Practice shot with OCF

DanaDawn · Oct 3, 2013

I've had my SB-600 flash for a couple years, but I've never used it.

After taking a shot, messing with the settings, taking another shot... messing with the settings I finally took this and am pleased with the way it came out. But I haven't been able to do it again. Can anyone point me to a tutorial on how to use my flash? I tried reading the manual but I'm a visual learner. Help please!

CC is always appreciated!

astroNikon · Oct 3, 2013

Yeah, the menu of the SB-600 isn't that intuitive. Especially for me because I also have a SB-700

The manual didn't make much sense until I saw this video

Try this one

tirediron · Oct 3, 2013

Good job! You've got a nice balance of fill & ambient, no excesssive specularity; pretty much a nice, straight-forward shot. It does look like the image would have benefitted from the flash being farther off of lens axis and closer to the subject, it's not a huge issue. As for tutorials, search YouTube; there can't be more than a few hundred just on the SB600, and many, many, MANY more on OCF in general As long as you can adjust the power level (the little '+' & '-' buttons on the back when in Manual) that's really all you need to know.

Derrel · Oct 3, 2013

Pretty lady, nice natural setting, colorful shirt, earnest expression...ALL make for a good start! EXIF information shows some basics:

Equipment Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D200
Camera Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.3 (Windows)
Maximum Lens Aperture: f/1.7
Sensing Method: One-Chip Color Area
Color Filter Array Pattern: 726
Focal Length (35mm Equiv): 75 mm

Image-Specific Properties:

Horizontal Resolution: 300 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 300 dpi
Image Created: 2013:09:23 21:12:12
Exposure Time: 1/45 sec
F-Number: f/3.5
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
ISO Speed Rating: 500
Lens Aperture: f/3.5
Exposure Bias: -0.7 EV
Metering Mode: Spot
Light Source: Cloudy Weather
Flash: Flash, Return Detected
Focal Length: 50.00 mm
Rendering: Normal
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Manual
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Gain Control: Low Gain Up
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Hard

astroNikon · Oct 3, 2013

The best video I saw for the 600 OCF was one with 3 sb-600s, but I can't find that right now .. It's on YouTube which is great for "visual" manuals as mentioned above.

Derrel · Oct 3, 2013

Looking at your EXIF, I think the most important points are these:1/45 sec
F-Number: f/3.5
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
ISO Speed Rating: 500
Lens Aperture: f/3.5
Exposure Bias: -0.7 EV
Metering Mode: Spot
Light Source: Cloudy Weather
Flash: Flash, Return Detected
Focal Length: 50.00 mm
Rendering: Normal
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Manual
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Gain Control: Low Gain Up
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Hard

Derrel · Oct 3, 2013

Not sure why the above is in bold and will not respond to efforts to edit it to normal typeface. ISO, 500...that makes the flash need to be "less", and also makes the impact of the daylight "stronger" than at a lower ISO value. The slowish shutter speed of 1/45 second outdoors is bordering on what is called "dragging the shutter", meaning slowing the shutter speed down, in order to pick up light from the daylight, in the background, behind the range of the flash. The lens aperture of f/3.5 is fairly wide, and allows in a lot of light, especially in combination with a 1/45 second speed AND an ISO value of 500.

Cloudy Weather white balance makes things look a touch "warm". Normal contrast, normal saturation, and HARD sharpening with flash make things look very crisp, very sharp. Your rendering is NORMAL, so no over-saturation or clown-colors. Metering mode was SPOT, and the spot happened to be on a good location.

All in all, this seems like an Aperture Priority AUTO Nikon D200 daylight flash shot, made with a fully distance-aware camera, with a fully color-aware light metering system, and fully color-aware flash metering system, made with Minus 0.7 EV dialed into the metering system. I honestly believe that using SPOT metering in this type of situation can lead yo HIGHLY variable results, and would generally suggest that you NOT shoot flash photos using SPOT metering unless you're always, constantly aware of where the AF point is located. SPOT metering can cause undue influence to very small, minor subject differences, and if your flash exposures Yo-Yo all over the place, SPOT metering can sometimes be the culprit.

DanaDawn · Oct 3, 2013

tirediron said:
Good job! You've got a nice balance of fill & ambient, no excesssive specularity; pretty much a nice, straight-forward shot. It does look like the image would have benefitted from the flash being farther off of lens axis and closer to the subject, it's not a huge issue. As for tutorials, search YouTube; there can't be more than a few hundred just on the SB600, and many, many, MANY more on OCF in general As long as you can adjust the power level (the little '+' & '-' buttons on the back when in Manual) that's really all you need to know.

What do you mean by the flash being farther off of lens axis? (in layman's terms?)

