Popular Photography Magazine: Cheat Sheet: Fill 'Er Up

May 16, 2005 - Most cameras have either built-in or pop-up flash units that are activated only at night or in poorly lit interiors. But these flash units also can be ...
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Popular Photography Magazine: Cheat Sheet: Fill 'Er Up

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Cheat Sheet: Fill 'Er Up By Michael J. McNamara April 2005

Six ways fill flash can save your shots

With Fill Flash Most cameras have either built-in or pop-up flash units that are activated only at night or in poorly lit interiors. But these flash units also can be used in fill-flash mode to improve shots taken in bright sunlight, mixed lighting, and backlit scenes. Here are some tips on how to get better pictures using your camera’s fill-flash capabilities: ONE Outdoor portraits Turn on your camera’s flash to reduce ugly nose, eye, and hat shadows caused by direct sunlight falling on your subject. If your subject is fairly dark against a very bright background, you may want to add flash exposure—up to 1 EV—if your camera allows flash-exposure adjustment. This will help the subject better stand out against the background. In scenes with moderate to dark backgrounds, subtract a stop of flash exposure. TWO Sunsets Start by metering the background, aiming the camera about 30 degrees away from the setting sun. Then compose with your subject and take the shot with the flash turned on (not set to auto, but to fill flash or night flash). Add a stop to the flash exposure if you can when the sun is still visible in the background. THREE High-contrast scenes Fill flash can be used to improve the quality and printability of a high-contrast scene, including close-up shots or those with part of the scene in the shade. The before-and-after shots shown here illustrate how the pop-up flash on the Nikon D70 helped improve this photo dramatically.

No Fill FLash FOUR Window lighting When shooting a portrait indoors with a window in the background, make sure you angle the shot so the flash doesn’t reflect back toward the camera and reduce the flash exposure.

5/16/2005 7:04 PM

Popular Photography Magazine: Cheat Sheet: Fill 'Er Up

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FIVE Macro You can use fill flash to reduce shadows in macro photos, but first dial down the flash exposure or use a neutral-density filter in front of the flash to prevent overexposure of highlights. SIX Faking flash ratio Not all cameras let you control the built-in flash exposure. With a film camera, you can get around this by setting your camera exposure manually based on the background, then adjusting your ISO setting to add or subtract power from the built-in flash. (Higher ISO = less flash, lower ISO = more flash.) Unfortunately, this technique doesn’t work with digital cameras. Luckily, many of them have rather sophisticated fill-flash systems.

5/16/2005 7:04 PM