Adding artificial light to your natural light scene is a relatively simple technique that you can use to create an image that depicts the scene more impressively than what you see when you are there.
There are several videos on YouTube that walk through the process of adding strobe light to an outdoor scene, but some of these depend on your ability to use advanced camera features like high-speed sync . Some videos show how to work with a specific trigger or strobe, and you may not be able to easily translate the steps to your particular camera system.
In the video below, I use a Leica M10 paired with Profoto B2 flashing, but I believe that if you follow the steps I describe, you should be able to replicate the results using a camera and strobe combination of your choice, as long as both have complete manual control. whole. Imagine our scene is a scene of a person standing in direct sunlight. First, we’ll need to determine the correct exposure for this scene and lock the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture settings, as they won’t change when we add artificial light. From my point of view, the term correct exposure is relative, and anything that looks good to my eyes is appropriate for the photo I will be creating. For this reason, I never check my charts. If the image looks good, I don’t care if the pixel information is in both the light and dark areas of the image. When I add strobe light to an outdoor scene, I underexpose the ambient light scene by half or even a full stop. Because I will be adding more light to the scene in the next step, I rate this dark scene as correct, even though the histogram will show it as underexposed.
Once you’ve determined what you feel is the correct exposure for the scene, you can start adding flicker to the image. Start by setting the strobe light to the lowest wattage setting. Increase the power incrementally, taking a new photo each time you increase the strobe power until the scene looks good to you. The end result will look similar to an ambient light image, but the shadows on your subject’s face should be significantly reduced as they are filled with the flash’s light. The shadows are still in your control as you have the freedom to place your brush in any position that suits your subject.
Watch the video for detailed step-by-step instructions on the process.
