Flash photography on location.
Using your flash in manual mode.
For this exercise we are going to put our subject in the shade, under a tree canopy big enough to project shade over our subject and the surrounding area, not facing the main ambient light, the photographer will be looking towards the ambient light.
ON CAMERA FLASH:
First, put your flash on the camera and make sure that it is set to manual mode. You need to start at this point deciding on the exposure; set your ISO (for example 400), determine your aperture based on your desired DOF. For a shallow DOF, go to a wide aperture, so you can get a nice blurred background (bokeh).
With your flash off, expose for the highlights in the background, zero off your exposure and take a test shot. If you like the exposure, turn on your flash in manual mode, and set it to a lower power (1/8), take the shot and see if the light on your subject is right, soft and not too specular. Caveat: if you already set your camera to "high speed sync" mode (Canon) or "Auto FP" (Nikon), you should not have any problems shooting at high speeds, as a result of having a lot of ambient light available. If your camera does not support high speed sync, then pay attention to your speed and lower it to much lower levels, as 1/200 or 1/250. You do this modifying you aperture value, the smaller the aperture, the slower the speed that you will need. Or you can lower your ISO, to reach an equivalent exposure, without closing down your aperture that much.
If the light on your subject pleases you, play a little with the flash power and lower it a bit, or raise it at your convenience.
OFF CAMERA FLASH:
If you have a remote trigger or wireless communication between your camera and flash, you can detach your flash from your camera and start using it off camera, ie: mounting it on a tripod, or with the help of a light modifier (umbrella, soft-box, etc.).
Position your flash at a 45 degree angle to your subject and as close as possible, then start with the adjustment process like in the example above, in the On Camera Flash Section above.
This should be a process of no more than a minute, adjust your flash power and distance to your subject, till you reach a result that appeals to you. You can use the help of another person to hold a reflector for you, opposite to your flash and much closer, to compensate for the lack of light on that side.
This is a process of trial and adjustment, but the criteria is always the same, so practice and try to get use to it for our next class.
For the handy person:
It is always a good idea to use a bounce card, you can buy one of this for a dollar at Michaels,
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