Tips From a Professional Photographer

Posts tagged “sb-900

How to Take Great Portraits with One Flash

Although I always bring a whole bag, well, really a few bags full of flashes of all sizes and powers, many times I find that using one flash is an easy way to get the right lighting while still being flexible enough to follow the subject and make corrections quickly.

I recently shot a senior portrait session with a variety of lighting setups.  I always try to be flexible and give lots of options in terms of lighting, background, and ‘looks’.  While I am always working towards a thought out end photo, I will happily stray from that as light allows, or when things come up during the shoot, which they always do.  As we went through the shoot, I was moving back and forth from flash to available to bounce and all combinations of the two.  On these wide ranging shoots, I find that working with the different combinations of lighting helps me keep fresh perspective throughout the shoot.  Each small change of lighting can lead to a new idea.

For this setup I was using a Nikon SB-800 Speedlight with a 24″ softbox and a 48″ circular reflector with the gold side bouncing a bit of warmth back on the subject and filling in the deep shadows.  The SB-800 was triggered by radio.  I do use Nikon’s iTTL with commander and remote flashes, but for this set up I was moving back and forth, changing cameras and lenses and needed to be sure the flash would be triggered.  The bright sun has played tricks on the communication between commander and remote flashes in the past, meaning you need a pretty direct line of sight between the two.  So for this I did do some minor tweaks to the flash, set in manual mode, increasing or decreasing the power as needed.  Yes, it’s an extra trip to the flash, but we were moving around quite a bit and it didn’t seem to break up the flow too much.  The movement and small break in shooting will also give the subject a little space to catch their breath before getting back into it.  I find that with professional models you can get away with more sustained shooting, but with amateurs a little break is always helpful, if only for a few seconds.

The Nikon SB-800 had the dome diffuser off, but the wide angle flap down.  I generally use the dome diffuser to give a slightly softer light through the softbox, but due to the intense sun I needed that extra bit of power that the dome diffuser takes away.  I was running the SB-800 between 1/4 and full power.  Having blown a few SB-800’s running on full power in the past, I generally try not to use it too much, but if I have to, I try and slow my shooting down to allow the flash to safely recycle without frying.  The amount of ambient light and strength of the sun also kept me using the SB-800 instead of my SB-900 which will shut down if it starts overheating.  Yes, it saves the flash, but a flash that stops working mid-shoot, while under normal circumstances is frustrating.  I’ve heard good things about the SB-910’s thermal shutoff.  Hopefully they have extended the range of heat allowed, or figured out a way to get rid of the heat more efficiently.

I could have just as easily used a battery powered monolight such as my SP-Systems Lancerlight 160 or an Elinchrome Ranger.  I choose to use a smaller flash only for ease of movement.  The larger monolights are just that, larger, so if you’re running around moving the light every few exposures, having the small flash helps keep the hassle to a minimum.


How to take great photos with studio and small flashes

I was recently asked a question regarding how to get proper exposure mixing big flashes with small flashes.  This person was having trouble triggering the light slave on a SP-Systems Excalibur studio flash with an on camera flash, this time with a Nikon D60.  Specifically, with the camera and built in flash in TTL mode, the camera was triggering the studio flashes through their own light slave, but they couldn’t see the flash in the photos.  This can apply to any speedlight with more than just manual settings.  The TTL, iTTL, or any other ‘intelligent’ communication between the flash and the camera or the flash and other flashes include more than one flash per shot.
Here is the original question:
“I am using SP Systems Excalibur 3200 strobes and a Nikon D60. I’m having difficulty getting exposure to work out without going down to a 1/6 shutter speed. I think the lights are out of sync with my camera.”
My answer:
If you are triggering the flash with the D60’s on camera flash (or another speedlight), with it set to TTL you will have to change it to A (aperture priority) or M (manual).  The TTL works by sending a pre-flash (too fast for us to see) that determines the correct exposure of the scene, but it will also trigger the SP-Systems or other passive light slave a fraction too early, on the first pulse of light, creating an under exposed photo due to the large flashes not being included in the exposure.  I’m guessing this is the problem.  With A and M modes the flash only sends out one flash.  The aperture mode fires the flash, then the flash itself determines the exposure and shuts the flash off, the manual mode just fires what you tell it to (exactly like the monolights).
The SP-Systems lights are great, I’ve been using them for about 10 years now and have accumulated a number of different ones.
This is how I approach lighting with flash, big flash, small flash, and mixing the two with ambient light.  First, start thinking of flash in these terms.  F-stop relates to the flash, shutter speed relates to the ambient (normal room light).
Here’s a good starting point with flashes.  To start, set your camera on manual, with a shutter speed somewhere between 1/30 and 1/100 (1/100 is about the fastest the lights will sync before seeing the shutter curtain’s dark streak along the top, unless you’re using a Pocket Wizard or specific flash models that will trigger faster).  If you’re only using flash to light the scene, set the shutter to 1/100 (or the highest flash sync speed), this will also give you a good starting point from which you can move later.
Next is how you are triggering the light.  If you are using the “pc-sync” cord (or a wireless remote, Pocket Wizard, Radio Popper, etc) included with the flash, then there shouldn’t be a problem with timing.  I would start with the flash set to about 1/4 power, which will give you an exposure of somewhere between f5.6-f11 depending on how close the flashes are to the subject.

(Wedding dress model lit with one flash. SP-Systems Excalibur 3200 flash with a 32" octagonal softbox, camera right. Nikon 17-35mm 2.8, Nikon D2x. The shutter was fast enough to eliminate the ambient light, creating the deep shadows and dramatic lighting.)

