Fill Flash Challenge Image

Last weeks photo challenge was to photograph a portrait using on camera fill flash.  The real challenge with fill flash is not allowing it to overtake the image.

Very often yo can find yourself in a situation where you have nice directional light but the shadow density is to much to allow you to make a print with detailing both the shadow and the highlight. The on camera fill flash, when used correctly, will let you reduce the shadow density of the image yet maintain the directional light. When it is really well done, the use of on camera fill flash is barely noticeable.

When photographing this image, I found myself with a very strong and high directional lighting.  the first thing I did was lower the light angle by putting a gobo above the subject. I found that the shadow on the subject face was too dark.

To fix this, I put a speedlite on camera, set the mode to ttl, and set the flash exposure compensation to minus 2.  this gave me just enough light to open up the shadow without giving the image a flashed look. The only real give away in this image that it is flashed is the catchlight generated by the flash.

Come back tomorrow for the next photo challenge.