Bouncing Light

johng25 · Nov 3, 2008

I had the SB600 in my hotshoe so I didn't use my pop up flash for these pictures.

As for the settings on the flash, I'm not sure what to put them on. I've been reading about it but honestly, it just confuses me!

John

kundalini · Nov 3, 2008

Start at Zero. Reset your camera to the defaults. There is probably a good chance you've set something during your trial and error period.

I almost always have mine off camera and in manual, so some of this may not be exactly right.

Set you camera Built-In flash to TTL or go to Commander Mode and set the Master to (--) by thumbing over to it and scrolling up/down. Set the Group A/B to TTL. Set all FVs to Zero (0.0).

Set your SB to TTL and FV to 0.0.

Point your flash head at about 60° at the ceiling. Focus on a subject and fire. You can make adjustments via the flash or the camera to increase or decrease the flash value to suit. You may also want to set the shutter speed to flash synch at 1/200s.

Chewbecca · Nov 3, 2008

tsaraleksi said:
If you have a flash in your hotshoe, then your popup flash should not be firing.

Oh! D'oh! I know that, I started shooting my flash, right off the bat, remotely, so I didn't even take the fact that his flash might be attached to his camera, into consideration.

manaheim · Nov 3, 2008

Chewbecca said:
Oh! D'oh! I know that, I started shooting my flash, right off the bat, remotely, so I didn't even take the fact that his flash might be attached to his camera, into consideration.

hehe, that's funny. I was kinda wondering what you was a-smokin'.

kundalini · Nov 3, 2008

manaheim said:
What were you bouncing these off of?
The ceiling in that particular area looks a bit high...

Negative. Ceiling height is 10'-0" tops. Let's say the OP is an average male height of 5'-8", add 3-1/2" from top of his head to top of flash head and that is 6'-1" and change. Bounce distance would be ~7'-10" (up & down distance). Even with the diffuser employed, making the zoom head position at 14mm (widest dispersion of light), you should still get a maximum shooting distance of 11'-0" at f/4 and ISO100. (See table on page 27 of the manual)

Now that I can see your photos johng25, it looks like you need to increase shutter speed. There is a definite blur of the subjects.

Chewbecca · Nov 3, 2008

I'm a ding-a-ling. I need to learn more about flash.

I know that I could read the manual, and I will, but I found some decent you tube videos that got me going.
I learn better from visual example/instruction than reading instruction.

kundalini · Nov 3, 2008

Reading is fun-damental. But I know what you speak of.

I wouldn't mind if someone could double check my figures above.

Chewbecca · Nov 3, 2008

Well, I LOVE to read. I just hate reading instructions. I end up using manuals as reference guides for when I want to know something. I never read them from front to back.
Does anyone?

johng25 · Nov 3, 2008

Wow! This is some great advice! Thanks.

I have one other question before I begin bouncing light; what does one do if the flash is not bright enough? Just adjust the ISO? I was curious b/c some pics were so dark, even with the flash, that I couldn't see much.

OH, just one more. Kundalini, how do you get those numbers you quoted up above? Is it fail safe or just a generalization? Also, when setting my SB600 to remote, it only works with the pop up flash, right? So I shouldn't leave it in the hotshoe?

Thanks,
John

kundalini · Nov 3, 2008

I'm going on the premise that you have Commander mode available on your camera.

johng25 said:
Wow! This is some great advice! Thanks.
I have one other question before I begin bouncing light; what does one do if the flash is not bright enough? Just adjust the ISO? I was curious b/c some pics were so dark, even with the flash, that I couldn't see much.

Check your manuals, but to adjust via the camera (I'm using the D80 as a baseline) press the top small button on the side of the pop up flash to increase FV with the front wheel. While looking through the viewfinder and turn the wheel you will notice on the bottom right values changing +/-. Or you can adjust via the flash with the (+) or (-) buttons.

OH, just one more. Kundalini, how do you get those numbers you quoted up above? Is it fail safe or just a generalization?

(See table on page 27 of the manual)

Also, when setting my SB600 to remote, it only works with the pop up flash, right? So I shouldn't leave it in the hotshoe?

The whole point for me to get the SBs was wireless out of the box. The system is based on IR (infra red) signal from camera to flash. The pop-up can act as a master and sends out a pre-flash to the remote flash. Direct line-of-sight is not necessarily required, but have the sensor in the direction of the camera.

You can set the built-in to signal without adding to the scene by setting it to (--) in the Custom Setting #22. That is my normal setting - hate the built-in looks, but sometimes it can add to the scene.

One more thing. Hope you don't mind, but I took one of your shots and had a little play with it in LightRoom. Very simple/basic exposure adjustment applied.

Hope it's not presumptuous.

johng25 · Nov 3, 2008

Thanks, again Kundalini. It's not presumptuous at all. The pp looks excellent.

The flash is a confusing thing; I think it's going to take a lot of practice to even begin understanding how to take decent shots.

John

kundalini · Nov 3, 2008

What do you feel is your most used need out of the SB? My intent was to go off camera, first and foremost. Your intent can be totally different. I quickly learned off-camera operations. But oh gawd, I do screw up a lot when I just fire away without much forethought. I use Nikon's CLS > 5% of the time. You can grasp the concept of creative lighting by diving into it.

But... but...but don't get me wrong. Learn CLS, it will serve you well.

johng25 · Nov 3, 2008

HOnestly, since I'm so new to photography I'm just trying to get started into lighting and making better photos. I know the importance of fill light for portraits, so I'm just trying to slowly make better portraits with better lighting. I have read and seen how great it is to keep the strobe off the hotshoe and use it wirelessly, so I'm also trying to learn how to do that.

Going to a dslr is a huge learning curve, but getting a strobe only makes that learning curve steeper. However, I'm loving it! It's a great challenge.

Thanks,
John