*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with David on Instagram and Twitter @DavidBergman. LATEST UPDATE: David opened up new IGTV episodes where you can ask him questions live! find out more at http://www.AskDavidBergman.com
In this episode we learn how to balance natural light with the flash light, without overshadowing/overexposing one another. The right man to ask is our favorite photographer from AdoramaTV – David Bergman.
David shares: “Sometimes you might find yourself shooting outdoors in bad light. Maybe you’ve just started to play around with taking the flash off of your camera, and want to use it outside. But how do you add in the flash while still making a natural-looking image. Here’s the trick – you want to balance the foreground and the background, so the exposures are relatively close to each other. If your foreground is really bright and your background is dark then it’ll look like an unnatural flash lit photo, and of course if the background is too bright and your subject is too dark, well you can see how that looks.”
Mr. Bergman continues: “Here’s the thing, when you’re shooting and you have a background that’s far away like a skyline – you can’t change the light on it. I don’t care how many speed lights you have, you won’t have enough to light up the Manhattan skyline. But you can change your camera settings to make the background brighter or darker. So in this case the background takes priority and you want to set your camera’s exposure for that.”
“Now that you’re locked in on the background exposure, you can add in light to your subject in the foreground. You have total control over that light because you can change the output on the flash. There are a lot of ways to do it depending on what kind of flash you’re using. I prefer to shoot manual for consistency, but with a speed light you can also shoot on TTL mode, and use exposure compensation to dial it up or down as necessary.”
“Lastly if you can get your subject in the shade, so that no sunlight is hitting them, then it gives you a lot more control. Since the only light hitting her, is coming from the strobe, and if you under expose the background just a little bit, it’ll give you a deeper more saturated color and make for a cool image. So remember in an outdoor flash situation where you can’t light what’s behind your subject, set your camera exposure for the background then add your light in on your subject, and adjust to taste. Balance your foreground and background, and you’ll make beautiful, natural-looking images every single time.”
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Watch the full episode with David Bergman and Adorama TV: