The sun is my friend
Do you remember ??? Fulfilling her wishes was one of my points. Here is the follow up. Whileon vacation and traveling in the hot sun of Sicily ( about 40°C ) with about 10 KG weight of equipment the only things you are thinking of are: Cold water, icecream, shade, refreshment in any way, a bath in the sea. But what you really do is: Climbing up a steep trail about 500 meters high to enter the peak of a rock. Steep, no shades at all, no water no more, the sweat is running down your body, you are exhausted. That is your situation. And suddenly she said: “Darling, take a picture right here, that would be great”. I do not want to write what is in your head right in that moment, but i suppose you are not happy. Be tough, be a man, do your job. And that was exactly what i did. “Yes, sweetheart, fantastic view, Now you know why i am travelling with 10 KG Camera equipment…fxxxx..!” That was my answer but without that little “fxxxx” word.And what did i get ?? A tricky light situation. You all know that. Your modell in some darker foreground while the back is bright. So what to do ?
Keep smiling. So i smiled and started brainfunction.
On the steep trail there was no way to move around, just a little ancient walls. So i placed my model near the wall. Perfect ! If i had done that picture in Tourist-Mode it would come out as deseaster. As you know, i prefer the full controll. Meaning switching the camera to M and now the trick: meter for the shinybright background. In this case it gave me: ISO 200, f13 at a speed of 1/250 sec. I choosed this speed because it is the max synchspeed of my flashlight ! Taking a picture with this setting would give a perfect background but the person in the foreground would be pitchblack. Sounds familiar to you ?? Okay her the next step. Now i dial down the aperture another full 1 stop so my meter shows -1. You think i am crazy….This is to get the background a bit more dramatic. And now the final step: I switched on my flash in TTL Mode. Wow, that means a hard job for the flash to lighten the foreground with about f22. Be near your model !!!!! The distance is important. If you are too far away your flash will simply running out of power ending in underexposure. The flashlight has no influence on the background, it is simply too far away. But your model will love the outcome.
