Fill Flash
Have you ever taken a picture of someone standing in front of a light background and get your picture back and the person is
real dark and featureless? Yes, I think most of us have. The problem is that even with the most sophisticated cameras, in
some scenes they have a problem metering the exposure. Unless you specifically tell the camera to meter off the person it's
going to try to come up with a compromise. Unfortunately the comprise doesn't usually result in a good picture. (Figure 1
below)
So how do we fix it? Yes you could meter off the person then at least they will be well exposed, but then most likely you will
have a background that's way overexposed that has lost all it's detail. Well it's really very easy. Think basics! I have a dark
subject against a bright background, the solution is to light the subject to remove the darkness. It's called fill flash.
Unfortunately we never think about flash in the day time. Fill flash can be very effective even on a brightly lit day.
Fill flash is used to light a close dark object against a bright background so the overall exposure is even. So how do we do it?
Simple in most of today's modern cameras that have built in flash it will do it automatically if you enable the flash. This involves
either releasing the pop-up flash or turning the knob to tell the camera to use flash. The camera will in most cases
automatically adjust the exposure for the flash and you end up with a good picture. (Figure 2 above) Good luck and enjoy!
Have you ever taken a picture of someone standing in front of a light background and get your picture back and the person is
real dark and featureless? Yes, I think most of us have. The problem is that even with the most sophisticated cameras, in
some scenes they have a problem metering the exposure. Unless you specifically tell the camera to meter off the person it's
going to try to come up with a compromise. Unfortunately the comprise doesn't usually result in a good picture. (Figure 1
below)
So how do we fix it? Yes you could meter off the person then at least they will be well exposed, but then most likely you will
have a background that's way overexposed that has lost all it's detail. Well it's really very easy. Think basics! I have a dark
subject against a bright background, the solution is to light the subject to remove the darkness. It's called fill flash.
Unfortunately we never think about flash in the day time. Fill flash can be very effective even on a brightly lit day.
Fill flash is used to light a close dark object against a bright background so the overall exposure is even. So how do we do it?
Simple in most of today's modern cameras that have built in flash it will do it automatically if you enable the flash. This involves
either releasing the pop-up flash or turning the knob to tell the camera to use flash. The camera will in most cases
automatically adjust the exposure for the flash and you end up with a good picture. (Figure 2 above) Good luck and enjoy!
Please come back next month for some new
and helpful tips. If you have any questions or
need some advice on a particular problem
please email us. We enjoy teaching and helping
others to take better pictures.
and helpful tips. If you have any questions or
need some advice on a particular problem
please email us. We enjoy teaching and helping
others to take better pictures.
| This Month's Hints for Taking Better Pictures |
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Figure 1 without fill flash
Figure 2 with fill flash
Dragging the Shutter
Let's say its dark and you want to take a picture of someone in front of a beautiful lighted waterfall. The camera only knows it is
dark and will fire the flash to take a flash picture. You get the picture and sure enough there is the person but a black
background. (Figure 3 below) What happened to my beautiful lighted waterfall? The answer is simple.
Most cameras unless set otherwise shoot flash pictures at a predetermined shutter speed, usually around 150th to 250th of a
second. Not a long enough exposure to get the ambient lit background. Also most flashes can only reach in the
neighborhood of 30 to 50 feet at the most. Some high end flash units can reach much farther but these are all separate units
that attach to the camera and if you are shooting a person in front of a monument 300 yards away no flash on earth is that
powerful. So what you have to do is called dragging the shutter. You are going to expose the picture for the waterfall that is lit
by the surrounding ambient light. This will be a long exposure depending on the film speed or ISO being used. You will need
a tripod or something that you can rest your camera on that won't move it for the length of the exposure. Now, having said that
if you took the picture now you would a have great picture of the waterfall but no person. The solution to getting the person in
the picture is fill flash discussed above combined with the long exposure.
So in nut shell, here is what you do. Let's say you need a 3 second exposure to get the waterfall. Set your shutter speed to 3
seconds, enable your fill flash and tell the person that even though the flash is done the camera is still taking your picture and
not to move until told so. In the camera the picture is being exposed for 3 seconds but the fill flash only fired for a split second
to light your person. (Figure 4 above) This is called dragging the shutter. You can make some really spectacular pictures
using this method. Keep taking pictures and enjoy!
Note: Not all cameras have the ability to set the shutter speed. If yours does not have this ability you cannot use the above
technique.
Let's say its dark and you want to take a picture of someone in front of a beautiful lighted waterfall. The camera only knows it is
dark and will fire the flash to take a flash picture. You get the picture and sure enough there is the person but a black
background. (Figure 3 below) What happened to my beautiful lighted waterfall? The answer is simple.
Most cameras unless set otherwise shoot flash pictures at a predetermined shutter speed, usually around 150th to 250th of a
second. Not a long enough exposure to get the ambient lit background. Also most flashes can only reach in the
neighborhood of 30 to 50 feet at the most. Some high end flash units can reach much farther but these are all separate units
that attach to the camera and if you are shooting a person in front of a monument 300 yards away no flash on earth is that
powerful. So what you have to do is called dragging the shutter. You are going to expose the picture for the waterfall that is lit
by the surrounding ambient light. This will be a long exposure depending on the film speed or ISO being used. You will need
a tripod or something that you can rest your camera on that won't move it for the length of the exposure. Now, having said that
if you took the picture now you would a have great picture of the waterfall but no person. The solution to getting the person in
the picture is fill flash discussed above combined with the long exposure.
So in nut shell, here is what you do. Let's say you need a 3 second exposure to get the waterfall. Set your shutter speed to 3
seconds, enable your fill flash and tell the person that even though the flash is done the camera is still taking your picture and
not to move until told so. In the camera the picture is being exposed for 3 seconds but the fill flash only fired for a split second
to light your person. (Figure 4 above) This is called dragging the shutter. You can make some really spectacular pictures
using this method. Keep taking pictures and enjoy!
Note: Not all cameras have the ability to set the shutter speed. If yours does not have this ability you cannot use the above
technique.
Figure 3 standard flash exposure
Dragging the shutter exposure