Bright sun? Flash'em!

When I'm out shooting on a job more often than not I get somebody walking by giving my that "what in the world are you doing" gaze. That or my subject I'm shooting looks at me like from another planet and then asks, "Why are you using flash in the middle of this nice bright sunny day?"

A flash can be a great little lighting tool in your bag or even if you just have a pop up kind on your camera..it helps. If the sun is blazing down casting odd shadows on your subject you want to use a flash to fill in the gaps. You also can get some pretty neat effects from the sky by just stopping down (high aperture) and a low ISO (film speed back in the day) and turn a bright sky moody and dark. Moreover, maybe you want a more moody setting but need to cast some light on your subject but want the background to look dramatic...use a flash.

The first example of the single soccer player from The University of Kansas was shot at 3:31 in the afternoon with a bright blue sky. What was needed was a dramatic type of shot for this player. So some controlled flash on her with some shadows was just the trick. For all you techie types the settings were f/13 ISO 100 and 1/250th on the shutter. I used my camera's pop up flash as a wireless controller and triggered a flash that was on a light stand.

The second shot was a happy group shot. Our main soccer player is deaf and has been featured by ESPN, she has made national news and such. We had the other team players do the deaf sign for applause while Emily was in the front with that big smile.   Shot at 3:42..eleven minutes later. That nice blue sky is what we had all day...along with some bright sunshine. Once again techie types this one was shot at  f/8 ISO 100 at 1/250th on the shutter. Same pop up flash doing the wireless thing with one single flash on a stand.

A little light and few tweaks with the aperture during the day will provide you with some dramatic type of stuff.

You don't need a fancy off camera flash to do the same thing. Your pop-up, although not powerful can fill your subjects face...light a flower...make an interesting effect also.  So shooting on a bright sunny day...FLASH'EM!  :-)

Have a great weekend!

Any questions feel free to email:

chuckfranceis@gmail.com

Or find me at these places:

www.chuckfrancephoto.com
www.facebook.com/chuck.france
www.twitter.com/chuckfrance