Well, it’s taken two and a half weeks before we had weather that would allow me to practice using fill flash, but it finally happened! First, I positioned my girl on my deck with the sun directly behind her. Unlike the park shots, it was later in the day. This picture was taken at 4:18 in the afternoon.
When I first saw this picture, I thought, "Wow! That looks so much better than the shots at the park!" I love the blue of her eyes. I love the sunlight in her hair. Then I realized that I didn’t take a comparison shot to see what it would have looked like without a flash. So, I took her back out and we both got in the same positions and I snapped another one – this time with no flash. 
Although almost 30 minutes has passed between the two shots, I don’t think it made that much of a difference. I was disappointed when I saw that the first shot wasn’t so significantly better than this one. This shot is not like the harsh shadows I got that day in the park around noontime. Which of the above two do you like better? And why?
Checking through the other shots I took while out playing, I came across these two.
These two were taken within a minute of each other. Again, he was back lit and I did not use a flash in the first one yet I did in the second one. The first demonstrates the shadows on his face I was trying to see if I could eliminate with my speedlite while maintaining the "lit from behind" effect. The second is a good demonstration of what fill flash is supposed to look like, I think.
All of these shots were taken in total auto mode. The only manual difference in any of them was the speedlite flash that was used in two of them. When I had the speedlite on, it was set at a 90 degree angle so the flash is hitting the subject straight on. Other than some cropping, all of these pictures are unedited.
Beautiful, beautiful photos. Of course, your talent is there, but I think your subjects are precious.
Comment by SusieJ — April 21, 2007 @ 9:12 pm