By now you’ve probably realized one of the great ironies in good portrait photography: you should turn the flash on when working outdoors. So guess what the great secret is for indoor portraiture? That’s right; turn the flash off. Some of the most artistic portraits use nothing more than an open window and a simple reflector. The problem with using your on-camera flash indoors is that the light is harsh and creates a very contrasty image. “Harsh” and “contrasty” are not two words models like to hear when describing the pictures you’ve just taken of them. Fill flash works outdoors because everything is bright. The flash “fills” right in. But ambient light is much dimmer indoors, and the burst of light from the flash is much like a car approaching on a dark street.
First, position the model near an open window and study the scene. You can’t depend solely on your visual perception, because your eyes and brain are going to read the lighting a lit- tle differently than the camera will, especially in the shadow areas—you will see detail in the dark areas that the camera can’t record. This is why you need a reflector to “bounce” some light into the shadow areas. Many photographers swear by collapsible light discs, but a large piece of white cardboard or foam core will work just as well. Place your reflector opposite the window and use it to “bounce” the light on to the dark side of the model. This will help “fill in” the shadow area so you can see some detail. Now put your camera on a tripod and slowly squeeze the shut- ter button. Review the image on the LCD monitor. If the shadow area is too dark, you may want to add another reflec- tor. If the overall image is too dark, turn on exposure compen- sation, set it to +1, and try another picture. If the color balance of the image is too “cool” (that is, bluish), then you may want to set the White Balance control to “cloudy” and see if that improves the rendering. Remind your model to sit very still during exposure because you may be using a shutter speed that’s as slow as 1/15th of a second, or even longer. You could increase the camera’s light-sensitivity by adjusting the ISO speed to 200, but don’t go beyond that because you’ll degrade the image quality too much for this type of shot. Once you’ve played with these variables, go back to the artis- tic side of your brain and work on the composition. Try to get all the elements in the picture working together and let nature’s sweet light take it from there. When it all comes together, existing light portraits are magical.
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