This is a collection of pieces of advice to make your everyday photos more enjoyable to look at; a little more with every post. These are only bits which do not claim to be complete, but are rather all you need to know at that moment.


I assume my readers are non-professionals who are interested in capturing their memories in the way they have experienced them, instead of how their camera device automatically suggests an output, thereby speaking of using anything from a mobile phone to an auto-set DSLR.

About the author: I am Mareen Fischinger, a professional photographer, living and working in Düsseldorf, Germany.

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(Please note that I know nothing about certain camera models and do not see myself in a position to give any shopping advice.)
January 9

The fill flash

responding to a question by Ulrich v. P. who asks how to use a flash during daylight and avoiding a dark background while creating a way too light foreground:

It is advisable to use the flash when you are shooting against the sun. You might need to fiddle with its strength, but once you’ve got it right, your so called fill flash will brighten up the foreground and makes sure the background does not overexpose.
Using a diffusor for a softer flash makes the light less harsh.

In the picture below, I did exactly that. Without the flash, their faces would have been dark (underexposed) or the background blown out (overexposed). By fighting the sunlight, you can balance and find the point in between.

This all has to do with the lower dynamic range that the camera has compared to the eye. Especially digital cameras, which can only cover an even smaller range and not everything from dark to light.

Oh, and by the way: If you use a sun bouncer to reflect the sunlight, you might not need the flash. See examples here in this series of mine.


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