Fill-in Flash
Left Image: Digital SLR, Tokina 300mm f-4, Flash held off camera, Bogen monopod.
Multi-segment metering, 1/125 sec and f-5.6. , Flash Extender, Aperture priority and autofocus.
There are times that an electronic flash can be used to overcome problems in natural light to control contrast between highlights and shadows in a scene. In strong light there can be several f-stops difference between highlight and shadow areas. This is more than films can handle. In these situations, fill-in flash can create a balance and keep detail. To illuminate a foreground with fill-in flash, your subject must remain still and separated from the background or it can create a shadow and ghosting. You can also bounce or diffuse the flash to control its angle of illumination. Bouncing the flash off a white ceiling or a bounce reflector gives a soft effect. You can also soften the light by adding a diffuser in front of the flash. Some situations where you can use fill-in flash is when photographing inside a room and you want to balance the inside and outside lights. For example, to show the interior of a room you might need an exposure of 1/125 at f-5.6 for the foreground subject. If you want to include some objects in the background which might be in lower light an exposure of 1/30 at f-5.6 would be needed. To create a balance, you need a flash to take a successful photograph. Another example is when photographing a sunset but you want to include a person in the foreground. Without fill-in flash and exposing for the sky, the person would make a silhouette. When shot with flash the scene is recorded much more as the eye would see it. I used fill flash to take the above photo. Without fill-in flash the background would have been washed out had I exposed for the bird that was in less light.
Recommended reading:
Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or
Digital Camera
More than 100 vivid, graphic comparison pictures illustrate every point in this classic and can help any photographer maximize the creative impact of his or her exposure decisions. Peterson stresses the importance of metering the subject for a starting exposure and then explains how to use various exposure meters and different kinds of lighting. The book contains lessons on each element of the triangle and how it relates to the other two in terms of depth of field, freezing and blurring action, and shooting in low light or at night. A section on special techniques explores such options as deliberate under-and over-exposures, how to produce double exposures, bracketing, shooting the moon, and the use of filters. Understanding Exposure demonstrates that there are always creative choices about how to expose a picture - and that the decision is up to the photographer, not the camera.