Wedding photography and fill flash

I realise that this probably isn't the 'correct' forum to post this

question, but I find the most 'knowledgable and experienced'

photographers frequent this forum. Hence my question is how to

determine the correct fill flash to use.

I understand that this is a broad topic, but I am interested in the

technical information regarding fill flash. I can never seem to get

it right in the field. I generally end up with the subject way over

exposed enveloped in darkness or not enough 'fill' on the subjects.

Can anyone help?

 

Cheers

 

Ben

 

PS: I am using a Fujifilm S3 Pro with SB-80DX. If anyone would

recommend a better match for a flash I would be interested.

If you don't figure things out and use manual flash and manual mode, you simply compensate your flash until you find the balance you want. Testing of all the automated modes--for both ambient and flash--beforehand will give you an idea which direction to go in the field.

 

Otherwise--broad rule of thumb--set your flash to put out light that is 1 or 2 stops below (underexpose) your camera setting (f stop). Set your shutter speed to control the appearance of the background or ambient light.

nadine is right. some people like to split hairs and argue over -1 or -1 and 1/3rds stop. I would say to go out in the field w/ a tripod and a string, and be your own model. figure out how to get the compensation just right for you, and then back away and get closer and see if the flash maintaines that compensation well (it should). then try strong backlit situation and strong front lighting and side lighting and - once you estalibhs that your flash is probably consistent - figure out when you need to bump compneastion up or bring it down.

 

yeah, the above might sound obvious, but you have a DSLR, so it's not like it costs anything but your time to test - and it will be much better for YOU to use YOUR flash and do YOUR own tests in the long run, I am convinced. just figure out in what way your flash is consistent, and then go from there for your compensation.

 

best of luck - conrad

Ben

 

If you are shooting in the dark it isnt Fill Flash.

 

The actual setting isnt all that important in daylight as it will be difficult to over expose. The S3 and SB-80 will work well in TTL or Dayylight Balanced Fill Flash. But as Nadine pointed out - you will always get the greatest amount of control and consistency from using your flash in manual mode.

 

You have a Digital SLR - so why not have a friend model for you (or set up some Teddy Bears) and experiment to find what works for you. Once you have that confidence you can stop worrying about Fill Flash and start concentrating on creativity...

 

Jason

What works for me is to use everything in manual mode, flash and camera and a light meter, I take an incident reading, say F8 at 1/60 and then set the flash at F5.6.

 

One important consideration is how far away you are from your subject normally you go under on your flash but that always depends on how far you are from the subject. The further away you are the more the power of the flash decreases.

 

Normally if you do it on auto it can be hit and miss on most systems.

 

Hugh

I usually visualize the effect i want, then think how to make it happen. Almost always, when shooting people, the very first thing that i consider is the desired DOF (Lens Aperture). After setting the DOF, i then carefully look at the ambient lighting and use the exposure compensation dial to balance the ambient lighting on my subject. After i have made all ambient decisions, and if the lighting is consistant, i will then dial these settings into manual mode (FStop and Shutter). I then simply compensate my flash to the desired levels. For fill, this is usally a - compensation. So basically what i am suggesting is to always utilize the ambient to work for you as much as possible then add just a little fill to open up shaded areas of your subject.

My apologies if this sounds like a flame -- it is my opinion only: Forget fill flash. Fill flash is the most overused tool of mediocre wedding photographers. If you have enough light around you, take the picture! Meter it in manual mode and take it with the natural light. When there isn't enough light available to take the photo correctly anymore, you use flash. I am amazed at how many professional photographers I see using a flash in broad daylight (or worse, a during a beautiful evening pre-sunset). Use that great natural light that is there! Meter it, adjust manually, and shoot it correctly. Use fill flash when you have extreme backlighting that you can't work around. Generally speaking, I've found that with my EOS cameras with ETTL have always done the right thing when needed (which is <1% of photos when available light was sufficient). I've never shot a Fujifilm S3, but I'm guessing it has some kind of TTL that should do the right thing when it's needed.

Well, Tate, the answers given were for a specific question. If the question would have been "How best to utilize ambient lighting", i'm sure the answers would have been different and would have been well stated. I am of the opinion to always use Ambient when necessary but there are times when fill flash is needed, and IMO, that usually means just using a little.

Good answer Tate, then Benjamin's photo's will look loke a "mediocre photographer" as all the details in his clients faces disappear into the shadows.

 

Fill flash is probably one of the most underated tools in wedding photography at the moment, and is a very valuable tool.

 

If you place your clients in direct sunlight the photo will be very hard, and they will be squinting. If you place then where the light is soft, you will need either a reflector and an assistant, or maybe more reflectors and assistants, or use fill flash to put some detail back into a shot.

 

I use between -3 stops and 0 stops of fill depending on the circumstances. (yes 1:1 and your flash maybe considered the main source, but with heavily backlit situations it is sometimes required.)When the general lighting is fairly soft look at -3 stops and when general lighting is hard go for -1 stops. The mark of a sucessful fill flashshot is that it looks natural, and the flash itself cannot be seen.

 

With new digital cameras, keep trying as you can see the results immediateley, and then compensate. Every flash/camera combo behaves slightly differently, so keep expirementing with yours. Once you've nailed it, it's another tool in your armory.

 

This weekend, I'll be re-shooting wedding formals for a client. They hired another "professional", and wanted their photo's taken in a local park, which is a very pretty and popular place, but the lighting is varied. They are so dissappointed with the results, with the faces virtualy totally in shadow, that they will have the brides hair and makeup redone, call all the family back, and re-hire the suits just to make sure they will have some photo's that they like of their wedding. A little bit of fill flash would have solved the problem without the need of a re-shoot.

 

The mark of a good photographer is that they are in control of the light, either using natural light correctly, or modifying it to suit their requirements.

Thanks all for your input. I didn't mean to spark any 'arguments'. I started playing with manual mode of my SB-80DX last night with some interesting results. I look forward to testing out my fill outdoors and will post results next week.

 

Cheers for all the input.

 

Benjamin