From So-So to Fabulous in a Flash, with Rick Allred

Once we learn how to use the basic features of our cameras, we can coast along happily in most lighting situations. Whether using Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or even the Auto exposure mode, we are able to capture great images in most situations by letting the camera determine the exposure.

It gets a little tricky, however, when the lighting for our subject is drastically different from the rest of the scene. Although our eyes adjust instantly to the different areas of light in our scene, our cameras (as in the example shown) will expose for scene or the subject in the shade. This is a great time to use fill-flash. In the final image, a fill-flash was used to have the light on the subject more closely match the exposure in the scene.

Rick’s helpful hint: I like to warm up my flash a little. To do this, I tape a small piece of one quarter Sun gel on the front of my flash (basically it is a piece of light orange plastic). The gel is called Orange, Sun or Color Temperature Orange (CTO) and comes in Full, one-half, and one-quarter densities.

Learn more from Rick in his workshop
Flash and Lighting: Joy Beyond the Basics of Digital Photography
December 6 - December 10, 2010

Visit his web site www.rickallredimagery.com to see what he's up to.