Landscape with Flash

Photographing directly into the sun can cause a few issues as sometimes items the foreground can be a bit dark and in shadow. However, a touch of flash in high-speed sync mode is all that is needed to add a splash of colour and enhance your image.

For this photography class Karl, travels to Land’s End in Cornwall to capture stunning landscape images using this simple but effective technique. He demonstrates each step and provides a clear comparison of results with and without flash to show what a difference this technique can make.

In this class:

  • Landscape photography tips
  • Creative composition for landscape photography
  • How to use fill in flash for landscape photography
  • How to adjust flash power

Questions? Please post them in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. I am just starting to learn flash photography; fill-in flash looks like it can be quite useful where there are dark areas close by. Using on-camera flash as a fill flash I think will be much more convenient for in the field work.

    Would you use on-camera flash in your photography for any purpose?

    I’m curious if you tried a higher F-Stop, from my DOF calculator at F/8 a 50mm lens focused a 100m away (I’m assuming your focusing on the rocks) will have the first 10m out of focus. What I’m wondering is if F/8 would still give you a nice soft foreground and also provide much more of the seascape in focus.

    1. Hi, yes f8 was to give the flowers out of focus but I just look at the image on screen to discern if my DOF is where I want it. I generally focus on what’s important to me in the shot. If I need maximum DOF then I’d consider using hyperfocal distance calculations for the best focus point but that doesn’t come often into my workflow. Fill in flash can be very useful for filling in shadows but it’s usually better if you can get the flash off camera and angle it slightly otherwise it can look a bit harsh and uninteresting.

  2. Might be handy to either sinc still images as taken with video or have a tethered screen so we can see what you are talking about as you change settings.

    1. Hi Ned, yes you’ll see that we do that more regularly in our videos, this particular video is from some years ago.

    1. Hi, that won’t work please see the chapter on lenses and optics to understand why. Please also watch the introduction course from chapter 1 through in order as it will enhance your overall understanding of what you need.

  5. The shallow DOF gets me every time on pictures like this. I just don’t understand why the shallow DOF on a subject so far away. What is your focal length? What am I missing or not understanding about these types of shots? I would have thought the flowers would have been in focus and the rocks a little blurry. I’m just not understanding something. Can you tell what it is that I’m not understanding?

    1. Hi Gina, if I remember correctly this was shot vertically on a 50mm 1.2 but a 1.4 or 1.8 would have given a similar result. The first thing to help achieve it is the fact that I’m focused on the cliffs far away and that the flowers are quite close to the lens and then the second thing is shooting with the lens at a large aperture like 1.4 or 1.8.

  6. I notice that in many of these tutorials the camera used is listed as Canon 5D Mark III, where in fact the video shows you holding the Canon 1. I would like to know if you would have achieved the same or similar results with the 5D. Also, which version of the 1 you are using and why.

    1. Hi Sorin, I’ve used various 5d’s over the years from the mark 1 through to my current mark 3, I’ve also used 1ds and many other cameras. The results are all good for nearly all types of photography, the more recent cameras are better in low light with higher ISOs apart from that you won’t notice much difference.

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