work to get a balanced exposure. If you find that your fill flash is too strong and giving an unpleasant cast to your photo you can adjust the exposure compensations on your flash unit, when the compensation is a negative number I.e. -2/3 your flash will be less powerful and should give a more subtle fill to your photo. On the other side of the coin if your flash is underexposing in TTL mode you can adjust the compensation to a positive number (+1/3 etc.) to add more light. There is no golden rule for what compensation works best for a photo, it will take some playing to get it right the until you are comfortable enough to know what settings you will need for a specific scene. Another issue you can encounter is a difference in light temperature, especially on those golden sunny days your flash will be quite blue compared to the ambient light. To help with this most manufacturers include a couple colour correcting gels with the flash, and in the sunny day situation you would want to use the amber or orange gel to make the light from your flash match or somewhat close to the warm tones outside. If you plan on using a lot of fill flash I would recommend investing in a small diffuser if one is not included with your flash, this will help soften the light and get rid of the harsh look to your flash.
Flash photography is a skill that demands practice, patience, and a bit of experimentation. With practice you will have the ability to walk into a room or see a scene you want to photograph and know exactly (or close to) what you need to set your camera to. There are no wrong or right answers or looks when it comes to the outcome of your photos; It comes down to your personal taste and the look you want in the photo.
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Photos by Corey Bradder