Small Flash - Blending Flash With Daylight

 Part 1

Blending Flash With Daylight - This is definitely a technique that you should spend time with. When daylight and flash are blended together correctly it has a very natural look to it. I am going to show a couple of ways that I blend these lights together.

Learn From Other Photographers - I want to mention two photographers that do a lot of work with small flashes (strobes). They cover mixing flash with daylight with a lot more detail that I will.

The first one to check out is Joe McNally. He has a blog that is incredible. You can learn so much from Joe it is mind boggling. Joe McNally was a National Geographic photographer for over twenty years. When you take a look at his work you will see how amazing his photography is. Do not pass the chance to learn from Joe McNally. Your photography will improve drastically.

The second photographer to check out is David Hobby. I have mentioned him before in my blog. His blog is called Strobist. David Hobby was a professional photojournalist for 20 years. He worked as photographer for the Boston Sun until 2007. After that he blogged full time for his blog the Strobist. That's full time giving you and I some amazing information to make us all much better photographer.

Use the information I have on my blog and also study Joe McNally's and David Hobby's blogs. If you do this your ability to use flash with other types of light will soar.Enjoy your adventure! Love your results.

How I blend my flash with daylight if I am shooting indoors - First I establish my exposure in manual mode for the daylight that is coming in from a window. I work with the exposure until it looks just the way I want it to. With this initial shot you can now see what areas need a little more light added to them to bring out the final image. Now start adding some flash to the image. I start extremely low on the flash power if I am shooting very close to the subject. I usually set my flash to 1/128 power. If your flash does not go that low just back your flash away from the subject if you need to. Fire a test shot and re-adjust the flash power if necessary. Sometimes you will have to power up the flash to 1/8 or 1/4 power or even more. That becomes your choice. I also like to shoot with a small to medium softbox so that the light blends smoothly.

 The light was coming in from a window on the right. I established that exposure first (exposure was set to f/3.3 @ 1/45 sec - iso 400) and then added light to the cat's face and body with a Nikon SB-800 set to 1/128 power. The flash was mounted in a very small softbox - 8.5" x 8.5". The flash head had a diffuser on it to help soften the light even more.

 Same light setup as above except the exposure was f/4 @ 1/45 sec.

By the way.....this was a one shot deal. Got the dog to stay on the chair for just a few seconds. Grabbed the shot and the dog went on her merry way.

I think this method of light blending creates a warmness. Very pleasing to the eye.

Part 2 will be posted in just a few days.

Until next time.....Stephen H Causey