I'm very surprised by the amount of photographers I meet who are shocked to learn that we use flash in full sunlight.  I know this topic has been discussed before here and other sites. Strobist remains the absolute #1 resource for those who want to polish up on your flash skills.  Follow this link to read one of his lighting tutorials on cross lighting.

Shooting in the full sun can really flatten your subjects so we, as responsible technical photographers, must assume the duty to make a difference when placed in this situation by turning on a strobe :)   David Hobby has initiated a good bit of discussion on this subject and while this article talks about using TTL, we also want to point out that you can use your pocket wizards with manual flash power too.

Check out David's sketch of a potential cross lighting setup.

Discussion on this photo diagram here.

Here is one of our recent attempts.  Sol put a speedlight on 1/1 (full power) about 4-5 feet from subject.  Triggered by Pocket Wizard.  Flash is 45-60 degrees from camera's angle, pretty much an exact remake / setup of the above diagram. 

photo by Sol.

Saluods,

mateo

I've been shooting with the 5d II at night during all receptions and using higher ISO and bringing in more ambient light.  One of the issues that always presents itself is the fact that its so easy to use a slave flash to light up everything under the sun (when there is no sun).  This technique is fine, except it tends knock down or take away any ambient light that existed.   Blast em doesnt = better.  

What we are doing these days is using Neutral Density Gel to actually take the power of the flash down by 1 or 2 or sometimes, 3 stops.   I'm shooting OLD Sb-28's that are already at a lower power level than today's Sb's (800 + 900).  Or the 580 EX II.   The 28 simply is an older unit that I can dial down to 1/64 power.  BUT, thats too bright for most of my stuff, considering I'm usually shooting to bring IN that ambient light, make some sort of atmosphere out of the reception vs give it atmosphere by dominating flash bursts.   Make sense?

Before I get into MY own images, Id like you to spend 30 minutes reading this entire blog post.   My friend Dave from DQ studios recently posted a blog post about off camera flash and hinted on this very subject.   The main problem with these flashes is they are just too stinking HOT.  In order to preserve the mood and save the ambiance in the room, we must turn our flashes WAY down.  Dave spent ALL day writing this blog post.  Dave and Quin are pretty stinking HOTness behind the camera coupled with off camera flash work.   Check out his thoughts:

Nikon D700 + 105mm f2 @ISO1250, f2.2 & 1/100. Off-camera flash: Nikon SB900 triggered via Quantum FW10w Transceivers

Dave writes:

Yesterday I was talking with a marketing director of a flash company about flash needs in the 21st Century.  We all know we love balancing and, at times, overpowering sun with flash.  But how about lighting with off-camera flash in low-light/high-ISO surroundings?

There’s lots of relatively high-powered flashes made for bright shooting and overpowering dark scenes.  What’s lacking is a professional strobe with *really* low-powered output for accenting low-light environments.

“We’re not in Kansas anymore …”

For sure, click here to read his full article.

On the same subject, but outside on the beach, I still must preserve what ambient I've been given.  In this case, I had a dance floor and some stage lights but also, mixed with dim dim tungsten lights in the trees, and many other low power light sources.

I've posted a few images here to give you and idea of what I'm talking about...

This one was shot at ISO 1000 using 2.8 shot at 1/13 of a second.  I pulled a little movement off by zooming in on the lens to get the floor moving. The flash with 1 ND filter, set to low power (1/64) is blasting away at the girls on the floor. The slave flash acts as my shutter, freezing action, letting everything els

Shot a 1/25 of a Sec.  I little camera movement from left to right so the ambient starts to jump off the page.  My flash becomes my new shutter

This just a scene setter shot of the dance floor with a very low power flash giving me some side light, keeping just enough on them not to take away the mood the light from the dance floor was giving off.   Perhaps a little too hot on the flash...

This one should help you in a big way :)

cheers,

matt

I shot a wedding in Birmingham Alabama a short while back and was presented with a few challenges as the bride and groom were leaving in a helicopter at the end.... This copter was in a big grassy field and was to be surrounded by guests waving goodbye to the new couple.   I knew this thing would be leaving in a hurry, so what to do......

We went out to survey the location...setup one light with a red gel to back-light the copter for a scene setter type shot, then noticed that there was a HUGE Par / Elliptical style light positioned outside aimed at this copter... hey, its big and bright and constant!

SO, What we decided was to pick this light up as a giant flashlight and follow the copter on its ascent!   IT worked :)

We did use a low power off camera flash to accent light the couple for a shot or two... but using what we had in our surroundings also played a big part in making this shot successful for us!

This one was one of the first off camera flash bursts we used.   The pilot was checking something with the copter, giving us a good sense of scale.  Moon light directly behind him.  Shot at very low power on the off cam strobe.

Our simple low power burst behind the copter for a back-light to give us a scene setter.

This is where I got the idea to use this elliptical light as my giant flashlight!  

Low power (1/64 with a ND filter) burst of the couple.  Notice my sexy silhouette of my 5d II with PW attached to the hotshoe... nice detail eh? DOH!

The flashlight at work :)

Saludos!
mateo

In follow up to this post.... Whew, after a few thousand miles lugging bags and bags of new gear,  i've had one day to try to learn and ride my bike again for the first time.  

Ride bike for first time = learn to use multiple underwater strobes (off camera) for the first time.... holy moly what a challenge.  I'm not 100% in love with my results from this 2 hr test... but am on my way to discover the other side of the rainbow:)

Anyway, here is 2 underwater strobes + above water strobe.  Everything shot on Manual...  Shot about 2.5 meters of depth.  Strobe camera right at 3 meters depth, triggered with optical slave.

Thanks to Sol for being my model :)

Cheers!
matt