Find that perfect exposure by fine tuning either the flash power or your aperture. Once you’ve gotten the flash exposure you’re looking for, you can slow down the shutter speed to bring up the ambient light level so you can mix flash with existing light.

(Doctor and patient with MRI machine. Multiple flashes light this scene. Two Nikon SB-800 Speedlights provide the purple to light the foreground. A SP-Systems monolight with a hex-grid camera left adds a little pop. A SP-Systems Excalibur 3200 with umbrella, camera right, fills in her back, the wall and gives a little rim light on her hair. A SP-Systems Excalibur 3200 soft box camera left lights her face. Triggered with a combination of radio and light slaves. Nikon D2x, 17-35mm 2.8.)

There are times when you want total control over all the lighting in the scene, as in a studio setting, and there are other times when you want the ambient light to play a part in the scene.  This is usually the case in larger environments when it’s not possible to light huge spaces.  Although there are millions of ways to approach lighting with flash, I try to remember to keep the effect of the flash hidden (unless I want to make it the focal point ;).  If you can light a scene well and keep the flash hidden, you’ve done well.  Flash can be unruly at times and can really get away from you.  Sometimes it take a heavy hand, sometimes you need just a touch.  It’s the never ending struggle in flash photography.  How to light it?

(Model lit with one flash. Balancing the ambient light with the flash (off to camera left). Both the model and I were on helper's shoulders to get the right perspective and include the amazing frozen chandelier. Monolight flash with softbox, Nikon D2x, Nikon 50mm 1.8.)

Lighting with one flash is a good place to start.  Adding more and more flashes will add more and more layers of complexity to the shoot, but can yield amazing results.  It can also be overkill and look contrived.  The key is finding the balance.

(Models standing in a river, lit with one flash. One flash, SP-Systems Excalibur 160 with battery pack and umbrella, camera left. Triggered with a radio trigger. Nikon D2x, Nikon 70-200mm 2.8. Moments later the umbrella caught a tiny gust of wind and fell into the river! Note to self only use an umbrella outside with someone holding it. Not to worry, after a thorough drying, I still use the flash to this day.)

Lately I’ve been mixing big and small flash together.  Using the big flash for the heavy lifting and small speed lights for smaller highlights or even the key light, if it’s close enough.  I’ll even mix wireless i-TTL flash with studio flash, running a radio trigger to set off the big flashes and the i-TTL SB 900 and SB-800 working together to fine tune specific spots.  With all these numbers flying around, up and down, things can easier get out of control, but that’s why we shoot.  Make mistakes, look at them, repeat.



How to take great photos of a ballerina at sunset

I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph ballet dancer Sarah Steward dancing along the shores of Lake Champlain the other day.  After the crazy rain we’ve been having, the skies cleared and a magnificent sunset gave us just the backdrop we were looking for.  The balmy weather quickly changed to strong winds and 38 degree water soaking us, but I think the results are worth the temporary discomfort.

As always, all the photos are available for sale as prints or digital stock here.

The setup for these photos is fairly simple.  The main shot we were looking for was a silhouette of her dancing with Lake Champlain and the Adirondack mountains in the background at sunset.

The main thing about shooting silhouettes is to watch out for lens flare.   It can sometimes look nice to incorporate the lens flare into the shot, but I was looking for a clean silhouette and the less flare the better.

Lens flare is from unwanted light striking the lens glass.  It manifests itself in two basic forms, a haze that can wash out the deep shadows of a silhouette, and dots of rings of light coming from the direction of the light source.  If you’re shooting directly into the sun or another light source, there’s really nothing you can do about it, but if the light is just out of frame, you can shade the lens to reduce the flare.

Using the lens hood is a good place to start. I had my assistant holding a reflector just over the end of my lens to cast a shadow on my lens and cut out the flare.

All of these photos were shot with Nikon’s D2x camera with it’s ISO set to 100.  The D2x may not have the most sensitive sensor, but at 100 ISO it produces some of the smoothest and best files I’ve seen out of any current digital camera.

Nikon D2x, 50mm, f1.8, 1/2500 sec

Nikon D2x, 50mm, f7.1, 1/1250 sec

Nikon D2x, 17-35, f7.1, 1/180 sec

Nikon D2x, 17-35, f5.6, 1/500 sec

Nikon D2x, 17-35, f7.1, 1/500 sec

Nikon D2x, 17-35, f5.6, 1/500 sec

Nikon D2x, 17-35, f5.6, 1/500 sec

Nikon D2x, 17-35, f3.5, 1/100 sec, SB-900, 16″ softbox, radio transmitter

I decided to add a little light to really make things pop.  I was using a Nikon SB-900 with a 16″x16″ softbox, camera left, tightly held by my assistant as the wind was really picking up.  I would have used the Nikon i-TTL, but there was too much light, and the wind was really whipping, so I decided to trigger the flash with a radio transmitter to ensure it would fire each time.  The flash was set to M 1/4 power.

I was trying to balance the ambient light with the flash. I had to keep the shutter speed below 1/160th for the radio transmitters, and wanted the sunset to be darked a bit more than the flashed area to get some real deep colors in the sky and mountains.  The ambient it about 2 stops under normal exposure, and the flash is right on.

Nikon D2x, 17-35, f5, 1/100 sec, SB-900, 16″ softbox, radio transmitter

Nikon D2x, 17-35, f5, 1/100 sec, SB-900, 16″ softbox, radio transmitter

More to come.