Using Fill Flash Outdoors

Flash outdoors in the sun?  If you want to balance the light and add sparkle to the eyes of your subject, absolutely!  Flash isn't just for low light situations.  A little fill flash outdoors is a necessity when you are competing with the sun and aiming to balance the background with the foreground.  It will also put those beautiful catch lights in the eyes of your subject, which show life and lessen the "dead eye" effect.  When using fill flash you are usually going to want to position your subjects in open shade.  Open shade is an area which is shaded, but nothing is overhead to block light.  If you have a detachable flash, get it off the camera!  Leaving the flash on camera leads to flat lighting.  The most flattering light for a subject's face is directional.  Directional lighting (slightly above the subject's eyes and at a 45 degree angle) sculpts the face and will leave shadow on one side.  Investing in a light stand (to hold the flash) and umbrella (to soften the light) is well worth the $65.  Shadows are not the enemy!  If your shadow side looks too dark for the effect you are trying to achieve, try a reflector to bounce light back up on that side, or use a second flash set to 1-1.5 stops darker to fill the shadows.  A lot of off camera flashes offer TTL (through the lens) metering and this makes your job that much easier.  If you own a Nikon, the CLS (creative lighting system) make become your best friend in the field.  Using CLS, you can control your Nikon off camera flashes through your camera and set up to 2 at different f-stops.  So get experimenting with some fill flash outdoors and watch your portraits soar to a new level!