Application skills of flash in indoor portrait shooting

Lead: For photographers, indoor portrait shooting skills should be essential, and they also have their own experience in the application of flash. Let's have a look!

First, the application basis of indoor flash

Indoor shooting has less interference than outdoor shooting, but there are also some technical considerations. In the room, we don't need to worry about the problem that the flash lamp and the lamp holder are blown down by strong wind, and there is no scorching sun, just more ceilings and walls that can jump lights. These are all favorable shooting factors.

Additional technical considerations indoors are as follows:

1. The color temperature of the indoor light source may be too warm, which may lead to the problem that the flash is mixed with the ambient light during night shooting, but color filters can be used to solve this problem.

2. The ambient light may be weak, and the shadow of the flash will be particularly obvious. Light quantity control and flash direction are important factors to be considered.

Second, the technical consideration order

In real shooting, you can observe the indoor scene first, and then decide the shooting method to use.

1. Jumping lights

If the ceiling and walls are bright, the distance is not too far, and there is no extra soft light device when shooting, the easiest way is to use jumping lights. Because jumping lights can get a large area of soft light, the effect is basically not too bad. The big problem of single light jumping is that it will destroy the level of ambient light and make the scene look dull.

2. Use additional soft light equipment

Hard and soft mask, multi-angle reflector, etc. It can also be used with the jumping lights in the scene, which will get good results.

3. Use large soft light equipment

These large soft light devices, such as transmission umbrella, reflection umbrella, shadowless hood, etc., may disturb other customers when used in crowded restaurants, but they are suitable for use in environments (such as hotels) where there are not too many people interfering.

Iii. 180? Jump the light back.

In general, indoor shooting, jumping lights are used frequently. In addition to jumping on the ceiling and wall, you can also consider turning the lamp head of the flash back 180? Jumping light

The bounce light bounces back a lot, so it will be very soft, but the only problem is that it will consume a lot of light, so you may need to improve ISO and increase the aperture when shooting.

At this time, ISO will generally be set above ISO 800, and the aperture may be from F/2.8 to F/4.

Turn the lamp holder of the flash back 180? Jumping lights will produce a large area of reflected light, and the light quality will be softer.

Fourthly, consider the color temperature of indoor lighting.

Similar to shooting at night, indoor lighting is often different from the color temperature of flash. The color temperature of flash is about 5500K, while the color temperature of indoor ambient light is generally between 3200 K and 4500 K. ..

Therefore, it is inevitable to mix light when shooting. Under normal circumstances, our coping strategies mainly include:

1. Add a color temperature soft mask on the flash to make the color temperature of the flash as consistent as possible with the color temperature of the spotlight, so that a more uniform color temperature can be obtained on the subject.

2. Increase the area of light source by jumping lights, so as to get more uniform mixed light.

5. Off-camera flash is still the king of indoor shooting.

Jumping lights will make the light softer, while flashing off the plane will make the light more stereoscopic and directional. If it is a racket or a travel racket, consider using a reflective umbrella and a transmissive umbrella as soft light devices instead of just relying on jumping lights.

Six, in a larger indoor scene.

In large indoor scenes, we may need to use multiple flashlights in order to take into account the lighting of the subject and the scene. For example, one flash is used to shoot the subject, and the other flash is used to supplement the scene light and make light and shadow. More lighting will make the whole scene more layered.

Seven, slow shutter and high ISO

In order to fully expose the scene environment or make the photos feel more environment and scene, we will use slow shutter or high ISO to get more ambient light for the camera.

However, imaging under high ISO will also produce more noise, which should be noted. Usually, we only set the camera to automatic ISO when we take a snapshot (even automatic ISO usually limits the highest ISO), otherwise it is usually the highest ISO decided by the photographer himself.

Eight, indoor shooting equipment preparation

A large aperture fixed-focus lens is a necessary indoor equipment, and 30mmf/ 1.4, 35mm/1.4, 35mm/1.8, 24mm/1.4 are all good choices. When shooting in indoor low light environment, unless there is a special need, try not to use a lens with a focal length of more than 50 mm Lamp holder and umbrella stand are also necessary flash accessories.

In addition, it is best to prepare an extra set of batteries in case of emergency, and never find that the battery is dead at a critical moment.

When I took this photo, I just jumped up (the ceiling) with a flash.

After careful observation, it is found that our flash not only complements the main body, but also makes the tonality of the image brighter. The important thing is that we still retain the layering of the light and shadow of the scene. This is subtle, but it is also an important part. If the original light level of the whole scene is lost because of the flash, the taste of the image will be worse.

As mentioned above, the output and direction of indoor lighting and flash are very important links. Only by controlling this detail can we get a better image.

There are several key points in shooting. First, pay attention to the direction of jumping lights. Usually, it is not easy to leave a shadow by letting the flash light hit in the direction of (small) backlight. Another thing is to pay special attention to the output. At this time, TTL may not be the best way, because we have to make up almost no feeling.

After metering, lock the camera in full manual M mode, so there is no need for repeated metering.

In addition, special attention should be paid to the problem of reflection, which is also related to the shooting angle and the direction of the flash. In the same scene, lock the camera in full manual M mode after metering, and there is no need to repeat metering.