Lighting Outdoor Portrait Question

[Songman45]

Steve posted a question here and I inadvertantly erased it while adding a comment, but his question was, "So, ambient light rendering 5.6 subject 8 and exposed at f8?

Thanks for playing

Steve

[ascending Phoenix]

Having not done much of this..

Measure ambient reading at highest shutter sync ( mine is 1/250 ).Let it go 1 stop over your subject..so your shooting just fill.

Or over power the sun by 1 1/2 stops.If like that look

[Benji]

Steve,

That is usually how I do it, but of course it depends on the background. If I must shoot outdoors when it is sunny I wait until later on in the day so the sun is more behind the subject instead of above him or her, that way it becomes a rim/background/hair light.

Benji

[Songman45]

Originally Posted by Benji

Steve,

That is usually how I do it, but of course it depends on the background. If I must shoot outdoors when it is sunny I wait until later on in the day so the sun is more behind the subject instead of above him or her, that way it becomes a rim/background/hair light.

Benji

Thank you Benji for the reply. By-the-by nice avitar change. Now back to my wondering: The situation at hand is a senior, outdoors with fall foliage and rustic stone buildings. Subject-to-background distance will be fairly long for much of the work, so f8 as a working aperture seems reasonable. We'll be working from afternoon through sunset. Additional lighting is being provided by off camera flash and reflectors. I'd like to have the subject standing off the background but not so much that she gets that cut-and-paste tabloid newspaper look. I'm looking for smooth transitions from highlight to shadow.

[Benji]

Steve,

I've done the off camera flash/balancing with ambient light numerous times and I usually like the background to be one stop less than the main light reading on the subject. I use the ambient light as my fill and background/hair light and later on in the shoot it also becomes a rim light. I place the off camera flash on the brightest side of the face and use the ambient light as my fill. If you want the fall foliage to have a little more "pop" slow the shutter speed down one stop. If you see the background is too bright after you load the images into PS they can always be easily darkened.

Benji

[Songman45]

Benji,
Thank you so very much. Your answers are always so succinct and clear. So I'll begin with one full stop difference and drag the shutter speed as neccessary to achieve the background illumination as the day wears on. I appreciate the input.

Warmest regards,
Steve

[Benji]

Steve,

You will probably need to adjust the shutter speed every time you move to a new location and in addition about every ten to fifteen minutes at first then as the sun gets lower on the horizon you will need to take a meter reading every two minutes or so. Our eyes automatically adjust to the darkness, the camera doesn't! Also remember to lower the power of your main light as the background gets darker. One other thing, the color temperature of the sun will change as it gets lower on the horizon but the flash will not. You may want to pack a warming gel or two to compensate. Also if your off camera flash is like mine it may be too powerful at sunset even at the lowest power. A small white cotton towel placed over the flash tube will cut a stop of light right off the top, fold it in two and it will cut an additional stop, or use ND filters on the light. You will not be able to use a ND filter on the camera as it will cut all lights.

Benji

[Songman45]

Ah, Benji you are a warehouse of great information. Thank you so very much for looking out ahead of me. I appreciate your reminder of the changes in late afternoon/evening sun in both temperature and intensity. That's something I should remember as I do outdoor motocross and equestrian events that sometime carry over into evening - but without a little nudge might forget while thinking my way through the other elements.

I'm going to be using a recently purchased but older model Quantum T2 flash head. Its maximum output is a mere 150 WS but should be enough to accomplish the task and I'll be packing in some reflectors, modifiers and diffusers.

Thanks again. I have the same sensation in my head as I got back in algebra class when I finally began to "get it" and the concept began to come clearer. I'm hoping for better success at the shoot than I had in math class. You see, I never grasped the concept enough to actually pass the class.

Steve

[Benji]

Steve,

I never passed algebra either. Good thing they invented automatically reading incident meters!

Benji

[Songman45]

Originally Posted by Benji

Steve,

I never passed algebra either. Good thing they invented automatically reading incident meters!

Benji

So this Gossen Luna-Pro wouldn't be any easier for you to use than me, huh?

[Benji]

Originally Posted by Songman45

So this Gossen Luna-Pro wouldn't be any easier for you to use than me, huh?

Nope!

Ben