At first it may seem daunting but with just a bit of experimentation your photography can reach new heights and set itself apart from the competition. These lighting tips will work for all genres – wedding photography, portrait photography, senior photography, fashion photography and boudoir photography to name but a few – including wedding, portrait, senior portraiture and senior fashion photography to name just a few. In this step-by-step flash lighting tutorial I will discuss techniques like dragging the shutter which allow more ambient light into portraits while adding depth and adding depth into any shot taken with ambient light.
Ready to learn how to mix flash photography in ambient light? Let’s get to it.
Here, we are exploring flash photography while also mixing in ambient elements. When working, cameras typically sync at 1/200th of a second; flash photography operates at this same shutter speed, typically blocking out ambient light in favor of an inky black backdrop. But that isn’t what we want; what we want instead is to allow some ambient leak-in so the whole back corridor doesn’t end up going black; I want some depth there and get my shutter speed below 200th of a second so the flash freezes her while simultaneously letting in ambient leak-in from behind.
Test Shot #1
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/200, ISO 100
Test Shot #2
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 100
Test Shot #3
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 100
Let me briefly explain it to you in simple terms. Cameras and flash systems operate at 1/200th of a second; some operate at 1/250th. Think of this like the speed limit on a highway: all cameras and flash systems fall below this threshold. As soon as your flash fires, it’s moving at 200th of a second speed to illuminate your subject and reach the sensor, all properly lit up. Now, that light in the background is moving at 60th of a second; think of this like driving 60 miles an hour on our highway example! What usually occurs is that light reaches the shutter and opens and closes at 200th of a second; but that light back in that corridor still hasn’t made its way onto our camera or sensor yet, so to let more ambient lighting in, and give our portrait more depth, we use what’s known as “dragging the shutter.”
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 100
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 100
As my light is running out, let’s stop talking and move onto it. What I like in my shot is the depth created by streetlights starting to come on below her body; looking directly down behind her you can see there is a bright spot; to avoid this from leaking out I will use her body to frame that up as best I can and switch between aperture priority and manual mode in order to control ambient here.
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 100
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 100
Test Shot at 1/200th of a second will demonstrate how dark this scene is; we’re not allowing enough ambient light into the frame. Now since I’m shooting manual mode, I will dial back my shutter speed down to 1/100th of a second for future shots. Now, let’s increase the shutter speed to 1/50th of a second and see what kind of ambient we get back. Now I know what this is going to look like without flash on her, so now let’s add trigger and flash as soon as we take one more test shot just to prove this out and prove its effects on her portrait – now we have an atmospheric portrait with ambient letting through as well as plenty of detail and it should make for a great combination!
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 100
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 100
That will create an image with striking lighting, yet will stand out from other photographs, as we mix ambient and flash light sources to produce something truly original and stunning. Plus, as it was an exciting part of our evening to shoot and work at once – we had to go fast!
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 200
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 200
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 200
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 100
All right. As I continue working here, you may notice that these 50th of a second photos are very crisp; that is because the flash is freezing Lauren in mid-action as we shoot her while still allowing ambient light through so the flash hits her at 200 miles an hour – this means sharp shots in every instance!
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/20, ISO 100
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/20, ISO 100
All right guys. Apologies for being quick through that, but we were quickly losing light. As you can see, it was dark inside. So I dropped shutter speed down to 20th of a second – just to let more ambient in. You could use this trick on wedding portraits, outdoor portraits and outdoor photos! Hope you liked this video; make sure to follow Lauren.Smiles on Instagram to stay up-to-date. Until next time – stay safe.
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 200
Settings: f/1.2 @ 1/50, ISO 100