I wanted to maintain a very shallow depth of field, like f/2.5. That meant the shutter speed was 1/3200 sec, WAY over the 1/250 sec sync speed on my Nikon. So the solution was to pull out my SB-900 flash and shoot in high speed sync. I positioned the subjects with their back to the sun. Dialed in my exposure for the ambient light (bright sun – f/2.5 at 1/3200 sec). Dialed in +1.3 compensation on the SB-900. Stuck the flash on a stand with a shoot-through umbrella. Triggered TTL with built in pop-up flash on my camera (set to commander mode only). The result is so much nicer than just shooting “available light.” I love having options. High speed sync is a nice option to have when you need it.

We waited until as late in the afternoon as we could, but needed to head back to Cedar City, a 3 hour drive. We ended up doing the photoshoot when the sun was still pretty harsh, but with the sun to his back and high speed sync fill flash in the front, we made the best of it.

The next shot is the one we chose for the baseball card. He plays several positions, but his favorite is pitcher.

The shots turned out great and we are excited to give him the cards. Reminded me of my baseball days. The little league and Babe Ruth years were the best.