How to Use ND Filters With Flash Photography for Portraits

Mar 14, 2023

Can combining ND filters and a flash elevate your portrait images? Miguel Quiles takes us through this technique in depth and provides great advice on how you can make the most of this setup.

Shooting portraits in harsh daylight can be very challenging. In this video, Miguel Quiles first sets the tone by taking some natural light portraits without the ND filter and flash to show how this will look. With natural light, the background is very overexposed, so this is where a flash can be incorporated to light the model separately and expose for the background.

Quiles introduces a flash to the shoot, hoping for an improvement. However, the kicker in this situation is if you are not using high-speed sync, you can only shoot up to 1/200 s or 1/250 s with most cameras. The flash is set to its lowest setting, but still, the image comes out super bright, both the model and background are severely overexposed.

By adding an ND filter, this allows the photographer to control the elements more independently, and the first test shot shows a much more pleasing image compared to the prior image. However, there is still much more improvement needed, and this is where Quiles is able to adjust the flash, ND filter, and camera settings to optimize the situation.

Do you use ND filters in portrait photography when the light is very harsh, or do you have other tips? Let us know in the comments below.

Greg Sheard is a Scottish based photographer, focusing on wildlife, landscape and portrait work. Greg's mission in life is too help those who suffer with mental health issues and be a voice for the millions of people around the world who need that care, attention and awareness.

Years ago, when I shot Corporate portraits, I would do that sometimes with window shots. On some other occasions, I would use a CPL in a similar fashion to control sheen on an individual's face.

Using a CPL is a great tip John 👌