Practical Photography

For taking portraits outdoors it is a good idea to take control of your flash manually rather than leaving it on auto.

Fill flash is a really good feature on most Digital cameras sometimes called flash on mode. By taking control of this so it goes on when you want it to you can get much better results when taking pictures outdoors, especially outdoor portraits this is a technique I use a lot for wedding photography.

When you use the flash on mode or fill flash, the camera adjusts to the amount of light in the background then using the flash it illuminates the subject just enough to give better details and prevent the subject becoming a sillhouette. This ‘fill flash’ gives a much more balanced image and the whole composition is focussed and detailed. This gves a much more professional finish.

Once you’ve mastered this techniqe you could try different positions, you could use the sun to illuminate the hair from the back or the side, this is sometimes called rim lighting. You could also try putting the model in the shade or under a tree and use the fill flash to illuminate the subject. This often helps to keep the subject relaxed and cool and the subject is less likely to squint from the sun giving a much more natural image.

Most Cameras with a built-in flash have a maximum range of 10 feet so you will have to be quite close when taking the photo.