Combining flash and ambient. how?

[arielc]

I took this picture using aperture of 5.6 and shutter speed of 1/8 and external flash (pointed at 50-60 degrees upward and with reflector). As you can see it came a bit blurry and out of focus.
How can I shoot with a faster shutter speed and still catch both the ambient light and the external flash so it will be properly exposed?

BTW - I used a Canon EOS 500D with Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens.

Thanks.

Ariel C.

[RichardTaylor]

Increase the ISO.

[sketching]

You can give this exercise a shot to see what you get...

Increase your shutter speed to whatever speed you want to use (as long as it is less than your camera's flash sync speed) and take a photo without the flash. If the scene needs more light, turn on your flash and try it again.

- If the photo is too light, decrease your flash power (if on manual setting) or decrease your flash compensation (if using an automatic flash option). You can also increase your shutter speed to let less ambient light in.
- If the photo is still too dark, increase your flash power (if on manual setting) or increase your flash compensation (if using an automatic flash option). You can also decrease your shutter speed to let more light in.

Once you make a few changes to get the exposure you like, try to adjust the shutter speed up or down 1 stop, adjust the flash in the opposite direction (down or up). The faster the shutter speed, the less ambient light color; the slower the shutter speed, the more ambient light color.

I would also suggest reading through the following Strobist article to see if you can get any more understanding of balancing ambient and flash light: Lighting 102: 3.3 - Balancing Flash/Ambient Indoors

[tonyniev]

Hope this will help: set on Manual and adjust, then add fill in flash...in some instances the flash need to be boosted, high iso ..check out these two:
taken last night: f2.5 speed 160 iso 2500 and +2 on flash with stofen diffuser- notice the ambient lighting on eaves

f3.2 speed 125 iso 2500-

[trailerparkjesus]

good day sir...im not an expert but i research so much and i found things on the net with this topic however, this is on portraiture. you can look it up...just google zack arias or onelight workshop...i use this technique as well... what u do is you set ur flash anywhere u want with anything on it (diffuser, umbrella, softbox..etc.) now to get the proper exposure ont the subject which the flash hits u need to find the right aperture. so aperture controls flash exposure. what ever u do with the shutter speed wont affect the exposure u have on your subject which ur flash hits... say for example u have a perfect exposure on ur subject at f4--whatever u set ur shutter speed to will not change the way your subject is exposed. now for shutterspeed... this then controls your ambient light...so the faster ur shutterspeed the darker ur background...the slower it is the lighter the background becomes.. with regard to your flash use manual instead of TTL as u may know u can set ur flash from 1/1 or full power to as low as 1/64 (depending on ur flash... so just mix it up...if u want the flash to be a fill on ur subject then use at least 1/4 or 1/8 power on it then just open up ur apperture (f4 or f2.8 depending on the corect exposure) then just drag ur shutterspeed to the desired background look... theres so much u can do with this set-up (even with just flash and a bounce umbrella) ...hope this helps!

[Benji]

Originally Posted by trailerparkjesus

good day sir...im not an expert but i research so much and i found things on the net with this topic however, this is on portraiture. you can look it up...just google zack arias or onelight workshop...i use this technique as well... what u do is you set ur flash anywhere u want with anything on it (diffuser, umbrella, softbox..etc.) now to get the proper exposure ont the subject which the flash hits u need to find the right aperture. so aperture controls flash exposure. what ever u do with the shutter speed wont affect the exposure u have on your subject which ur flash hits... say for example u have a perfect exposure on ur subject at f4--whatever u set ur shutter speed to will not change the way your subject is exposed. now for shutterspeed... this then controls your ambient light...so the faster ur shutterspeed the darker ur background...the slower it is the lighter the background becomes.. with regard to your flash use manual instead of TTL as u may know u can set ur flash from 1/1 or full power to as low as 1/64 (depending on ur flash... so just mix it up...if u want the flash to be a fill on ur subject then use at least 1/4 or 1/8 power on it then just open up ur apperture (f4 or f2.8 depending on the corect exposure) then just drag ur shutterspeed to the desired background look... theres so much u can do with this set-up (even with just flash and a bounce umbrella) ...hope this helps!

TPJ,

Not quite. While you are correct in your statement "[the] shutterspeed controls your ambient light" the statement "what ever u do with the shutter speed won't affect the exposure u have on your subject which ur flash hits" is not entirely correct. This is only true in total or nearly total darkness. If you are shooting in the afternoon or evening with a fairly slow shutter speed the ambient light may easily affect the exposure especially at your aforementioned f/4 aperture.

The OP's question was "How can I shoot with a faster shutter speed and still catch both the ambient light and the external flash so it will be properly exposed?"


Here is how it must be done. Take a meter reading of the ambient light at the subject. Let's assume it is f/4.0 with a shutter speed of 1/15. It is nearly impossible to hand hold the camera steady while using a shutter speed of 1/15 of a second, especially if using a portrait lens, so we can do several things. 1. Break out the tripod and put the camera on it. 2. Raise the ISO until we get a shutter speed that can be hand held. 3. Lower the aperture to f/1.4 which will raise the ss, or 4, move the subject to an area where there is more ambient light. balancing the flash to the ambient light. Take a flash meter reading (this requires a hand held meter. If you don't have one get one.) To take a flash meter reading, set the meter at "Flash" hold the meter up close to the subject and have someone fire the flash. Note the aperture it says to use and compare it to the ambient reading. Lets say the flash reading was f/11 and the ambient was the above f 4 @ 1/15. Now we can do several things. 1. Reduce the power of the flash to f/5.6 of f/8, or lower the shutter speed to 1/2 second (NOT recommended.) I suggest in this case to lower the power to f/8 and shoot at the required 1/15 of a second. This will darken the background two stops. Shooting at f/5.6 will darken it one stop, assuming you used a shutter speed of 1/15.

Benji

[trailerparkjesus]

@benji: noted... i learned the hard way the other day...was out on a shoot with a model and took me some time to balance the flash to ambient light....wanted to kill the ambient light with my flash but sun was too high that day...has to wait till later in the afternoon to get the look i neded! ... by the way thanks for the tip on portraiture poses...read ur article and learned alot thanks so much!