outdoor fill flash Question

[TolyD]

I have trouble using fill flash outdoors and need some help please. So one day i was by the lake with my 7D taking portrait pictures of my wife. in this case i tried using my built in flash to fill the shadows on her face and to blur the background using wider aperture at f3.5. in this case all the photos where overexposed under this settings as i reached the maxed sync speed at 1/200 and i couldn't get my shutter speed any higher. so i had to bring my aperture to like f16 to kill the extra ambient light for the flash to fill in and now i have all clear unwanted background. so how do you correctly blur the background using wide apertures/with fill flash with out overexposing the shot?? thanks in advance.

[TolyD]

I have also noticed some wedding pictures taken outside in bright day light with settings like 1/200 and apertures at 1.8 wide open using fill flash with out overexposing the shot. how do they do this?

[zona5101]

here is a good start:
http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-pho...lash-outdoors/

Also if you want higher flash sync speeds some of the external flash units will have high speed sync...

[TolyD]

its funny you sent me this link, cause that is exactly where im at right now and reading it lol.

but im still a bit confused. there is one person that left unanswered comment on the bottom, its by Adi. it is not explained there and my question is pretty much the same. can someone explain that please?

[TolyD]

Originally Posted by zona5101

here is a good start:
http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-pho...lash-outdoors/

Also if you want higher flash sync speeds some of the external flash units will have high speed sync...

so on 580ex what would be the highest high speed sync?

[RichardTaylor]

All the way up to your shortest shutter speed.


See this.

High Speed Sync for Flash at Any Shutter Speed

[zona5101]

the Adi question from Tangents:
"Neil, I saw on the example above that you always get 1/250th with aperture at 2.8 when you exposed for the ambient. Wouldn’t the shutter will be way high if I took the picture in bright daylight like 1/600th or something higher? In that case what would you do? thanks
- let me add to my previous post. In the case of bright daylight, what would you do to be able to get 1/250th and wide aperture? Did you move the subject to a shade location or did you usually schedule the session when the sun is not so bright? So that you will be able to use max synch speed and wide aperture?"

In looking at the images @ 1/250 f2.8 the subjects aren't in full sun. They are in shade, either he has a gobo off camera or a natural structure blocking the direct sun ...or even it was simply a cloudy day. You can also cut down the ambient by using a neutral density filter...but that will cut down your flash as well. I suppose you could up the flash output to compensate...

[el_vago32]

With my Metz 48 AF-1 unit I've been able to shoot at 1/2000 with no problem; haven't tried faster than that, but I guess it should be no problem.

[TolyD]

First of all thanks again for all the help guys. i did lots of reading and i think im getting it. so this means that it would be impossible to shoot on a sunny day at 1/250 (max sync speed) at f1.8, 2.0... on a prime lens with fill flash (i will over expose it by a lot). I will have to increase my shutter speed to about 1/800 or even higher to shoot at wide apertures and use high sync speed to accomplish this shot. Does this sounds right, im a on the right path?

Originally Posted by zona5101

the Adi question from Tangents:
"Neil, I saw on the example above that you always get 1/250th with aperture at 2.8 when you exposed for the ambient. Wouldn’t the shutter will be way high if I took the picture in bright daylight like 1/600th or something higher? In that case what would you do? thanks
- let me add to my previous post. In the case of bright daylight, what would you do to be able to get 1/250th and wide aperture? Did you move the subject to a shade location or did you usually schedule the session when the sun is not so bright? So that you will be able to use max synch speed and wide aperture?"

In looking at the images @ 1/250 f2.8 the subjects aren't in full sun. They are in shade, either he has a gobo off camera or a natural structure blocking the direct sun ...or even it was simply a cloudy day. You can also cut down the ambient by using a neutral density filter...but that will cut down your flash as well. I suppose you could up the flash output to compensate...

[CharlieJ]

TolyD, post a couple examples of your photos and let us see what you're talking about.

As for sync speed, maybe I misunderstood, but when I am using flash for fill, I don't worry about sync speed. I use the shutter speed, aperture combination I want -- in your case f/3.5. And, see what the flash does -- in your case it overexposed the shot. So, I would up the shutter speed... even past the sync speed of the flash. Unless you set the shutter to a very high speed, it will still capture some fill light from the flash.

Another approach -- If you have a 430 or 580, you can change the power output on the flash itself.

You didn't mention ISO. I'm not a big fan of using ISO to change exposure (unless I need lots more light), but if you were shooting at ISO 400 or higher, you might try setting it lower -- to ISO 100.

Lastly, play around with EV. Try a -1/2 stop and go from there. (Since I have not seen the photos, I can't really give you a better idea of where to start with EV).

I hope some of this helps!