dusk lighting?

[EmmaR]

Hi all,
I've seen a couple of photos now of events that are outdoor at dusk.

In these photos the flash is aimed at the subject so they are quite washed out compared to the rest of the shot.

My question is - how would you take a shot of a person in the foreground, with the background out of focus and darker, without using direct flash?

[candleman]

have you got an example?

[EmmaR]

sorry, no I don't. I just saw them in passing and was wondering if there was a way around it.

A slow shutter speed won't work that well for subjects as they can move and you get blur, increase the iso is the only thing I can think of. There is nothing to bounce your flash off as it's outside.

Can it be done?

Emma

[candleman]

get someone to hold a piece of foam board, a sheet, cardboard (whatever) and bounce your flash off of that. ...thats if you want to use flash or are able to.


bouncing like that isnt easy.. just because peole are stupid and when you say "do your best not to move it" they will start talking and before you know it you're lighting up the tree beside you instead.
(ok thats a bit dramaitic... but you get the drift)

anything that can reflect light .... bounce off of it.

without flash? ..try a cars headlights or torch or similar

[EmmaR]

thanks candleman, that's what I was thinking had to be done as well - the bouncing thingy anyway! Makes it hard to get candid shots tho!

[Raigoki]

hi!

didn't get your question right. do you want to decrease ambient light and have focus and lighting only witih your subject at the foreground?
if that's the case, increase your shutter speed and lower your aperture setting. (as i have been told to do lately. )

[candleman]

oh, you can also (to soften the light) use your flash exposure bias to decrease the power the flash wil fire at in ttl.

and, you can put "modifiers" on the front of the flash.. i've got two icecream containers with plastic wrap over the front that i use for my "semi-hard" lighting

but there are off the shelf mini-softboxes too.

just google "diffuser dome" or "lightsphere" and you'll find a few different types ....so you can still use direct flash.. its just a matter of diffusing it a little by placing something over the flash

[7000-4life]

lst time i was out shooting.. it was practically almost dark.. only lit by torches.. and then there was this guy holding a speech ( it was some official event)
i had my flash(canon speedlite 580 EX II) on camera.. and had my stofen omnibounce mounted.. the i turned the flash 45 degrees up.. and a little to the side.. that gives some really lnice lightning.. without that feeling of "oh.. he have used flash.. it is obvious" it gives some really nice lightning.. and the changed the degrees both angles depending on where i was. related to my subject.

[Chip]

As an aside, bare flash can be made to work pretty well. Put the camera in manual, meter for the sky, underexpose the sky by about 1 or 1.5 stops, then use the flash to make up the difference on the subjects. You may need to turn down the power on the flash a good bit to avoid blowing out the faces.

In the shot below, I used a bare shoe mounted flash. The sunset had already dropped below the horizon. Not the best, and there are some reflections of the subjects' skin - but if it's all that's available, why not try to make the best of it?

[7000-4life]

well chip.. you are right.. that's also a way to do it.. if.. you have some skies to meter from.. depends.. the event i was at.. was so late.. so the skies were all dark.. and therefor i had to do it the way i described.. but yes.. meter from the skies.. set flash exposure compensation to -1 or -2 that will do alot..
but like everything with photography.. the way to do it.. depends on the current conditions