We all know what these small and portable speedlites can do, such as overpowering the sun, but it is also extremely good as a fill light.
Fill light.
As the name suggest, we can use the speedlite to fill the shadows created by the ambient light to reduce the contrast between bright and dark. This often means a much more natural photo and does not have that “flashed” look to them.
Simple principles to follow -
Aperture controls the power of the flash and the ambient,
Shutter Speed controls only the ambient.
1.
Flash is balanced with the ambient.
Settings: 1/160 @ f4.5 @ ISO100 … the lens was 70-200mm f2.8 @ 100mm
2.
Sun was directly overhead, flash used to fill in the shadows.
Settings: 1/250 @ f4 @ ISO100 … the lens was 70-200mm f2.8 @ 95mm
3.
Flash overpowering the ambient.
Settings: 1/160 @ f4.5 @ ISO100 … the lens was 70-200mm f2.8 @ 100mm
