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Natural Light or Off Camera Flash?
The purpose of this video is to show you there’s no right or wrong in using just the natural light, or adding in a flash in your portrait sessions, you’ll just get different results.
As a photographer, we should “previsualize” how our photos will look like when we just shoot in natural light, or add an off-camera flash.
Main Points:
1. Shoot in natural light (01:30)
-There’s just one exposure: The ambient exposure (combination of ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed) and it will affect the brightness of both the subject and the background.
-Find an open shade and avoid a bright background (otherwise it will be washed out)
-Use a step ladder
2. Add a flash as a soft fill light (3:54)
-When you add a flash, there will be two exposures: the ambient (background brightness) and the flash (subject brightness) exposures.
-Turn off the flash and expose for the ambient light.
-Once your get your desired ambient exposure, you can turn on the flash and adjust the power until the subject is properly lit.
-This method works well in an open shade
-A regular flash such as Godox AD200 or Godox TT600 is good enough when you use this method.
3. Add a flash as the main light and underexpose the ambient light (5:30)
-This is how you create dramatic portraitures.
-This method allows you to walk out of the open shade and shoot anywhere, including full sun.
-Just like point #2, turn off the flash and expose for the ambient light. You want to underexpose the ambient light
-Once your get your desired ambient exposure, you can turn on the flash and adjust the power until the subject is properly lit.
-This method requires you to use a high power flash such as Godox AD600 (or 2 AD200s) because you need to overpower the sun.
4. The main benefit of using a flash:
-Allowing you to shoot anywhere, including full sun
-Balancing the subject and backgrounded exposures
Equipment
-Camera: Canon 5D Mark iv
-Lenses: Canon 85mm F1.4 and 70-200mm F2.8
-Flash: Godox AD600
-Softbox: Glow Ez Octabox (36”)
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