There was a time when any threat of a storm meant I was going to cancel a photo session. These days, I know those days make for great lighting. Let’s talk about this shot…

When I use flash, the first thing I like to ask myself is “how much do I want flash to announce itself?” Sometimes I like to balance flash to the point where it is undetectable. Other times, I want to blast my subjects with flash! I normally do that in a full sun situation because its not expected. And I like to do that because it gives my images a different look. It is one of those times where the phrase “your mileage may vary” works well! Because what I prefer, the next photographer will not, and that is totally fine!

When the light is lower, I tend to waffle a bit regarding what I want. But I know I want things balanced enough to wear the flash isn’t spilling all over the place. Spilling on the ground, the walls, the trees. That is one look I dislike, and work hard to avoid.

It was actually around 12pm when I shot this shot. I actually wanted the sky to appear a bit deeper, so I used a shutter speed of 1/8000. On my Facebook page, many photographers ask me why I use such high shutter speeds. They only associate that choice with moving subjects. While that is a great choice, the other reason to use higher shutter speeds is to control the ambient lighting. When using flash, your shutter speed controls the ambient. So if I wanted to reduce the exposure of the ambient, I would raise that shutter speed higher. Then I would bring in the flash to light my subject.

Here’s what it looked like without the flash –

Our friends at Westcott flew out to Chicago to create some content when I captured these images. Here’s a fun BTS where I wasn’t really trying to capture a picture, and they were getting footage me. 😀

Until Next Time,

AW