The cheapest option is open shade, but that won't generally work at the beach or spontaneous/candid shots.
The cheapest option is open shade, but that won't generally work at the beach or spontaneous/candid shots.
Thanks for the link. No there isn't much shade at the beach area that we were at. But I did pretty much the same thing of shooting from all directions trying to find what would work best. We even went again right before dinner hoping later in the day would be better but apparently it wasn't late enough. I did bring a flash with but it really didn't help much. Plus our dog was getting pretty adament that he would rather be chasing birds than looking at me!Originally Posted by DavidEccleston
Denise,
I am not the best at this but here are a couple of examples.
Jayson suggested turning her so her back is to the sun and use on-camera flash dialed down a bit. This was just that, ETTL.
IMG_0057 by clemmb60, on Flickr
The next one is also turn her back to the sun. The flash is bare bulb on light stand. Flash at full power.
IMG_0153 by clemmb60, on Flickr
This last one is with the sun more to the side. Flash bare bulb on light stand. Flash on full power.
IMG_0007 by clemmb60, on Flickr
These are not my best work by any means. I do prefer to use the flash on lightstand with softbox. I have pretty much given up on using an umbrella. It takes very little wind even om my heavy stand with weights to blow it over. I have broken a couple of flashes and damaged a couple of umbrellas.
Do you have a good flash meter to help you balance the sun and flash?
Mark
If I am trying to enhance blue sky, reduce reflection on the water and reduce the chances of blowing out the white on my dog but not do too much damage to IQ, would the polarizer be best or an ND filter? Did you use a filter on your last shot, Mark?
No filter here. A little PP to bring out the sky.
Mark
I didn't see this before heading out this morning and I ended up bring a polarizer filter with. From what I can see, I must have been more concerned with the flash then the filter because the sky still looks pretty blah in the results and need pp.
I slept late
Mark
Ok, I dragged my daughter out of bed this morning much, much earlier than she cares to get up on her Saturday off and attempted this once again! First off, I should have realized how busy it is there on a Saturday morning with joggers, bikers and dog walkers! Buddy had lots more on his mind than sitting pretty for the pictures!!! Next time, the dog stays home! It was very hard to concentrate on flash, composition etc. and the dog!
But even with all of that ...mission accomplished!! No shadows!! Worst thing is because we did this so quickly to get in and out of there, I don't know my exact set-up for each photo. I tried the speedlight on camera, on a stand and with and without the sto-fen omni bounce. Still, for the most part all the photos were shadow-free.
For some reason, I can't get a "browse" computer box to upload the photos directly and I know she wouldn't want these on flickr so I will try again in a little bit.
Anway, thank you for all of the help an suggestions!! I am actually starting to feel like I know what I am doing now ...LOL!
Denise
Very nice shots, Mark! I am hoping to get to the lake early enough tomorrow before it gets too hot and try this. I do not have a flash meter but we'll see how it goes without one. I am going to try on camera first but if my daughter will let me, I will set up a softbox also. She doesn't like too much attention brought to the whole thing but if it's early enought maybe nobody will be there yet.
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