External Flash

[mommy22]

I recently got a Nikon SB-600 because I hated my on camera flash and figured I'd need one at some point. So! Now that I have it, I really don't know how touse it to it's full potential. There seems to always be a delay of when it goes off, which, when you are trying to shoot a toddler, can make for some bad photos. Sometimes, I'll have it turned on and it won't go off, it seems to have a long recharge time. Also, I never know what setting to put my camera on when I am using it. I usually shoot in Aperture priority and I change the white balance setting to flash but sometimes the pics just don't come out quite right. Any advice/hints would be great. Thanks.
Mommy22

 

[KmH]

A good place to start is reading the users manual and developing a good understanding of the information it contains.

Different kinds of batteries will effect the recycle time. NiMH batteries give the shortest recycle times in a SB-600. (Thers's a chart in the users manual.)

Another way to reduce cycle times is to manually set the speedlight to less than full power.

Your white balance issure could be from mixed lighting. With the speedlight set in an automatic mode it's possible the speedlight is lowering the power level below ambient which means the flash is no longer the dominate light source causing your WB issues. This is most likely to happen if your using a wide aperture like f/1.8.