How to reduce ambient light without effecting flash light in d5200 for outdoor portra

nmyreddy

New member
I am using d5200. With no HSS, where my shutter speed limited to 1/200, how to reduce ambient light as my exposure compensation reduces both external flash and ambient flash unlike canon cameras? Should I use ND filters? Or should I compromise with bokey by decreasing f-stop. I am having yongnuo 565ex speed light. Some one please help me
 
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mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Its a lot of years since i used flash, could you go off TTL and does the flash have an auto setting, then you could lie to it about the aperture your using.
 

nmyreddy

New member
Thanks Mike. However please bear with me as I am a newbie to flash photography. Can you please elaborate your suggestion? Also I have tried with manual settings both in camera and external flash. Tried even in slave mode. Still I didn't figure out how to control ambient light alone.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I am using d5200. With no HSS, where my shutter speed limited to 1/200, how to reduce ambient light as my exposure compensation reduces both external flash and ambient flash unlike canon cameras? Should I use ND filters? Or should I compromise with bokey by decreasing f-stop. I am having yongnuo 565ex speed light. Some one please help me
The simple solution is reducing the aperture or shutter speed. The aperture will increase/decrease the effect of the flash output, shutter speed will control the ambient; the trick is finding the right balance. Also, using the Exposure Compensation function will decrease the ambient exposure. Using Flash Exposure Compensation function will reduce the flash-exposure. That being the case you could try decreasing one and increasing the other to get the right mix.

To give you a better answer I'd need to know what role is flash playing in the shot(s) you're asking about, how you're trying to use it more specifically. Some example shots would be great.
 
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nickt

Senior Member
I'm not great at flash technique and don't have an answer for you. I assume you have auto iso off and you are set at iso 100.
I have the same issue at times. I shoot a lot of macro with flash. My camera syncs to 1/320 and I generally shoot f22+ for great dof so ambient light is usually not a problem. On some occasions though it is a problem. If a bug is out in direct sunlight, even at those tight aperture settings, I can get some exposure from ambient light causing a double exposure blur effect. I will try your your ND filter idea next time I have that situation. I think it might work for me. Not sure how it will work on people pictures.

I just found this:
Strobist: Using ND Filters to Kill Depth of Field
 

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
To add to Paul's explanation ... if you don't want to affect the bokeh you're getting from your lens by shooting with a wide aperture, and you can't change the shutter speed any faster...

Are you at the lowest ISO your camera supports?

Use an ND filter. Just know that using an ND filter is also going to block your flash, so you'll need to power up that flash or get more light into the scene to replace what's blocked by the ND filter.
 

spb_stan

Senior Member
The problem with ND is having to use a tripod since you need to focus without the filter in place or manually focus. How bright is ambient light? Bright sunlight still might be bright enough for auto or manual focusing. Do you really need razor thin DOF? By adjusting the ratio of the camera to subject and subject to background you may find you can get pleasant out of focus rendering if you are a lot closer to the subject than the subject to the background is. That way you could stop down some and get better lens performance at f/4.0 or 5.6. You could also go the other way with overexposing the background for High-Key lighting by having the subject in shadows and properly exposed and the bright background would fully white out by being over-exposed
 
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