People in front of a bright background?

[sc0ttb88]

Hi,

I’m new to DPS forums and am having problems with photographing subjects (mainly people) with a bright background. The subject always turns out very dark and the background bright. I just don’t know how to go about avoiding this? Do I need to use my flash even during a sunny day?

Many thanks

[IABoomer]

You can use the flash to fill in the foreground. You can also set the camera to spot meter and meter off the subject, but that will potentially lead to blown out bright backgrounds.

[Tito87]

Originally Posted by sc0ttb88

Hi,

I’m new to DPS forums and am having problems with photographing subjects (mainly people) with a bright background. The subject always turns out very dark and the background bright. I just don’t know how to go about avoiding this? Do I need to use my flash even during a sunny day?

Many thanks

Welcome to DPS. The short answer is yes. The long answer is it depends on what you want to achieve. If you don't want to use flash, you can read the light reflecting off your subject, but you'll get a blown out background--if that's what you want,that's fine. However, if you want to have both, subject and background, properly exposed, then, you're going to need to use flash or some kind of reflector.

[sc0ttb88]

Thanks for the help i'll try both out next time it's very bright!

[BigFuzzy]

Another thing that helps balance things out is NOT shooting in the middle of the day.
Look up Golden Hour.

But yeah, in the end, learn how to use flash as a fill light source, it'll come in handy, well, forever.