Fill Light and Dramatic Skies

Denny and I were messing with the popup flash on the camera to get just the right amount of fill light while keeping the dramatic sky properly exposed. Shots like these can always be better with off camera lighting rather than lighting that is coming from the same direction as the camera. The reason of that is in "real" life, the light that falls on the subjects we see with our natural eyes generally come from a different direction. Face it, we generally don't walk around with a light on our forehead. Applying this basic principle usually can elevate your photos to the next level. That said, even with the flatness of this light, it's still deliver a pretty cool photo, even for a on camera popup. The major reason for this is the dramatic background. We set the exposure for the skies, and then we dialed down the FEC (flash exposure compensation) to -1 or more stop. This helps to eliminate that obvious flash photo look you usually see with snapshot photos. The result is a pleasing photo overall.

Denny on a dark, cloudy day in front of his place