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Behind the Lens - Fill-flash August 9, 2012

Using a flash in bright daylight seems crazy, but the technique can improve harshly lit subjects and help eliminate shadows.

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Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo.I placed Elvis impersonator Wade Morrow in a setting at the Douglas County Fair but the afternoon sunlight was so direct and harsh I added a flash to what would have been a shaded side of his face. I placed an off-camera flash to the front and on his left side at about 8-feet away at 6-feet high and angled slightly down. My flash was powerful enough to match the sunlight and give me an exposure that helped increase the blue of the sky. On-camera flash can be used in a similar way in outdoor situations.

Photo by Mike Yoder Lawrence Journal-World

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo.My on-camera flash helped fill in the shadows and darker areas of these subjects as they stood beneath a shade tree near dusk waiting to participate in the fifth annual Lawrence Zombie Walk Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011. Because of the limited range of an on-camera flash, you usually need to be fairly close to subjects for fill-flash photography to work. My exposure with flash was 1600 ISO, f/6.3 aperture and shutter-speed of 1/40th.

Photo by Mike Yoder Lawrence Journal-World

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo.The sunlight was bright and from behind these high school marching band members. To make this colorfully dressed member stand out I directed my on-camera flash at him. Notice the considerable difference in lighting from the foreground subject and the other band members. My exposure was ISO 100, aperture f/10 and shutter-speed of 1/200.

Photo by Mike Yoder

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