The Power of Flash

7/5/10 – Rebecca Getsfrid – Family Portrait Photographer in Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon

I’ve commented before that I don’t like doing natural light photography (at least not as much as my other options). It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with the medium, I just prefer to have as much control over my images as possible. Location Flash Photography lets me do that.

Family photos may not be the most interesting subject in the world, but today’s case was a perfect chance to show off the power of flash.

Alien Bees AB800 through Shoot-Through Umbrella, front left; Alien Bees AB800 with Full CTO gel, back right

CTO Gelled AB800 Left; AB800 through Shoot-Through Umbrella Right

Natural Light

All three of these images were taken within 15 minutes of eachother. There was no solar eclipse, no overly major changes in cloud cover, the only things that changed were how I used the flashes.

In the first, I keep the flash power relatively low. I want to balance with the daylight and make something that looks real, but stylized. The full CTO gel on the back light adds the warmth of the real sun, making the rim light feel very natural. The broad lightsource from the shoot through umbrella makes a nice soft light that doesn’t so much overpower the natural light, as enhance it, filling in shadows and making everything nice and soft.

In the second, I moved the camera position to the opposite side, shooting into a shade-drenched forest. I rammed the lights up to full power, with the intent of killing the sun almost entirely. While it’s not enough power to darken the bright skies to black, it’s more than enough to kill the shady areas. With the CTO in front, it becomes almost more like the family is together at a beach (or a fake movie set beach), staring off into a sunset. This was a shot of opportunity, as the kid was distracted by someone walking a dog, so I quickly had the family change directions to match the way he was facing, and adjusted the light powers and my position quickly to make a shot that would be good.

In the third shot, I’ve forgone “artificial” lighting completely, and am working with only what the sky is providing me. Not being limited to the flash sync speed allows me to drop all the way down to f/2.8 for the shallow depth of field. I use manual exposure mode still, and set exposure for the kid’s face. This has the effect of blowing the sky to an almost solid mass of white, as well as a few chunks of his shirt. Dad, slightly out of focus in the back, is smiling and watching his kid explore, making for a great lifestyle type image; something a family wouldn’t be able to get with traditional studio-based family photos.

So there you have it, simply through using moderately high-powered portable flash units (the entire set up could be bought for less than $1000), we can create three entirely different images in the same relative location, all in the matter of about 15 minutes.