[06] Flashing in daylight – combining flash & available light

Flashing in daylight – combining flash & available light

Or: Why I prefer to take photos in bright sunlight at midday

Let’s move on to my favorite topic – and to a point where I often get incredulous looks: Flashing in daylight.

Yes, you read that right. With flash. In the sun. At twelve noon.

And I love it.

Because even if many consider it a “photographic nightmare” – bright midday light is not an enemy. It is a stage. And with a flash in your hand, things get really exciting.

Why flash in daylight?

Most people think of dark rooms or sunsets when they think of flash. But a flash is not only there to brighten things up.

It is a tool for composition. And especially in bright sunlight, where everything is evenly and brightly lit, the flash brings depth, form and focus to the image.

What you can do with flash in daylight:

• Your subject bright and present, the background deliberately underexposed and dramatic
• Mastering backlighting: The sun from behind – your flash compensates for it
• Control contrasts instead of being at their mercy

1. dark surroundings – light motif

That sounds contradictory at first, but it’s a real eye-catcher.

You set your camera so that the surroundings are slightly underexposed – e.g. the sky and buildings appear slightly darker. Then use the flash to highlight your subject. Result: The main subject jumps out of the picture – a look that stands out and stands out from the crowd.

Tip: Use the manual mode on the camera. First expose the surroundings correctly – then switch on the flash.

2. stark backlighting – yet full control

If the sun is directly behind your subject, the following usually happens:

Either the sky is beautiful, but your subject is too dark – or your subject is okay, but the sky is totally burnt out.

With Blitz you can keep both.

You set the camera so that the sky is correctly exposed – and the flash then brings the necessary brightness to the face.

This allows you to get details in the shadows without losing the highlights.

And now it’s getting technical: high-speed sync or gray filter

The challenge: In order to use the bright daylight with an open aperture (e.g. f/2.8 for beautiful background blur), you would have to select a very fast shutter speed – often faster than the normal flash sync speed (e.g. 1/1000 s or 1/2000 s).

Solutions:

• High-Speed Sync (HSS): Your flash fires several times during the exposure → You can use super-fast times, but lose some flash power.
• Gray filter (ND filter): Reduce the light overall so that you can work with an open aperture at longer exposure times → The flash has enough room to work again.

3. the fill-flash technique – small gesture, big effect

Often you don’t even need full flash power. Sometimes a gentle fill flash is enough to slightly lighten shadow areas – e.g. under the eyes, in strong sunlight from above.

• Set the flash to low power (e.g. 1/16 or TTL with -1 EV)
• Let the surroundings dominate – the flash only helps a little
• Perfect for portraits or natural looks in harsh lighting conditions

4. mixed lighting situations – checking light colors

If you intervene with flash in an already illuminated scene (e.g. sun + shop window light), you will have different color temperatures in the picture.

It can look cool – or completely chaotic.

Tips for checking:

• Flash light is similar to daylight (approx. 5500 K) – adjust the white balance of your camera accordingly
• If you are working with warmer ambient light (e.g. light bulb), you can stick a CTO film (orange) on the flash to match the light color
• Or you can make it deliberately rich in contrast: e.g. cold lightning against a warm sunset

5. exemplary picture ideas

Shooting idea 1: Drama in the midday sun

Subject standing in front of dark facade, sun shining from above → camera set to -1 EV, flash frontal (hard or with umbrella) → subject illuminated, surroundings gloomy

Shooting idea 2: Backlight in nature

Backlit sun, subject with flash from the front → soft skin tones, glowing hair, golden atmosphere

Shooting idea 3: Urban editorial

Strong sun, ND filter on the lens, flash with softbox on the side → mixture of soft light and hard contrast – looks like something out of a magazine

Conclusion: Flashing during the day? Absolutely!

The bright midday sun is no reason to panic – it’s your stage. If you learn to combine the flash with the available light, you have full creative control.

You don’t have to wait until the sun goes down – you make your own light, anytime.160