Left: no flash. Right: daylight fill-in flash.
It's Day 3 of my Six Days of Speedlight Shooting Tips here on my blog. Scroll down for previous speedlite posts.
Today's tip: Use your speedlite for wildlife photography.
Concept: Balance the light from the speedlite to the natural light - so your photograph is a combination of both natural light and the light from your speedlite. Here's how to do it:
1) Set your camera to the Manual Exposure mode.
2) Adjust the aperture/shutter speed combination for a correct exposure.
3) Don't set a shutter speed higher than 1/200th of a sec. (max synch speed of most cameras).
3a) Setting a faster shutter speed is possible if you have high-synch speed capability.
4) Turn on your flash and set it to E-TTL.
5) Adjust the +/- setting until your subject is correctly exposed.
With this simple technique, it's possible to control the brightness of the subject and background independently, which is kinda cool.
In very bright conditions, start by setting a low ISO. If your flash does not illuminate a distant subject, you may need to boost your ISO.
Using a flash accessory such as the Better Beamer will extend the maximum illumination distance of your speedlite.
For more detailed lighting tips, see my Apps. For hands-on learning, check out my workshops.
You can use the same technique for people pictures. I took the above photograph with a speedlite in a Westcott Apollo soft box. The behind-the-scenes shot is below. This gear, and all my gear, is listed on My Gear page.
If you like stuff like this, you can subscribe to my blog here.
Explore the light,
Rick
P.S. If you have a speedlite shooter in your family, here are my holiday gift recos.
This post sponsored by Adorama - great gear at great prices.
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