Nov 10 - Napa Fall Colors, My Beautiful Wife and Fill Flash

Another beautiful view of Napa in the fall, only to be enhanced by my beautiful wife. Most people don't think of using flash in the sun because you figure it's already bright enough. The problem with the sun is it can be too bright and cause shadows where you don't want them. This is why a lot of photographers like taking pictures early in the morning or just before sunset. The light is softer and the shadows aren't as harsh.

Another problem with the sun is if you put the sun behind you as a photographer, you only get your subject squinting. If you put the sun in front of you, it is just so bright that your subject looks like they are too dark. One way to fix that is by using fill flash. Basically you turn on the flash on your camera. If you just use the flash on your camera instead of an external flash, you'll have to stand fairly close. Also, if you use an external flash, you can power it down a little, you want it to be similar or a little darker than the light around it, otherwise, the person will look "superimposed" like you photoshopped them into the picture. Here I have the flash a little darker than Apryl, you can still the the sun's light on the left side of her body (right side in the picture) and the flash isn't so harsh that she looks like she was added in photoshop.

If that bored you, then just enjoy the picture!