DanaDawn · Oct 3, 2013

Derrel said:
Not sure why the above is in bold and will not respond to efforts to edit it to normal typeface. ISO, 500...that makes the flash need to be "less", and also makes the impact of the daylight "stronger" than at a lower ISO value. The slowish shutter speed of 1/45 second outdoors is bordering on what is called "dragging the shutter", meaning slowing the shutter speed down, in order to pick up light from the daylight, in the background, behind the range of the flash. The lens aperture of f/3.5 is fairly wide, and allows in a lot of light, especially in combination with a 1/45 second speed AND an ISO value of 500.

Cloudy Weather white balance makes things look a touch "warm". Normal contrast, normal saturation, and HARD sharpening with flash make things look very crisp, very sharp. Your rendering is NORMAL, so no over-saturation or clown-colors. Metering mode was SPOT, and the spot happened to be on a good location.

All in all, this seems like an Aperture Priority AUTO Nikon D200 daylight flash shot, made with a fully distance-aware camera, with a fully color-aware light metering system, and fully color-aware flash metering system, made with Minus 0.7 EV dialed into the metering system. I honestly believe that using SPOT metering in this type of situation can lead yo HIGHLY variable results, and would generally suggest that you NOT shoot flash photos using SPOT metering unless you're always, constantly aware of where the AF point is located. SPOT metering can cause undue influence to very small, minor subject differences, and if your flash exposures Yo-Yo all over the place, SPOT metering can sometimes be the culprit.

Y'know, I didn't think to check how I was metering. I was doing this as an assignment and the previous assignment had us spot metering and I forgot to change it. That could explain why I was having so much trouble with all my other shots.

I was told that WB doesn't matter when you're using flash. Not that I believe it, but that's what I was told. So it really does matter?

If I had dropped my ISO to 100, would I have ended up with a stronger flash output?

OK, one more thing I thought of. Do I adjust my exposure comp on the flash +/- buttons, or on the camera? Or both?!

tirediron · Oct 3, 2013

DanaDawn said:
What do you mean by the flash being farther off of lens axis? (in layman's terms?)

Literally just that. If the camera is at the '6' position on a clock-face pointing toward the centre, then try and have the flash at around '7' or even a little farther left (or, conversely the '5' or slightly further right).

Derrel · Oct 3, 2013

An easy way to get the flash off of the lens axis is to use a TTL remote cord, like the Nikon SC-28 or Nikon SC-29 (SC being 'strobe connector'), or a generic cord from a store like FlashZebra.com. The cord has a special foot that fits into the camera's hotshoe, and a special foot that fits the flash unit, and can communicate between camera and flash in TTL, and other, flash modes. The camera is aimed at the subject, and the flash is moved off to one side, and up a bit, often held in the left hand, or by an assistant, and aimed at the subject. Another way is to use Nikon's "flash commander" system of wireless camera-to-flash command and control.

As I recall, the D200 has both a flash compensation option on the body--for the camera's POP-UP flash unit, AND I KNOW it has a daylight or ambient exposure compensation control on the body. I believe the flash +/- control on the SB 600 is where you'd enter flash exposure compensation. I have not owned a D200, so I am not 100% sure, but about 80% sure on this.. What you had dialed in was Minus 0.7 EV on Daylight or Ambient exposure.

At 100 ISO, using Aperture Priority automatic and TTL flash control, the camera probably would have changed the exposure parameters to scale down to ISO 100, and the image would likely have had a slower shutter speed,but that is not a 100% certainty; there is "some point" where the camera's programming will decide the shutter speed is too slow for safe hand-holding with the focal length used taken into account.

Cloudy Weather white balance looks a bit warmer than Daylight or Flash white balance settings. Not by a "lot", but some.

KmH · Oct 3, 2013

Derrel said:
Looking at your EXIF, I think the most important points are these:1/45 sec
F-Number: f/3.5
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
ISO Speed Rating: 500
Lens Aperture: f/3.5
Exposure Bias: -0.7 EV
Metering Mode: Spot
Light Source: Cloudy Weather
Flash: Flash, Return Detected
Focal Length: 50.00 mm
Rendering: Normal
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Manual
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Gain Control: Low Gain Up
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Hard

Derrel said:
Not sure why the above is in bold and will not respond to efforts to edit it to normal typeface.

Maybe you already tried it, but on the upper left corner of the message/post editing page click on A/A and put the editor in Source Mode. You can then delete all the [ b ] and [ / b ] tags, or in WYSIWYG mode, just highlight the bolded text. The B right under A/A should get a blue background. With the text highlighted click on the B so the blue background disappears. That should remove all the bold tags in the highlighted text.