How to use fill-flash in outdoor photography

Taking pictures in the summer time means bright sunshine, which makes deep shadows on your subjects. This will make your pictures have unpleasantly dark shading on the faces of people or on your subject. The solution is to use fill-flash. By using a bright flash you can flesh out the details hidden in the deep shadowed areas.

Things You'll Need

• Camera
• Flash (external or attached)

Instructions

1. Find the subject you want to photograph.

2. 

   Set your camera's exposure time to the appropriate bright day setting.

3. 

   Now set the exposure on your flash to make the flash a little less bright. Many automatic SLR cameras have a fill-flash feature that you can select by pressing your flash icon until it cycles through to the selection. For manual cameras or external flashes, simply tape a piece of tissue paper over the flash to soften the light.

4. Taking your picture now will have the dark shadows on your subject filled in on the finished print.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are taking portraits and feel that a flash creates an unnatural effect try using a large piece of white poster board angled toward your subject so that it reflects light onto your subject. This will produce a broad, softer more natural light.