Photos by Calvin

Light versus Dark – Fill Flash

Last weekend I attended AMA Supercross at Qualcomm Statium here in San Diego. It was definitely a change of scenery for me. I was surrounded by “bro’s” and “bro hoes.” But I digress. While we were tailgating and waiting for the event to start, we hopped on my friend Brandon’s super heavy duty pogostick and gave it a whirl. Most of us fell hard, but the great thing about photography is that it can capture any one moment in time and make you look like a pro. That is, I could shoot anyone while they were in the air before they fell, making them look like they’ve been pogosticking all their lives!

My 580EX II played an essential role this day. I’d never really had the chance or need to use it for fill flash, but I did that day and I’m glad I decided to bring my 580 with me. For those that are unfamiliar with fill flash, I will briefly explain what it is and when it’s used. I’d say the majority of people think that flash is to be used as the main source of light when the situation is too dark to take a picture otherwise. And when there is enough light, such as from the sun, people tend to put away their flashes and forget about them. This often results in shadows under the eyes and hats (if the person is wearing one) and other various parts of the facial region that we’d typically like to see. So we use what photographers call fill flash to help light up these dark areas without overexposing, or blowing, the background. Most simply put, aperture and shutter are set to expose for the background and flash is fired to light up the foreground. Without fill flash, you have two options: 1) expose for the background and have a severely underexposed subject 2) expose for the subject and have a blown (overexposed) background. With either option you only get to enjoy one of the two, and most people choose option (2), completely disregarding what may be a beautiful background. With fill flash, we can capture both.

Without fill flash.

With fill flash.

All of the EXIF data should be intact for your convenience.

*Equipment used:
EOS 40D
EF-S 10-22 3.5-4.5
580EX II