Nikon SB-800 Flash Lighting
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:23 pmI 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.
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.
