Try, Try Again

My great-grandmother always used to say, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."  Regarding the topic of successfully utilizing on-camera flash, I've tried and tried, but up till last weekend......it just hadn't worked for me.

However, in the spirit on Maudie's advice to continue to try, I am currently on a quest to, once and for all, learn to use flash creatively. 


I was thrilled to be able to utilize some of the techniques I've gathered  while shooting at a huge outdoor venue.  Happily, I can report that for the first time ever, I felt that I was in control of my flash unit, getting shots that matched my vision.

Fill flash is actually a simple concept, but for several reasons I had not been able to achieve my desired outcome. Determined to figure out what my problem was, I have been reading and practicing what I've read. It was  Neil van Niekerk,  in his book, On-Camera Flash, that finally began to get through to me.

While I have several shots that demonstrate the effectiveness of creative fill flash, these two clearly illustrate what shooting with natural light looks like compared to adding fill light.  I was testing a new diffuser-contraption as well.  I'll give you the information on it soon.  I want to do some more testing, but so far, I'm a big fan......a really big fan.

I'm sure you are wondering just how much I Photoshopped the first image.  Very, very little.  I used a curves layer to add a bit of black which made the sky more dramatic.  Removed the light on the right side of the image. Sharpened a tiny bit and that's it!

Maudie, Thank you for always reminding me to never give up.