Weekly Assignment: Take a Nighttime Portrait with a Flash

[PWS-Staff]

Taking pictures of your family and friends in daylight is easy. Taking great shots of them outdoors at night is a more interesting challenge. But that’s what I’d like you to do for this assignment: Grab your camera (and your accessory flash, if you own one) and a willing human subject, and head outside after sunset. Take a portrait that balances the flash and the existing light. Be sure to study your camera and flash manuals the night before.

I shot this photo of a street performer in Paris early one evening after watching him perform his wonderful clown-like routines for more than an hour. The sun set during his performance and the only light remaining was that in the twilight sky behind him, so I turned on the built-in flash and motioned to him to pose briefly. It took me literally seconds to compose and shoot the scene and then he drifted back into the evening. It was a great moment for me, and I like the photo a great deal. Taken at ISO 200, f/4.0, 1/60 sec. handheld with an 18-70mm Nikkor zoom lens and on-camera flash.

From "Exposure," by Jeff Wignall