See that hot spot on the seat? It’s that big ugly white thing smack in the center. That is caused because my flash was on camera and at a pretty high power. So how do we fix this? One way is to remove the flash from the camera and either use the wireless ttl system or a radio trigger like a PocketWizard.
The other way is what I did. If your flash is at a high power and you want to keep that f/1.4 aperture and you don’t have the tools to wirelessly trigger the flash then the only option is to lower the flash power, use a diffuser or even angle the flash away a bit.
(I could have used my PocketWizards to do this but I chose not to for this blog post)
Even by physically changing the photo the hot spot is still there so I have no choice but to adjust the settings. So I lowered the power of my SB-800 to its lowest setting, angled the flash up a bit and used the built-in bounce card instead of direct light. Now I have light bouncing off my white ceiling which creates a large softbox overhead. I also have light still hitting the subject, but not as much. The image below is the result. You can still see where the light hits the bike seat the hardest but it isn’t an eye soar like in the first two photos.
So what do you get out of this? If you are in a pinch re-access your situation, settings and surroundings. Can you use what is around you to help the light? Is there a white ceiling low enough to take advantage of? Is there enough play in the power of the flash? Is there a window shade you can open? Can I sacrifice my aperture and close up a bit? Think before you shoot. Challenge yourself.
Thanks for reading and happy shooting,
Scott
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