Merging Ambient Light with Flash (My Favorite way to use OCF)

I'm holding my breath for spring here as the weather is in that stage where it is 60° with birds chirping one day and snowing with the temp dropping into the teens the next...spring is coming and with that more opportunities to (comfortably) shoot outside. So let's get ready to grab our flash and head outdoors!

Mixing natural light with supplemental OCF can be challenging at first but it is incredibly fun and rewarding.

My first step is to expose for the background.  I do this by changing my camera settings (with the flash off) so that my background is exposed correctly..

There is no "perfect" exposure here, it is very subjective and depends on the specific look you are wanting. I tend to underexpose my backgrounds and keep a medium aperture because I like the mood it creates but you might like a brighter background with a wide aperture. 

Do what makes you happy. :)

Again, first step, set for your background.

If you do not have HSS you will be limited in your setting choices because you will need to stay within your shutter sync speed.

In my situation, I used the settings ISO 100, F8, and 1/160ss to create the background I envisioned. I wanted to retain the details of the sky without throwing the foliage into total shadows.

You can see that my daughter is underexposed.

After I had the desired settings I turned on my flash to 1/16th power. I generally start at that setting as it works in many situations. :)

When placing my flash, I always try to match the direction of the main ambient light source. In this location, there was a large bank of trees shading the right side of the image and open space to the left. Because of that, there was more light on the camera-left side of her face. I placed my flash to the left in order to mimic the angle of the natural light. I want to give the natural light a little help, not replace it. 

Here is a pullback to include my light setup. I used my trusty Glow 28" foldable beauty dish.

And here is one of my final images.

When working with ambient light it is very helpful to think of your image as two separate exposures. 

You will have: 

Exposure 1) The area lit by your ambient light, this is normally your background.

Consider the aperture you would like to use. Set your aperture at that setting and adjust your other settings around that. 

Exposure 2) The area lit by your flash. This is usually your subject.

Approaching each of these separately can help mentally as you plan the light for your final image.

By combining the "two" exposures you can get a variety of looks.

Remember that the aperture and ISO affect both your flash and ambient lit scene. The light will increase or decrease equally on all-flash/ambient lit elements by changing those settings.

Use your shutter speed to record more/less ambient light. The same amount of light will come from the flash regardless of the shutter speed.

Here is this method step-by-step, one more time.

Using your flash outside doesn't have to be scary!

To sum up:

Expose for the background with your camera settings.

Add flash power to personal taste on your subject.

Have fun and remember, Using your flash outside doesn't have to be scary!

Happy creating!

-Leah