Should I Use Flash For Outdoor Portraits

To best fill in those shadows you need to modify the light to soften it.

Should i use flash for outdoor portraits. In this example that allows me to use a wide open aperture in combination with fill-flash to create a blurry background effect. So in some cases 18th power might be too much and you may need to drop it down to 116th power. Try a Diffuser on your Flash.

When to use flash for outdoor portrait photography Using flash outdoors is all about analyzing the quality of light versus the quantity of light. When using flash for outdoor photography the sun will probably cause harsh lighting. I should let you know though that the amount of power from the flash that you should use isnt an exact science.

This makes marginal for outdoor use with a diffuser. Taking portraits in bright sunlight has been a bit of a no-no for a long time but the truth is that you can actually get stunning results if you use a fill flash. You can use the sun behind your subject as a hair light and use fill flash in front of your subject for a two light portrait lighting setup outdoors.

Of course the higher the ISO setting and the wider the aperture setting the more sensitive your digital camera sensor becomes to light. But fill-in flash can be effective on dull and dreary days too. With an 81 ratio there will be about eight times more light hitting the brighter part of the subjects face than the shadow part of their face.

This is for family portraits of 3-4-5 people not just a single person. In case you find this concept difficult to grasp I have included another video tutorial below on outdoor portraits using fill-flash where I use a three stop neutral density filter to bring down the ambient exposure. Using a flash while shooting outdoor portraits is the most effective way to remove any shadows that may appear on the face or figure of your subject.

The only rule wed really want to offer up for outdoor portraits is to not shoot with full powered flashes. Bonus reason 8 Off-camera flash can. You do not want to shoot in the direct sunlight because your subject will be squinting.