Flash Photography For Headshots and Portraits | Course Module 4 of 4

👉 Grab The Free Bundle: https://edverosky.com/portrait-photography-quickstart-bundle/ This is Module 4 of my flash photography course for portraits and headshots from 2016. In this module: 1) Mixed Lighting 2) Flash for Outdoor Portraits 3) Standardization: Your Default Flash Settings 4) Environmental Portraits Outdoors Portraiture Tips: Indoors, your flash is usually the predominant light where your subject is concerned. But, when shooting outdoors during daylight hours, your flash usually serves as a fill light. Here are my suggestions for how to approach outdoor flash photography. Always Start with these Settings: • Camera in Aperture Priority mode. • Use a lower ISO setting. Example: ISO 100. • Use normal sync speed for your flash if possible. Example: 1/200 or 1/250 depending on your camera. But have HSS ready. • Use the widest aperture that your lens will provide while still delivering acceptable sharpness and being suitable for daylight. Example: f/5.6 or f/8.0. Adjustment Controls To Use: Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC, with TTL-enabled flash) and Exposure Compensation (EC) should be the main controls for adjustments. Adjust aperture for changes to DOF. • FEC. If you need more, or less, power from your flash. • EC. If you want more, or less, ambient/background light to show in a scene. • Aperture. If you want to change depth of field. Putting It To Use You should realize that in Aperture Priority mode, by adjusting EC what you are actually doing is overriding the camera’s shutter speed selection. If you were shooting in Manual mode, you’d simply adjust shutter speed directly for the same effect. And, in Manual mode, you’d have a much wider range of control. The EC offers a limited number of stops over or under normal exposure. The trade-off is that Manual mode often requires more thinking and attention to your gear outdoors than does Aperture Priority. So, that’s why Aperture Priority is the right choice for outdoors when speed and simplicity are desired. With your default settings in place, there are just two controls to think about now: EC and FEC. EC dialed down -1 stop or more will give you deeper sky colors and darker backgrounds. This is a starting point, but by no means do you have to keep it there. EC is your tool for easily adjusting overall exposure. Dial it down for darker, dial it up for brighter. Simple. FEC dialed down -2/3 stop or so keeps it from looking too “flashy” on your subject. Again, this is only a suggestion. You’ll have to do some testing to determine what you like best as a starting point. Realize that FEC serves to make your flash more of a fill light as you dial it down and more of a main light as you increase flash output. That’s pretty much it. Unless you want to adjust the aperture, too. Aperture adjustments are good for changing DOF, without affecting the flash exposure on your subject (because with TTL, flash output will automatically adjust itself). The more you close down your aperture, however, the harder your flash will have to work, possibly not being able to put out enough power at smaller apertures. But, you can always make up for that by bumping up your ISO. Now, various factors might cause your shutter speed to increase past 1/250 sec. (e.g., higher ISOs, wider apertures, brighter ambient light scenes). This will cause your flash’s high speed sync (HSS) mode to kick in, if you have it set to automatically do so. That’s fine. That’s why it’s there. When this happens, your flash has to work in such a way that it may not produce enough light to meet the needs of your shot. One solution for this is to move in closer to your subject. Chimp your camera’s preview monitor to make sure things are looking right. Note: Outdoor flash photography at night can essentially be approached the same as indoor flash photography. Just set your camera on Manual mode and use FEC for flash control and shutter speed for ambient light exposure. In other words, use indoor settings. MUSIC ------------------ http://www.epidemicsound.com DISCLOSURE ------------------ *Affiliate Partnerships. Many of the links I provide to 3rd-party products or services are affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you anything extra to use these links, but if you do, the seller will pay me a small referral fee. you anything extra to use these links, but if you do, the seller will pay me a small referral fee. MUSIC LICENSE: https://edverosky.com/legal/Pond5_Proof-of-purchase_1409519.pdf