I think it is important to try out and practice the various ideas for fill lighting outdoors, as mentioned in this thread. Whatever method that you usually prefer may need to be changed "on the fly" as weather conditions change. I was shooting a yoga demonstration up on a beach, in some sand dunes, without any shade. I used a shoot thru umbrella with a Nikon SB800 speedlight on a stand to balance with the daylight and fill shadows. The wind eventually knocked the small umbrella and stand over and ruined the umbrella but I was finished with the shoot by then. Way up, on the same dunes, is a shady area where I used a speedlight with Stofen type cap off camera for fill on a light stand and a long TTL cord for pictures of a couple of kids and their mom. I have used that approach a few times in other more or less shady places outdoors. Now, I have Pocket Wizard Plus2's and more options are available to me both indoors and out. I could not get the Nikon built in relay trigger system to flash for me consistently outdoors or indoors, so I purchased the PW's. In the past, when shooting brides at a window, I have bounced flash from the ceiling as well. Or, I have bounced window light light into the face with the Reflectasol flat on a stand. I usually don't want F2 for my window light portraits because I prefer F4 or F5.6 to get something in focus. I don't get the "round reflector idea" nor the "soft box" nor "the beauty dish" but that is just me. However, Avedon, Skrebneski and Scuvullo did not use soft boxes, they used umbrellas. It is convenient to set up a bounce flat in the studio while also using a studio light on a stand with an umbrella. Choose white or silver or a combination. Choose an umbrella with or without a black backing and with or without a "translucent cover". On the other hand, another light on a stand can be used with an umbrella or a shoot thru umbrella for fill. I do like flash brackets. The results certainly can look good outdoors as the light is directed slightly downwards on a face as in butterfly lighting. It is better than hand holding a flash on a cord, unless you don't usually carry your bracket. A cord is easier to carry. Carry a long coiled cord and you can put it on a lightstand. These are my experiences.
I can get the same look with flash or reflector most of the time. You need to balance the color and power to match the ambiant for each shot.I always use a modifier, either SB, umbrella or by bouncing. Some say direct flash outside is Ok but I can see the difference.I would prefer to have 1/10 of my flash hit my subject if that is what it takes to keep a natural look.It usually looks like I am pointing the flash at something other than my client. For me off camera flash is handy because I seldom have an assistant to hold a reflector.
Beni wrote:
Using external lighting you have far more control than using a reflector, you can control where your fill is coming from, which angle, height, etc. You also have more control over fill ratio. Reflectors of course are useless if you are short on time, are shooting mutiple people, etc. It's a good solution for a certain specific look with slow moving one on one portraiture. For anything else it becomes problematic, not impossible but hardly the ideal solution. Unless you have a production team of course, seen some incredible stuff done with multiple huge reflectors. All in all, external lighting while harder to master, is far more versatile. Personally I love shooting without fill using external elements as Lisa has mentioned but a reflector is not my preferred poison for fill....Show more →
In one of Lisa's threads she showed wide shots of one of her shooting locations to demonstrate you can find good backgrounds and light in unexpected places. The location? A strip of grass in a parking lot. One of the reasons the lighting was so nice? The building next to the strip of grass had a white wall that was acting just like a huge reflector held by a phalanx of assistants.
You can get wonderful light outdoors by finding open shade where light from south side is blocked by an overhanging porch, doorway, etc. The indirect northern skylight becomes directional as indoors next to a window creating natural "subtractive" lighting.
The Catch-22 is always the range of the sensor. If the ambient contrast in f/stops doesn't exceed its range in f/stops (the practical range of detail you can see, not in absolute 0-255 technical terms) you don't need much if any fill. Overcast days often have shorter ranges than the camera resulting in gray washed out looking shadows at capture, but with a tweek of the shadow and midtones in PP the flat lighting can be made to look normal in contrast and will have better noise-free shadows than shooting on a clear sunny day when scene range > sensor range.
It's easy to determine if scene fits sensor with just the camera. First expose for the highlights below clipping then look at the detail in black objects in shade. If you can't see any and the histogram is running off on the left the scene exceeds the sensor. To find out how much scene exceeds the sensor open the lens until the histogram isn't running off the left side. It's the same information you'd get by spot metering, telling you how bracketing (for HDR) is needed to record detail everywhere for scenics and when and how much flash power you'll need for people shots.
"Beautiful Images ! Care to tell us about your outdoor lighting (what do you use?)
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I think all but one in this gallery is done using flash as the key light. Most use two lights, one key and one kicker depending upon the backlight conditions.
The extreme case is when strong sun in back requires two lights in front, key & fill. Plus, typically a ND filter to get the lens back into a preferred range of f-stops.
Typically, I'm not walking around with a client looking for a place to shoot a single headshot. I'm selecting places that I can shoot full length, headshots, everything in between. I can't wait for ideal conditions, I have to make the conditions work. Then, change clothes, move, do it again.
On the reflector versus strobe / softbox I can see the difference and prefer the reflector but often end up using a strobe / softbox because of the flexibility .. you have more control over the light in many different ways with a strobe. But again a softbox does not look nearly as as good, at least to my eyes .. just looks more harsh and less dimensional.
