Lighting in Photography Part 8

Reflectors for Fill

Reflectors should be fairly large for maximum versatility. Light discs, made of fabric that is mounted on a flexible and collapsible circular frame, come in a variety of diameters and are a very effective means of providing fill in illumination. They are available from a number of manufacturers and come in silver (for maximum fill output), white, gold foil (for a warming fill light) and black (for blocking light from hitting a portion of the subject). Generally, an assistant is required to position and hold the reflector for maximum effect. Be sure to position reflectors outside the frame and be careful about bouncing light in from beneath your subjects. Lighting coming from under the eye or nose axis is generally unflattering. Try to “focus” your reflectors (this really does require an assistant), so that you are only filling the shadows that need filling in.


Getting the Most from On Camera Flash

On-camera flash should be used sparingly because of the flat, harsh light it produces. As an alternative, many photographers use on-camera flash brackets, which position the flash over and away from the lens, thus minimizing flash red eye and dropping the harsh shadows behind the subjects a slightly more flattering light. On camera flash is often used outdoors, especially with TTL balanced flash exposure systems.With such systems, you can adjust the flash output for various fill in ratios, thus producing consistent exposures. In these situations, the on camera flash is most frequently used to fill in the shadows caused by the daylight, or to match the ambient light output in order to provide direction to the light.

One of the best means of evaluating flash output and the balance between flash illumination and daylight or room light is by using the camera’s LCD screen. While it’s not a perfect tool for evaluating subtle exposure effects, it’s definitely accurate enough to reveal how well your flash is performing. You can see at a glance if you need to increase or decrease flash output.


Know Your Flash Sync Speed

If using a camera with a focal-plane shutter, you have a flash-sync (or X-sync) setting. When working with flash, employing a shutter speed faster than the flash sync speed will result in images that are only half exposed. You can, however, use any shutter speed slower than the flash sync speed. When you do this, your strobe will fire in synchronization with the shutter, but the shutter will remain open after the flash pop, allowing the ambient light to be recorded. The latest generation of DSLRs use flash sync shutter speeds up to 1/500 second, making daylight flash sync at almost any aperture possible. (Note: With in lens blade type shutters, flash sync occurs at any shutter speed, because there is no focal plane shutter curtain to cross the film plane.)