Fill Flash: If you're taking portrait under full bright sun (sunny 16 condition) and the sun cast ugly shadow under the nose and chin how much power of a flash do you need to fill in...

BebuLamar

If you're taking portrait under full bright sun (sunny 16 condition) and the sun cast ugly shadow under the nose and chin how much power of a flash do you need to fill in the shadow given you are shooting a distance of about 6ft from the subject and you use f/5.6 or f/8. ISO and shutter speed your choice.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

How powerfull is the flash, or what's the guide number?

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

If you are using a Nikon camera capable of shooting TTL-BL the camera will "talk" to the flash and the exposure will be done automatically. BL stands for backlighting and the flash compensates the exposure for a "correct" image. I could dial-in an extra stop of less exposure.
If you go manual it could be a little bit more complicated and could imply experimenting. In my case I would go with perhaps 1/4 of the power but after checking the histogram I could go for less exposure.

I do not like to do portraits under full, bright sunny days preferring to move my subjects into shadow areas to use fill-in flash. I am sure others will have a different approach.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Try it and adjust if needed. I know you asked about flash but, if light is needed for shadows underneath, maybe a reflector might help.

uhaas2009

Move your model so that she have the shade in front of here (here face in shade) and than use fill in flash.

Tom Hungerford Loc: Thomaston CT

I have a Canon 5D. I use an on-camera flash set for one stop under fill..

Tom

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

BebuLamar wrote:

If you're taking portrait under full bright sun (sunny 16 condition) and the sun cast ugly shadow under the nose and chin how much power of a flash do you need to fill in the shadow given you are shooting a distance of about 6ft from the subject and you use f/5.6 or f/8. ISO and shutter speed your choice.

You will be able to fill in the shadows with a fill flash, but and unmodified flash will be harsh lighting, and it will often result in an image worthy of publishing in the National Enquirer or other paparazzi newspapers/magazines.

You also can't fix the squinting and other facial contortions that people make under such lighting conditions. Best to find some shade and shoot there.

But if you have no other choice, then a good solution would be a large white reflecting surface placed in front of and below the subject and angled to shine the reflected light at the subject. Also, have the subject close their eyes until you count to three. This will minimize the squinting for a brief moment, usually long enough to fire off a shot or two. The last result would be to use additional lighting, which, depending the time of day and how much skylight is part of the light on the model, can have a widely different (cooler) color temperature. At least with the reflector it would be all the same color light.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

BebuLamar wrote:

If you're taking portrait under full bright sun (sunny 16 condition) and the sun cast ugly shadow under the nose and chin how much power of a flash do you need to fill in the shadow given you are shooting a distance of about 6ft from the subject and you use f/5.6 or f/8. ISO and shutter speed your choice.

Too many variables to have a 1 size fits all solution. An old trick to attenuate the harshness of a flash is to cover the flash head with a tissue. You just have to shoot at many exposure settings to get it right.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

"...I do not like to do portraits under full, bright sunny days preferring to move my subjects into shadow areas to use fill-in flash. I am sure others will have a different approach....

Totally agreed William... Albeit I typically position the talent with their back to the sun and use my on-camera flash as the "Key" with the sun providing a haloing effect...

For those who believe you should never use on-camera flash, it's obvious you've not mastered this technique.
It takes a very careful touch on flash exposure bias to achieve a usable effect. Don't believe this? See below.

Wish you all the best on your epic photographic journey William

"...have the subject close their eyes until you count to three..." I had to smile Gene... Thinking you likely don't shoot a lot of commercial portraiture... especially corporate CEO'S AND CFO'S lol.
.

Key: On Camera Popup Flash: Nikon D7200; 50-150 mm f/2.8 at 66 mm; Manual exposure, 1/250 sec, f/4, ISO 100

(Download)

BebuLamar

RichardTaylor wrote:

How powerfull is the flash, or what's the guide number?

What is the GN needed.

BebuLamar

Gene51 wrote:

You will be able to fill in the shadows with a fil... (show quote)

I asked because I believe I would need a powerful flash to do this not a tiny flash.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

boberic wrote:

Too many variables to have a 1 size fits all solution. An old trick to attenuate the harshness of a flash is to cover the flash head with a tissue. You just have to shoot at many exposure settings to get it right.

A large bounce surface will attenuate harshness, a tissue over a tiny light source will only attenuate light and not make a perceptible difference in the harshness.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

BebuLamar wrote:

I asked because I believe I would need a powerful flash to do this not a tiny flash.

You don't need any flash at all with a reflector. If used correctly, as in bouncing or using a 5 in 1 reflector as a shoot through diffuser - you'll need some oomph in the speed light because of the attenuation of the material as well as the spread of the light. You could lose as much as three stops or more of light but the upside is the light coming through the diffuser will be flatteringly soft. There are advantages to not using a flash - you can use any shutter speed and not be limited to flash sync speed or need to resort to high speed sync, you can fire off as many shots as your camera can do in a burst without having to wait for the flash to recycle, the reflector is a huge light source and will nicely fill in shadows, you can see the effect of the fill and adjust before you take your first shot.

https://www.slrlounge.com/five-tips-shooting-portraits-midday-sun/

https://www.photoblog.com/learn/secrets-outdoor-photography-midday-sun/

BebuLamar

Gene51 wrote:

You don't need any flash at all with a reflector. ... (show quote)

I understand what you said. But I asked because I want to know how much power is needed. It seems that people think fill flash need very little power but I think it needs quite a bit of power. The brighter the sun is the more power the flash is needed.

Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD

BebuLamar wrote:

If you're taking portrait under full bright sun (sunny 16 condition) and the sun cast ugly shadow under the nose and chin how much power of a flash do you need to fill in the shadow given you are shooting a distance of about 6ft from the subject and you use f/5.6 or f/8. ISO and shutter speed your choice.

With your sunny 16 condition I assume your aperture would be f/16. A pleasing light ratio of roughly 3 to 1 would put your fill flash between f8 and f11. The additional flash would likely require an ISO offset (lower) or a smaller aperture to compensate.