Fill Flash
“Why didn’t you use a flash Tim?” my editor asked me. Why didn’t I use a flash? Was it because it was outside in the daylight? Nope, it was simply because I wasn’t prepared. But why would you need a flash in a photograph like this? This article will describe what fill flash is, when it should be used, and why it will improve your photographs.
The above image is lacking something. The subjects are somewhat dark and the sky is washed out. This image needs some fill flash.
Back Lighting
Back lighting refers to a situation in which the subject of your photograph is darker than the background in which it is in front of. Many times this can be utilized to intentionally form a photograph, but more often than not it is not desired. One of two things will happen with your photograph.
If you are photographing a backlit subject you will experience an either annoyingly white background or an equally annoying dark subject. This is the nature of the beast. Today’s cameras (and film) do not have the dynamic range to capture the intense differences in light that occur in a backlit situation.
Here is an image that is backlight. The camera exposed for the much brighter background. As a result, the subject in our frame is underexposed to the point that he is too dark to see anything.
Here we have the image that is backlight and exposed for the dark subject. . You will notice that the background has gone from a blue tint to a washed out white.
Here we see a balance between the image and the sky in the background. This was achieved by using our flash to fill in the dark areas on the subject.
Utilizing Backlighting in Photographs with Fill Flash
The best way around backlit subjects is simply to avoid them. In both of the examples above, the sun is plainly visible in the frame. This should typically be avoided as it inevitably leads to backlighting. But what if we can't avoid this or what if you are trying to be creative and you actually want the sun in the frame? This is where fill flash helps us.
Here we have a nice colorful sunset. So how do we capture our subject and the sunset properly exposed? We simply fill in the dark areas with light, we fill flash.
This picture is a classic backlight situation but it's more than that. This is a nicely colored sunset.
By simply using a flash on the camera and utilizing fill-flash techniques, we have encorperated the colors of the sunset into a picture of a person. Had we not had the flash, the sunset would have been washed out.
In closing
By simply filling in the dark areas of a frame with our flash we have been able to utilize both the sunset and the person sitting in front of it. We are both backlit and "frontlit" at the same time. As a result, we have a technically sound photograph that is also somewhat unique.