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Rolling with the BIG Dog - part 5 of 1 2 3 4 5 6

by Damian McGillicuddy Published 01/10/2014

On occasions to control the contrast within the image I've used the fill flash technique of 'synchro sun', or 'pop and burn' as my American friends call it. In very simple terms, if the ambient illumination metered f8 I'd add a burst of flash to either balance the sun ie matching the f8 or, more realistically a little under, to fill shadow, reduce and control contrast, flash power output based on the degree of the effect desired.

My 'picnic' image was a relatively simple affair. Shot on the EM-10 through the 25mm f1.8. Camera at low ISO ( it was bright) f5.6 at 250th of a second.


The image was shot using the soft focus filter and was lit with two Qflash.

The main light was to camera-right just off axis and was used to control the contrast. The second unit was again to camera right but behind the subjects with an orange gel to add colour into the accent. The whole image was slightly over exposed to create a more dreamy, hazy, lazy day feel in conjunction with the soft focus art filter.

Contact Damian McGillicuddy

1st Published 01/10/2014
last update 20/07/2022 13:53:43



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