Flash Photography 101

[Scottwdw]

Okay, attached my Nikon SB-600 Flash unit to my D70, angled the flash head at 60 degrees, set it to TTL, put the camera in P (for programmed mode) and this was the best shot of the night. Many had shadows as I was playing with flash head angles and distance from background/subjects. The ceilings are white (oh, okay, off white since they need to be painted ) and are 8 feet high.

ISO 400, 1/60s, f5.0, 28-70 Zoom @ 52mm (78mm digital)


Any suggestions on how to improve my technique before the Christmas gatherings?

 

[WillCAD]

That looks like a great shot to me, Scott. No harsh shadows, no red-eye, and no reflections or glare.

The color is a bit subdued compared to my Canon Digital Rebel, but the D-Reb comes from the factory with processing parameter set for vivid and crisp colors - your D70 might be set for more subdued colors, which even out skin tones but tend to take the edge off brighter stuff like Xmas decorations. You'll have to use your judgement on that; if you're shooting a lot of people, the setting above are perfect. If you're shooting more non-people stuff like decorations, food, gifts, etc., then more vivid colors would be an improvement.

You could also try using a polarizer, which would mean you'd have to overexpose a little, but it would make the colors pop a little.

 

[Scottwdw]

That looks like a great shot to me, Scott. No harsh shadows, no red-eye, and no reflections or glare.

The color is a bit subdued compared to my Canon Digital Rebel, but the D-Reb comes from the factory with processing parameter set for vivid and crisp colors - your D70 might be set for more subdued colors, which even out skin tones but tend to take the edge off brighter stuff like Xmas decorations. You'll have to use your judgement on that; if you're shooting a lot of people, the setting above are perfect. If you're shooting more non-people stuff like decorations, food, gifts, etc., then more vivid colors would be an improvement.

I do love this picture. I'll play with the color in software and see if I can bring that up a bit.

Now, you've opened up an interesting subject. After reading how your camera is set up, I dug into my ebook on the D70 I got last week and found it has three color settings. The first one is Ia or sRGB (which is what my camera is set on now), the second is II or Adobe RGB and, the last, IIIa or sRGBIII. The sRGBIII is described as more vivid like Fuji films (guessing they are talking about Velvia). Thom Hogan recommends Adobe RGB as the best choice. I will need to do some testing runs at each setting to see which one I like.

 

[Ronda93]

Bounce flash is great, but I find that I get too much panda eye. While diffused, the light comes from above and everyone has shadows in their eye sockets.

I have had great luck with a bouncer that attaches to the flash (this).

It redirects the light, but forward. Shadows disappear behind the subject and eyes catch the light. I don't have this one, but I hear it works great, too.

With the holiday fast approaching you might consider fashioning something from white mat board and a rubber band (I've done this and it works). It would be a fan shape, with a square bottom. Stand the flash straight up and rubberband the board so that the fan is above the head. The light that would normally go back/up is bounced forward and you still get the ceiling bounce.

 

[Scottwdw]

Ronda,

I have an older SB-25 which has a white bouncer. The only thing missing from the SB-600. In some of my pictures, I did get more light catch in the eyes. BTW, I have been looking at the LumiQuest products and will soon get one.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[Scottwdw]

A little Nikon View Editor magic and...

 

[safetymom]

Have you color corrected your monitor? That is important so that you are seeing it correctly on your monitor before you start to make corrections.

 

[WillCAD]

Definite improvement, but the hard part is to replicate that by changing camera settings instead of using the editor.

 

[Scottwdw]

Definite improvement, but the hard part is to replicate that by changing camera settings instead of using the editor.

That's what I've been doing all night. Been reading a lot and found a few threads in photography forums with suggested settings. I've been taking a lot of pictures and altering the settings to see what is pleasing to me. Have a ways to go yet but I think my chances have improved. Learned a lot about color space and optimizing image settings.

 

[kbnovak]

Scott,

A tried and true technique for getting a bit more pop when bouncing your flash is to take two VERY high-tech items and use them with your flash.

Item 1, a 3x5 index card or a white business card.

Item 2, a latex tension device (rubber band).

Simply rubber band the card to the flash, letting it extend above the top of the flash. Angle the flash to the ceiling and shoot away. This gives the diffused look of the bounce flash, but directs a bit more light forward, giving better catch-lights in the eyes, and opening up the eye sockets.

 

[Geoff_M]

Scott,

The photo looks just fine. Keep in mind that when you bounce flash you are creating a mixed lighting situation. You're mixing the ambient light (incandesant, I assume) of one color temperature with the strobe light of another temperature. If you had the camera's WB set to flash, that'll automatically throw the color off. The best setting to use in mixed lighting is Auto WB, but keep in mind that often times WB will be a little off the mark. Also remember that presetting the WB will only be good for the particular lighting set-up. If you then move around the room for another photo, the mixture of the light will also change as you move towards or away from the ambient source.

 

[Charade]

Scott,

A tried and true technique for getting a bit more pop when bouncing your flash is to take two VERY high-tech items and use them with your flash.

Item 1, a 3x5 index card or a white business card.

Item 2, a latex tension device (rubber band).

Simply rubber band the card to the flash, letting it extend above the top of the flash. Angle the flash to the ceiling and shoot away. This gives the diffused look of the bounce flash, but directs a bit more light forward, giving better catch-lights in the eyes, and opening up the eye sockets.

Or, you could print this out.

 

[Scottwdw]

Had much better flash assisted pictures over the Christmas weekend! Here's one for you...

ISO 200, f/4.5, 1/60s, 18-70 Zoom @ 70mm (105mm for digital) and had my Auto WB set to -3 (still playing with WB adjustments). Used SB-600 with iTTL setting.

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

Very nice, so after your research marathon, which tips did you find the most useful and which were an exercise in futility that others should avoid?

 

[Scottwdw]

Very nice, so after your research marathon, which tips did you find the most useful and which were an exercise in futility that others should avoid?

As I mentioned in my message to WillCAD, as I searched I found information on the D70's Image Optimization submenu settings. A very helpful thread on Nikonians.org, entitled Great pictures straight out of the D70 , gave me settings which helped me create much better pictures.

I have not been able to throughly change much from the initial settings in that thread except the White Balance (WB). I settled on Auto WB -3 for now. This is where I think it gets very subjective for each photographer. I have started to look at peoples camera information where available on their photo sites and am finding all kinds of different settings used for pictures I would have been proud to have taken. So, it pays to 1.) read the manual and visit camera specfic websites and forums and 2.) try different settings under controlled conditions and see which ones please you the most.

I did find I miss the bouncer (small white pull out piece of plasitc) I had on my old SB-25 Flash unit and will be buying one very soon. The added light and eye sparkle such a device gives is something I like.

Yesterday, I found a message at dpreview.com on using the SB-800 on the D70. My SB-600 is 90% of an 800 so it works for me. I haven't tried any of the advice given here but am planning to: D70 Flash Settings