Every time we’re outdoors taking photos, we’re at nature’s mercy as far as lighting and weather conditions are concerned. You can’t expect the conditions to be in your favor all the time. And in reality, when things do go south, instead of whining, as photographers we should be prepared to make the situation work for us. In this context, today we have wedding photographer Jiggie Alejandrino who takes you behind the scenes of one of his engagement shoots and shares how he made unfavorable lighting conditions work for him using an off-camera flash:
“We cannot be complainers as photographers. We always have to be problem solvers.”
As you can see in the video, Alejandrino and his team were presented with dark and gloomy conditions at a time they were expecting an epic sunset. Even the image taken using the camera recommended setting appears dark and bland. However, those settings preserve the details in the sky perfectly.
To make the most of the situation the only thing Alejandrino did was to add a pop of flash to illuminate the subject. And immediately, you can see how much of a difference that made. As the flash power was just enough to illuminate the subject, the impact on the ambient light was negligible. However, the same light made the couple stand out beautifully. Moreover, the dark clouds did an excellent job of adding to the drama in the image.
Towards the end of the video, you’ll also get to see how you can create a high-contrast shot using flash. The trick is to have the flash with the light modifier as close to the subject as possible. This will illuminate the subjects pretty well while their surrounding will appear relatively dark.
If you’ve been facing challenges with light when shooting outdoors, we highly recommend that you watch the complete video. We’re sure you’ll learn a lot from it. The tips and results that Alejandrino shares will definitely inspire you to use flash and overcome those challenges.
Please feel free to share any other outdoor lighting tips that you may have. We’d love to hear from you as well.
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