"How the heck are we going to make a sunset appear on a day that I said was cloudy?" It's called "artistic license" and painters have been doing it for years. Photographers can also put the sun just about anywhere they want it - with the aid of what is known as a miniature sun (your electronic flash) and it is a remarkably easy thing to do.
If there is a downside to this technique, it is the potential costs involved and I am not talking the cost of an electronic flash. I am assuming you already have one. The reason I am speaking about "costs" is because this shot requires that you use your flash off camera and behind the head of the subject you are wishing to shoot. Depending upon how far you are from the subject you wish to light from behind will determine if you will need a radio remote transmitter to fire your flash.
There are many radio remote transmitters of course that facilitate the firing of your flash remotely, Pocket Wizards being perhaps the most noteworthy. If you have by chance a Nikon SB-800 or SB-900, and of course a Nikon DSLR, you can probably pull this off without the use of radio remotes if your distance from the subject is within 20-30 feet of you and you have an unobstructed view, since the Nikon Flash system has a built-in wireless system.
Okay, so let's break this down. We find ourselves in a covered parking garage of all places, and we have this really nice frame-filling portrait of our young model and our camera's meter indicates an ambient exposure for her face, of f/8 at a 1/125 second.
With me, I have a great friend and photographer, Robert LaFollette. (Robert teaches our Composition Course at PPSOP.com.) Robert has agreed to be my able-bodied assistant, or what has quickly become known in portable Electronic Flash circles, my 'VAL', (Voice Activated Lightstand - an acronym brought to you by the iconic flash-master Joe McNally).
Robert is behind our model and quite close - about three feet is all - and holding up the flash which is also covered with an amber gel. I am, as usual, in Manual Flash Exposure Mode. With the flash at half-power and from this distance, the distance indicator is telling me I need use f/16. But in this case, I am NOT going to use f/16, rather choosing to stay with the ambient exposure for the front of her face, f/8 at 1/125 second. Why? Because I want the 'sun' going down behind our model's head to be over-exposed, in this case two-stops, just like the real sun would be if, in fact, this was the real sun going down behind the model's head.So with the correct exposure set for the natural light on the models face, f/8 @ 1/125 second I fire off the shot. At this same time, of course, the flash fires and sure enough - with the amber gel in front of the flash head - I have my "sunset behind pretty model photo". Like I said, easy stuff. Now go grab your significant other and/or the kids. It's time to go and take a picture of the sunset!
All My Best,
Bryan F. Peterson/Founder
The Perfect Picture School of Photography
www.ppsop.com
