It is tough for me to explain in writing ( got to start doing those videos ( but then who wants to listen to me… Maybe more people then want to read these?))… Anyway to balance flash and sunlight you have to be aware of a few things.
The sun is bright ( and hot)… This means you usually don’t want the model looking directly into the sun. Also direct midday sun creates dark shadows, which are usually not flattering ( you may notice I say usually a lot… This is so that when someone says “but it worked in this picture” I can say ” I said usually not always”
To overpower the sun takes a lot of flash power... Which eats up batteries.
Sunlight reflected off objects can be bright as well… Shining a gold or silver reflector into a models eyes can be painful…
So what does this all mean…not sure …
One way of approaching a bright sun shoot is;
The sun, being bright, should be used as a hair or key light ie behind the model.
A large defused reflector ( wall of a building, the shirt of the guy who always wants to be your assistant) can be used as the main.
This leaves your flash to be used as fill… Keeping the light output from it down will save your batteries, the environment. And your pocketbook.
If you position everyone right, you can save even more batteries by turning off your flash
This image was shot without flash… I was too lazy to run upstairs to get mine, and the reflection from the wall behind me did a great job.
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