Fill-flash Lighting - Using Flash to Supplement Existing Lighting

When taking photographs of people indoors, using flash, rather than the room lighting alone will produce a more pleasing result. Many homes and business locations are not evenly lighted, and this spotty lighting can fool the camera into exposing for the light source, leaving the subject too dark. Also, the typical light bulbs used in a home are tungsten, and if your film camera is using daylight film, or if your digital camera is set to expose for daylight, then your subject will appear an unnatural warm yellow color.In a business setting with fluorescent lighting above, the camera may be fooled into setting the exposure for the ceiling lights, thus leaving the subjects too dark. With the light overhead, even if your exposure is correct, your subjects can have dark areas around the eyes, under the nose, and under the chin. Plus, if your camera is set to expose for daylight conditions, fluorescent lights can cause a subject or room to have a greenish color cast.

The solution is to turn on your flash to properly light the people being photographed, and with the camera set to record daylight conditions, let the room lighting record as it really is (yellowish or greenish). This type of lighting technique is known as fill-flash, because you’re using the ambient light for your main exposure, and filling in the areas that are in shadows (your subjects’ faces) with your flash. The idea here is to have your camera expose correctly for the room, and to have the flash fill in the dark areas on your subjects’ faces.When you’re outdoors, part of the lighting problem is resolved, and recording the color correctly for a camera set to daylight conditions (around 5500 Kelvin at noon) is easy. However, the sun is overhead most of the day, and when sunlight falls on your subjects, it can produce those same dark areas in the eye sockets and under the nose and chin.

The solution is to turn on the flash! The color of the flash is almost the same daylight color as the outdoors, except when the lighting is in the golden-yellow range for the first half-hour after sunrise and the half- hour before sunset. If you use your flash, then the colors will match, unlike with the indoor tungsten or fluorescent lighting. And by using the flash, you will fill in the dark areas, and produce more pleasing results.

 When shooting outdoors, try to place your subjects in the shade, as this makes the lighting easier. If your subject is under a tree, you should try to put the subjects’ backs to the sun, as rays of light otherwise could still come through the branches and fall onto faces or bodies.If your subjects are in direct sun, place them with their backs to the sun, and make sure you have a lens shade in place to prevent lens flare. It’s also a good idea to have additional lens-shielding items at hand, such as a piece of cardboard spray-painted black, or a magazine, in case the sun is at such an angle as to render the lens shade ineffective.

 Setting the flash in manual mode: If your subjects are in direct sun, place them with their backs to the sun, and adjust the light output to around one-and-a-half to two stops less than the proper outdoor exposure. This method gives you the most control over the outcome of the photographs, and with repeatable results.The idea is to bring the exposure on the faces closer to, but not the same as, the exposure for the rest of the scene. If you use too much flash it will look unnatural, and too little won’t help much. So if the outdoor exposure, with the camera set at 100 ASA, should be f16 at 1/100 second, then the flash should be set to somewhere between f11 and f8. Your flash may have power settings for full power, half-power, quarter-power, etc., and how much light from the flash falls on your subjects will depend on how far away you are from the subjects. You will need to learn this by doing tests, or using a flash meter and recording the amount of light output by the flash at given distances.

 Using an automatic flash: This method is easier than the manual method, but the outcome is less predictable, and is only as good as your camera’s ability to properly adjust exposures under varying conditions. Also some flashes do not have a manual setting, or you may want to use a technique that is easier than setting the flash manually every time. The best way to master this method is to READ THE CAMERA MANUAL. Because each combination of camera and flash will vary, it’s a lot easier to use a flash that is dedicated to your camera; that is, specifically made for your camera by the camera manufacturer. That way, when you READ THE MANUAL, you can much more easily determine the best settings for a given situation. Normally, you will be setting your camera on a pre-programmed mode, and setting the flash to correspond with the selected exposure mode. Once you learn the results to the different combinations of exposure modes available on your camera, you’ll know from experience which to select for a certain situation. The best way to learn this is to test until you have a good idea as to the results.