Get Rid of the Gloom: How to Use Fill Flash Outdoors

Not into dim, moody photos? Learn how a bit of fill flash outdoors can banish gloomy skies and deliver gorgeous, glowing portraits. (Featuring: ADOR PHOTOGRAPHY)

Natural light is beautiful; but most of all, it’s easy. There’s no need to set up flashes or strobes, and you can leave the batteries at home. But what if your naturally-lit photographs are looking a bit too gloomy? Say hello to fill flash.

There are endless possibilities for adding light to your images. Here, we’ll look at how a simple, straightforward fill flash can take your outdoor images from gloomy to glowing.

Not into dim, moody photos? Learn how a bit of fill flash outdoors can banish gloomy skies and deliver gorgeous, glowing portraits. — *Image by ADOR Photography*

Solve Problems with Simple Fill Flash

Minnesota photographer Katie Cabak established her brand, ADOR Photography, with warm, well-lit images at the forefront. It requires a bit more effort than an all-natural lighting approach, but the work is worthwhile if you love the evenly-lit look. Fill flash is more than a style; it’s a solution to the challenges photographers face at every session:

“Make me look younger!” When it comes to minimizing the appearances of wrinkles and under-eye shadows, nothing beats ~~Botox~~ fill flash. It’s like using a reflector, but you don’t need an assistant.

“Photograph me in front of this super-bright background!” Clients LOVE snow-capped mountains, shimmery lakes, and sun-dappled forests. Unfortunately, it can be hard to create stunning skin tones and expose for a bright background. Fill flash to the rescue!

“Immediately take a perfect portrait of me standing under these hideous fluorescent lights!” Event photographers in particular get called upon to make portraits in the most unpleasant lighting conditions. Fill flash empowers you to retain the location’s ambient light, while illuminating your clients with more flattering controlled lighting.

Two Exposures, One Solution

When you add flash to your photography setup, you’re actually managing two different exposures:

the ambient exposure (the existing light, without any flash)

your flash exposure (the light created by your flash)

Begin by setting your camera to best capture the ambient light. This means your background should look terrific without the use of a flash.

Next, turn on your flashes and adjust them until they’re providing the right kind of light on your subjects – light that complements both your clients and the background behind them.

See how this photo perfectly blends both the foreground and the background? This is no accident. It’s a setup that Katie created with intention and foresight. Don’t leave your exposures to chance! Decide how you want your images to look, and make it happen!

How to Create Great Fill Flash

Katie keeps her setup simple and portable, so she can setup and shoot all by herself.

“For my lighting set-up, I use two Canon Speedlite 600EX-RTs on tripods and trigger them with the Canon ST-E3-RT,” explains Katie. “I use the natural light behind my subjects as a rim light, then I underexpose the background by a few stops and use the Speedlites for fill flash.”

If that was Greek to you, allow us to break it down. Here you see two nearly identical photos. One is exposed beautifully, while one is underexposed.

Left Photo: f/4, 1/60″, ISO 400, 83mm Focal Length

Katie’s telephoto lens adds depth and bokeh to her f/4 exposure, while the slower 1/60″ shutter speed and 400 ISO allows the background to shine.

Right Photo: f/11, 1/100″, ISO 400, 86mm Focal Length

Even with a long lens, f/11 is too closed-down to allow any bokeh in this image. The 1/100″ shutter speed is still slow enough to sync with Katie’s flashes, but paired with the 400 ISO and smaller aperture, both the background and the subjects are underexposed.

Fix the Photo

In the right-side photo, the shadows are entirely too dark, and the subjects are nearly lost due to underexposure. The sun flare looks great, but your clients are unlikely to want an entire session of this photo style. To create a more traditional look, try one of these solutions:

Shutter Speed = More Ambient Light. Slow your shutter speed by one stop, from 1/100″ to 1/60.” This will add one stop of ambient light to your photograph.

Aperture = More Ambient and Flash Light. Open your aperture by three stops, from f/11 to f/4. This will add three stops of ambient and fill flash light to your photograph.

Flash Power = More Flash Light. Turn up your flash power. This will add fill flash light to your photograph. To add a full stop of light from your flash, you’ll need to double its power. You can incrementally double your flash power from 1/16 to 1/8, from 1/8 to 1/4, from 1/4 to 1/2, and from 1/2 to full power. If you still need more light on your subjects, add a second flash!

Less Distance = More Flash Light. Move your flashes closer to your clients. If your flash is 10 feet away from your subject and you need an extra stop of light, move your flash to only five feet away. If you need two additional stops of light, move your flash to two-and-a-half feet away.

Where to Put Your Lights

Katie’s two-flash setups are easy to replicate. With the sunlight behind her clients as a rim light (or “hair light”), her fill light is only responsible for filling in the shadows on her clients themselves. Duplicate this setup by mentally establishing a triangle shape. Your clients are at one point of the triangle, and the flashes occupy one or both of the two other points.

PRO TIP: Learn to Light

If you’re STILL confused, take a look at Cole’s Classroom’s detailed tutorial on using fill flash outdoors, and their easy article on off-camera flash!