First Few Shots With SB-600, C&C?

[PatrickCheung]

I got a SB-600 not too long ago, and i've been playing with it for the past week... i thought i'd share my results :O i know the background for number 1 is a little distracting, but i'm looking for more criticism on my use of the flash, not the composure

1.
this one was a little edited... i striaghtened up the picture, made it a little clearer, and added some vignetting in lightroom... everything in this picture is a tad bit darker than the original. Shot this using only the flash bounced off the ceiling at... full power.... i think. i know, it's dumb to post an edited picture when asking for c&c, but i saved over the original... D:

2.
Unedited, but i forgot what settings/mode i used...

3.
also unedited, also forgot what settings/mode i used the flash on

 

[TiCoyote]

Of the three, I like 2 the best. In fact, I like it a lot. In the other two , the background competes with the subject.

 

[mammarazzi]

I love 3! I think you are doing pretty good with it. I can't wait to get one.

 

[creisinger]

Third one looks like an art print. Pretty good.
What lens did you use on that one?

For the first shot it's not a great idea to use a speedlight bouncing off of a regular room ceiling while your subject is pretty much on floor level.

The light is traveling a long distance up to the ceiling, diffused, then traveling back.

It would be more efficient to use a couple of white boards, styrofoam or anything else in white color that you can move or mount around your subject to be a lot closer to it.

That way you can modify the intensity from various angles more easily AND the flash wouldn't have to pump out the light at full power.

The way you did it creates an even light originating from the top, naturally you lose details on the bottom part of the shoes. If you have your flash lower by using the white boards you can control the light to create better highlights (or a key light for that matter) and still use a second board to bounce back some light from the other side.

Magic things can be done with only one speed light.

I recommend watching the DVD set from "Dean Collins" - this will blow your hat off when you see what he does with one speed light!

 

[PatrickCheung]

thanks for the comments guys really like the tips creisinger gave. sorry i havent replied, i've been busy lately with some other photography stuff i'll try and get/make/find some white boards to bounce flash off of. also beenlooking into getting a cheap diffuser. if anyone's gonna reply... can someone tell me if 3 x Flash Bounce Diffuser for Stofen NIKON SB-600 SB600 on eBay.ca (item 360138859041 end time 08-Dec-09 23:23:05 EST) is way too sketchy to be true?

 

[creisinger]

I haven't gotten any of those but it's a place to start - there are many different types of on-flash diffusers out there and they all will produce different results.

You don't "have" to spend money like that. Just improvise!
Use a piece of a white plastic bag and tape it around the flash - of course in a way that the white bag produces a bigger illuminated area than the flash opening of the housing... Otherwise it would be pointless.

You also can use some kind of clear plastic that you can easily bend and tape to the flash and cover that with all sorts of white materials (paper, plastic bag etc.) It all will give you different results but it may be possible for you to do it right away instead of waiting for the diffusers to arrive .

You can do a search on Google how others have come up with their own inventions for that particular situation.

Keep going!

 

[PatrickCheung]

oh yeah, for sure i found a diffuser made out of an ecover (some cleaning liquid) bottle, cept that requires me buying a cleaning liquid... which might cost like half the price of 3 diffusers jsut to make one, you know? before i had my flash, i actually used a translucent film canister cut open to fit on my pop-up flash. the diffusers made of paper or plastic bags and stuff are sometimes too tedious to put on or take off and awkward to carry around.

thanks for the ideas though definately useful while i wait for my diffusers to arrive XD

 

[ANDS!]

Keep doing what you are doing - practice, practice, practice. Only way you are going to learn the ins and outs and pecularities of these speedlights. One thing to watch out for on number 3 - all that "brown" in the same threw the color off. Watch out for that.

 

[Donglei Pan]

I love the second!!! it's so beautiful!!....

 

[PatrickCheung]

thanks guys for still commenting on these haha. i was gonna start a new thread to ask a question, guess i'll ask here first, since it's still on the first page. How do i know what power or flash compensation to set my speedlight to? most of the time i'm just guessing... then readjusting. i read the manual, but its way too confusing for me... whats with all this guide number business? i kinda wanna move away from guessing and move towards knowing; is it just practice, or is there a general rule to follow or something?