Nikon SB-800 Flash Lighting

[hamster]

I thought i'd post up this illustrated story of how I've used my SB-800 in the 7 months i've been shooting (seriously). I've never had to use the diffusion cap or the wide zoom except for a rare few instances. Feel free to comment on the inadequacies of my technique(s)

My very first experience with the D80 (also the first time i've ever picked up the damn camera) involved only direct flash with the SB800 in TTL -1/3 (as that was all i could make out from the manual)

A reasonably high ISO and 1/60 shutter speed was used because all i knew back then was A mode and i hadn't learned about settings.




Then i learnt about FV and TTLBL and the strengths and limitations of such a system. This time the flash was bounced off one of the silver walls at ISO100. Silver makes for a brilliant light and i'll be buying more aluminium foil from woolies.


I moved to bounce flash off the ceiling at 90 because i always got poor results at 60 or 45 degree bouncing.
It was at this time i noticed that bouncing off ceilings was not the best option as i often got "panda eyes."

Again, no light mods were used.

A friend finally pointed me over to planetneil's posts on directional vs bounced lighting, and in another of his posts he mentions not his techniques but his "personal flash modifier." Talk about a "free" softbox! I'll put up the link when i can find it.

I've beein using that since then for indoor work and today my photos look like this:

Notice the baby's cheeks.


And the lack of overly obvious flash signature here.


I've not yet learnt the benefits of manual, but in really dark environments i still rely on good old direct TTL with FV compensation, proper matrix metering high ISO, VR and a slow shutter speed. I'm missing a large aperture but with shots like these i don't think that's entirely neccessary.


Putting it all together, the one time i went fully pro (rented a whole shebang of d300, 70-200 f/2.8 VR) i used the TTL BL and put the nikon d300 51 AF tracking through its paces I came out with stuff like this:


Like most people who've posted their thoughts on the internet, I believe that TTL-BL does bias towards flash more than ambient lighting, and dialing down -1 2/3 FV is an excellent starting point although i find i switching between that and -1 1/3. As for TTL, I start at 0 and go up or down as required. I don't usually go up as i know the 800 can't put out that much power, so I lower the FV and find other ways to increase light hitting the sensor instead. I've never had to do work where I've needed light modifiers.

Feel free to comment and critique on the works you see here, or possible improvements to my technique.

[Grev]

It's a good progress, it's very interesting to see that.

Although for me it's totally different, I can easily use my SB800s, SB80DXs and SB28s in fully manual and estimate a good exposure but I cannot get the TTL settings fully correct, and mind you, I use straight TTL, not TTL-BL, which to my knowledge is mainly for calculated for fill flash.

The lightsphere diffusers do work though, thank god.

[Yi-P]

A great story and improvements can be seen on the examples

What's next? Off camera flash and additional flashes?

[hamster]

Thanks! I don't have enough money to buy off camera or secondary flashes, but yes i have used one or two for large group photos. Generally with all my stuff i try to keep it with just the on camera flash. Maybe if I had to shoot automobiles or such then i'd probably invest in a multiple setup but for now i find that most of my work, even shooting cars at a motoroshow, a single flash in TTL BL often suffices.

Grev: I feel the whole point of TTL is that you have a certain TTL light as determined by all the factors and the R&D nikon puts in. All you have to do past that point, is adjust the FV till you get "good" exposure as determined by you. Yes, TTL-BL is calculated for fill flash, but if you try shooting the same scene in both TTL and TTL BL you'll notice that TTL BL still biases towards speedlight ouput than just shadow reduction. As so many people on the internet have said, -1 2/3 FV is a good place to start and then you dial up or down needed compensation as neccessary. That hiphop dance photo for example, was shot at TTL BL - 2/3 exposure and this was a trial and error procedure of about five photos. In a theatre with poor stage lighting to boot.

The indian dance photo was -1 2/3 TTL BL. I find that helped with shadow reduction.

I think the point i'm trying to make here is that nikon's overall "i-TTL" system has come along way since earlier TTL. And those two were shot with direct on camera flash with no modifications, which i think is a much better demonstration of nikon CLS technology than simply bouncing TTL off a wall. That IMO would be photographer skill at finding objects to bounce off.

[Greettat]

Every little helps a mickle.

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