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Hi All

I was doing a portrait shoot in full sunlight at 2pm last week. I always love shooting at f2.8 for protrait shots to get a nice DOF and I wanted to use some fill-flash to help with shadowing. I set my exposure to 1/200 but the only aperture setting that I could get to work was around F8 or F9.

I have an external flash SB-600 shooting in TTF mode with my D200. Can somebody please briefly the best way to get a nice bokeh without overexpose the subject or perhaps a quick recommendation for a flash setting that might work nicely to alleviate some shadowing.

I have done some research on the internet, apparently a netural density filter or a fast shutter speed might help?!

Thanks heaps.

Leon

Leon,

Move under something shady? A tree, or the awning of a building?

Turn your subjects so that their faces are in the shade of themselves.

Neutral density filters will also be of use.

Because you were using fill flash, you were restricting your shutter speed to 1/200. Instead of using flash, you might have thought about using a reflector. You could have then selected a faster shutter speed, opened your aperture to compensate, but used some fill from the reflector to give you good quality light back onto your subjects.

I should say I don't have much experience with this, but it's something I've been thinking about lately as I have some new studio flashes.

The obvious way to expose at f2.8 in the bright light is to just up your shutter speed accordingly, which I imagine is what you would do in this situation without the flashes. The only reason you can't do this with he flash is you can't go higher than the flash sync speed, 1/250 or so depending on camera.

What I'd suggest is a reflector. Basically anything white of a decent size will do, others may have better suggestions but I hear a styrofoam piece works well. Use this to reflect light into the shadows on your subject. ie if the sun is from the right, sit it on the left bouncing sun back onto their face. I've been the subject where this has been done with just a piece of A4 paper held 30cm from my face and it works very well.

The other suggestion, assuming you can alter the shooting schedule, is to shoot just before dusk. It's awesome light. If not, try for somewhere that is shaded, then use your flash to get the light right. Basically, as an alternative to the reflector, try and shoot somewhere darker!

HTH

There are a number of things you can experinent with.

-using the lowest sensativity iso on the camera
-using reflectors instead of a flash to fill in the shadowing
-If using flash turn its power down a bit.
-try using a faster shutter speed if your camera supports it.
-search the forum for some netural density filter recomendations. (I recall a thread not that long ago about them)
-wait for the next sun spot or pray to that great dimmer switch in the sky to tone down the light.
-move your subject into the shade or con 2 of your mates to hold a white single bed sheet above your subject to defuse the light

Good luck

Get a reflector and use it well It'll end up being one of your best friends in sunlight.

We've all suggested reflectors. It's something I'm in the market for myself so it begs the question, what does everyone find and effective cheap reflector? Or is it worth going out and buying a professional one?

Reflectors - Ebay - Or really cheap, a windscreen shade.

Another option is to get the foamboards from either the art shop or officeworks. Black on one side, white on the other.

Other things you might want to consider is look around you. If you are in an urban area, don't forget that light reflects off buildings and walls as well. If you see the sun shining down on a bright wall, that's also another option for a reflector

Thanks for all the responses. Some excellent information here.
I will try to experiment it next time! Anyway, I think I'll buy a couple of ND filters off ebay.

As a matter of fact, I did bring a reflector with me on the day of the shoot, however didn't get to use it as I did not have a spare hand to hold it.

dawesy wrote:We've all suggested reflectors. It's something I'm in the market for myself so it begs the question, what does everyone find and effective cheap reflector? Or is it worth going out and buying a professional one?

Ive got 1 of these 80cm 5in1 and also 1 of these 60cm white & silver reflectors which I find good.
The 60cm you can hold and use sometimes in 1 hand with the cammera in the other (good for close ups) and the 80 cm I sometimes slip the finger loop over the tripod handle and adjust the legs for the angle. they are both a good size when folded down and the 80cm 5 in 1 you can use as a diffuser too.
One of my friends uses This 110cm Reflector which he likes but its a little too big for what I want.
I will eventually get some kind of holder setup so I can attach them to a tripod or stand etc to make it easier.
The other thing I would do in hindsight is get the Gold & Silver 60cm instead of the White & Silver.

Biggzie wrote:I will eventually get some kind of holder setup so I can attach them to a tripod or stand etc to make it easier.

1 x lightstand.

And a clamp of some sort.

Alpha_7 wrote: Or really cheap, a windscreen shade.

 LOL

Didn't realize that anyone else used them...about $2 each.

You could also use high speed sync (FP) flash. In fact, your situation is one of the prime reasons it exists. Be aware though that FP sync greatly reduces the reach of the flash (as correctly indicated on the LCD display) and sucks the flash batteries dry really quick.

I can't tell for sure whether the D70 or D200 support FP sync, but I'm assuming that at least the D200 would as a matter of course.

Cheers
Steffen.

another thing to try regarding doff at f8/f9 place your subject further away from the background.