Avoiding Blue Sky Washout with Nikon

[mykadog]

My friend took this same pose with a Cannon and the sky was perfectly blue. She said she did it with particularly coordinated settings of flash sync speed and apeture. Does anyone know the setting for a Nikon D300 which would keep the subject and sky as the eye would see it? This novice thanks you in advance.

[kirbinster]

The D300 is some camera for a novice That aside, you expose for the sky and use the flash to light the subject.

[bhursey]

This is a classic problem that pelages many of us. Basically if you try to just expose the sky say at 100 iso and 1/250 you will see on a normal day you can not do it unless your at like f11 or higher. Problem is 1/250 is the native syn speed of a camera for flash so your limited if your going to use any kind of flash.

200iso
1/250 sync
F6.3
**important*** it was about 6:30PM near the golden hour.
It was front filled with a 580EX II at full pop with a gary Fong light sphere on it. I did darken the sky a little bit. This is basically the only time I have been able to do this right. Normally its to bright.

[mykadog]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

The D300 is some camera for a novice That aside, you expose for the sky and use the flash to light the subject.

That is so simple! It worked! Thanks! I told you I was a novice, particularly with this camera. I have taken snapshots for years, but never thought much about technique, especially with a flash, until recently. I will try to post a blue sky with no where near as pretty a model. Thanks, again.

[gturner]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

The D300 is some camera for a novice That aside, you expose for the sky and use the flash to light the subject.

thats the short answer and the right one!

You can manipulate the lighting within flash range, not beyond that, so you need to dial your aperture down to expose for the . In midday sun you can go down to F11 even as far a F22 and let your flash light the subject.

There are a heap of videos on the net - here is one

How to Use the Fill Flash technique Video ? 5min.com

[mykadog]

Thanks for the video leads. I think they will be helpful.

[PnwGuy]

With the Canon 580 EX II, there is a button on the back that activates high sync flash so that you can get a faster shutter speed and still get fill. It's the third button over.

Use ETTL and adjust FEC if needed.

Originally Posted by bhursey

This is a classic problem that pelages many of us. Basically if you try to just expose the sky say at 100 iso and 1/250 you will see on a normal day you can not do it unless your at like f11 or higher. Problem is 1/250 is the native syn speed of a camera for flash so your limited if your going to use any kind of flash.

200iso
1/250 sync
F6.3
**important*** it was about 6:30PM near the golden hour.
It was front filled with a 580EX II at full pop with a gary Fong light sphere on it. I did darken the sky a little bit. This is basically the only time I have been able to do this right. Normally its to bright.

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by PnwGuy

With the Canon 580 EX II, there is a button on the back that activates high sync flash so that you can get a faster shutter speed and still get fill. It's the third button over.

Use ETTL and adjust FEC if needed.

Yep know all about it... Wasn't putting out enough light for what I wanted. It files a rapid verry strobe to follow the curtain so the whole frame is exposed. I was not using direct flash I had it in a garry fong with the dome point straight up. . To get that exposure on the photo I was shooting at 1/1 power.