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This is a flower I took a few months ago. I have been putting more effort on improving the tones of my images. I usually manipulate curves in Photoshop but this is tedious and time consuming. Lightroom made it easier but I still think I can get more details out of the image. I then used LucisArt, one of my big purchases a few months ago. I haven’t used it for a while so I have begun to study it more closely. I find it unpredictable and unwieldy but it can make a big difference when used properly. I applied it here as subtle as I can but it still made the flower look a bit cartoony. I am thinking of doing masking to prevent that but this is still good (according to my friends).
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The story: My wife took one look at my shoes and concluded that they had to retire, but I argued, “they will still last me 2 years!” so she just bought herself a pair and that was it.
The next day, before going to New Jersey, we headed out to B&H so I can look around and drool on some backpacks I always wanted. I then headed to the tripod/monopod section to look at the monopods since jowy_e and I were discussing about it a few weeks ago. Looking at one of them, I thought out loud that I would need this in the future. My wife took one look at the price tag and said if I wanted that instead of a new pair of shoes. I was first reluctant but eventually picked one (and a head) and was as happy as an 8-year-old with a new toy. 
I still needed a new pair of shoes (okay, I succumbed) so we went to Walmart yesterday and bought a pair of Ozark Trails. It’s no Nike or North Face (my previous trail shoes) but it does the job. At 19 bucks, it’s a steal! lol!
Monopod details: Bogen/Manfrotto 680B with a 3232 head.
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The frame turned to black when exposure metering on the scene outside the window. Fill flash helped bring back the details on the frame.
A few Flickr friends have asked me about my experience with fill flash. I previously tried to search for answers on the internet, on books, and magazines but I couldn’t get a straight answer. Previous attempts were, at the very least, disappointing, leading to washed out highlights or black shadows.
I am a Nikon D50 user and I use the SB-600 for flash. I’m sure these techniques will work on any dSLR but might require some subtle adjustments.
Here is how I tried using fill flash before… my camera is set at aperture priority and the flash is set to TTL BL (backlight?) The result, blown highlights and the color temperature becomes bluish white!
Here is an example…
No flash, aperture priority (shutter speed: 1/15, aperture 2.8), exposure meter is neutral (+ · · 0 · · -).
When I turn on the flash (TTL BL), the shutter speed jumps to 1/60 and if you look at the exposure meter, it shows underexposure by as much as 2 stops (+ · · 0 · · =)!
Now, I do not know what is going on, and at this point, I don’t really care. All I care about is how to use fill flash properly. 
So here is what I did, I concentrated on the exposure meter and compensated any deviation from there:
Assuming the camera is turned on, and external flash mounted and turned on as well –
1. Flash setting is TTL BL then reduce flash output (if needed!) from -1.0 to as low as -2.0. This will vary according to the distance between you and the subject and the effect you want to achieve. Obviously, -1.0 is brighter than -2.0. I used -1.7 on my Kings Park images which just gives enough brightness to the point that it does not look like it was taken with a flash yet illuminates the subject sufficiently.
2. Use Manual mode on the camera, select an aperture then adjust the shutter speed to achieve a neutral reading on the exposure meter.
Optional: If you normally use exposure compensation, one or two clicks up or down will achieve the same effect. For example, my D50 usually needs a -0.3 exposure compensation to make sure the histogram stays within boundaries (I always get blown highlights). So on the manual mode technique, after I get a neutral reading, I click down to the right to underexpose, giving me the equivalent of -0.3
3. Fire away! It might be a bit bright or dark so use the flash’s output compensation to adjust.
If everything is done right, you’ll get a properly exposed background, and now, a correctly illuminated foreground.
That is all to it (from my experience) but there is one thing you have to keep in mind… flash sync speed. Different cameras have different flash sync speeds. On my D50, it can only sync on shutter speed of up to 1/500th of a second. More than that then the technique won’t work. You need to find a way to reduce the light (neutral density filters?). I would use a lower ISO but the D50 can only go as low as ISO200 which in not enough in bright, sunny outdoors.
On the other hand, when taking shots indoors at low light, you need to increase the ISO (as much as ISO1600 in my experience) to be able to have ample shutter speed. Worst case, use a tripod!
There is a Manual mode on the flash but that’s beyond me for now. lol!
I hope this technique works on you. Please let me know your results! (or any correction on this blog)
NO Flash, Aperture Priority
A bit dark, requires fill flash
With Flash, Aperture Priority
Why did it get darker with flash on?!
With Flash, Manual Mode, No Flash Compensation
Much better!
With Flash, Manual Mode, With Flash Compensation (-1.7)
Dialed it down a bit.
Images taken with this technique…
Natural light coming in from the left but the foreground was in darkenss.
The right side of the image was in total darkness, I used fill flash to illuminate the door, the right side in particular, since the left side is getting light from the other room.
Without fill flash, the scene outside was blown to white while the room was properly exposed.
