Here’s a simple recipe for a dramatic flash shot outside. Like this:
Look s”photoshopped”, yeah? Well, it isn’t. It was shot like that. And for that, you need:
- An external flash on top of the camera
- A sunny day
- You in very close proximity to the subject
- The possibility to set flash (Canon system) or camera (Nikon system) to High-Speed Flash (Canon) or “Auto FP Flash” (Nikon)
On a sunny day, you now shoot as follows:
- Camera on manual mode
- Flash on TTL mode
- Camera set to 100 ISO, f/4, and 1/2000th second
- Honl or similar softbox on the flash
- You very close to the subject’s face (otherwise, there’s not enough power).
“High speed flash/FP flash” allows you to go to a shutter speed of 1/2000th, which normally you cannot do (normally, you are limited to around 1/200th second).
As a result, you now get dramatic light with nevertheless a blurred background.
Why do you have to be very close? Because high speed/FP flash diminishes the power of your flash very dramatically, more the faster you go. And the softbox diminishes it even more. Hence – be as close as around 10 inches from your subject, or the flash will not show. But when you get it right, it is a very cool look.
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There. Another secret free to you from The Speedlighter. Want more? Come see me do my Flash workshop at Vistek in Toronto tomorrow, Saturday Oct 5. And get the flash e-book!