Outdoor photos and people too dark

Most of time, in outdoor photos, faces of friends and family get too dark. this happens because of the bright light in the background and our subject standing in shadow. Same is true when people are wearing caps or hats and the shadow hides eyes and some part of the face.

One time I was hiking with a friend. The background was so beautiful with low clouds. It was simply amazing. We decided to take a photo to we can save the moment in our memories.

As you can see in the photo the background is simply amazing but it is hard to see my friend's face. If you run into such situations, how can you work around the problem?

Solution with Trial and Error Photography:

In T&EP (Trial & Error photography), first you have find the issue. What is the issue with this photo? The issue is that person is too dark.

Solution:
We have to get more light in the photo. Enough light so the face is nice and clear. One way is to use Exposure Compensation to let more light in. This will however wash out the background. The background in the photo is perfect. We don't want to ruin it. So what can we do to take a better photo? We can use some artificial light ;) Most cameras have flash- a source or good light. The flash works fine for up to 20 feet and my friend was around 10 feet away. I turned on the flash and took a new photo. The flash brightened up everything around me including my friend! See the next photo here:

Compare both photos and you will see how we fixed the original issue in few seconds and were able to take a nice photo in same situation.

Enjoy photography with easy no-cost Trial and Error Photography.