I have a D700 with the SB800. I know how to adjust the settings to get the right flash output after I've seen in my histogram, but in a wedding a lot of times the moment is gone and you can't take a second shot.
Please give advice on how to think through the settings? How far are your subjects when you use 1/4, 1/8 power, etc? Do you constantly change your flash or do you change your distance from the subject? Bride walking aisle?
Thank You!"
Thanks for writing. I too use the Nikon D700 and have myself the Nikon SB-800 and SB-900 speedlights. The one thing that stood out to me in your question was that you were mentioning stuff like 1/4 and 1/8 power. That is leading me to believe that you have your flash set to Manual mode and not TTL (Through The Lens). Manual mode was handled a certain way back in the film days. Guide numbers, distance to subject, blah blah blah. Technology has really advanced and TTL takes away "almost" all those complicated trig functions and stuff that film photographers had to do before. I do have an article about TTL Flash work that is worth looking at for a little more background on what it does. I moved to different hosting providers so some of the images in the article are MIA for the time being. I will get those back up as soon as possible because nothing beats visual examples of all this complicated terminology. Note, this article is in regards to the flash in TTL mode and OFF CAMERA and on a light stand. Not too many differences but just be aware that things are different than on-camera flash.
So to answer your question, I don't really think at all. You can too. Just set your flash to TTL mode and give that a whirl. End of story. What happens in TTL mode is that a pre-flash is fired just before the actual flash does. This pre-flash illuminates your subject and that information is recorded by the camera. The camera takes that, plus the focal length of your lens plus your current camera settings (shutter speed, aperture and ISO) and comes up with the proper "median" flash power that will correctly light your subject. Take a look at the image and if it is slightly too dark or too light then that is where the Flash Exposure Compensation comes in handy. Dial that up or down to tell your flash "Hey, whatever you are thinking, increase or decrease it some" and it will listen and do just that. Flashes are very obedient like that.
Great question! Keep them coming!
Take care.
12.25.2009
11.25.2009
Introducing Cameron!
Sorry about my lack of updates. My wife and I have been busy being parents to are amazing little boy, Cameron Michael...
He was born on November 24th at 8:29am. Being a parent is the absolute best feeling in the world. It is hard to even imagine that I had a life without him in it...
Here are some pics of our little guy:
Mike
10.03.2009
Using High Speed Sync
High Speed Sync is a really great technology. Here is one shot that I just did where I used the high speed sync capabilities of my flash:
Shot with my Nikon D700, SB-900 mounted off camera and Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 Lens
SHUTTER SPEED: 1/5000" (try doing that with a PocketWizard!)
APERTURE: f/2.8
ISO: 200
FOCAL LENGTH: 28mm
Thanks for stopping by,
Mike
9.29.2009
Live Interview with me over at photoforthepeople.com
Great news! I just found out that I will be featured on www.photoforthepeople.com in a live interview. All members of the site are encouraged to log in and chat things up.
The interview will take place at 7pm EST time and should go for a couple hours. If you are a photographer of any skill set then be sure to register on the forum and be there! I will be available to answer any questions regarding photography or business.
Hope to see you all there!
Mike
The interview will take place at 7pm EST time and should go for a couple hours. If you are a photographer of any skill set then be sure to register on the forum and be there! I will be available to answer any questions regarding photography or business.
Hope to see you all there!
Mike
8.18.2009
The Bells And Whistles Inside Our Cameras
Hello all,
Sorry I have been a little lax in posting the past couple days. I am right in the heart of wedding and portrait season and have been swamped with photo shoots and whatnot.
So I was with my assistant on Saturday shooting a wedding and it dawned on me that our digital SLR's have come a REAL long way! She has herself a Pentax DSLR and she was having a real tough time with it during the reception which reminded me of how spoiled my D700 has gotten me. Some might think of them as just bells and whistles but I think that many of these can be really helpful... That is IF you know how to use them! I mean heck, Program mode could be considered the best feature that camera's have since it does everything for you pretty much... Do you think DaVinci hand drew his lines or used a ruler? Know what I mean? We are given these tools so we need to utilize them to make our life easier.
Here are some features that I am particularly fond of and use often. Some are new, some are old and some have totally different names that you just need to link up with the lingo that your camera uses. My experience is with Nikon so that is what I am going to roll with.
1.) Av Mode: It really rocks. I know what my shutter speed should be, it is just that one isn't always fast enough to get to that proper setting in time to capture "the moment". I have lost some good pics by being too slow. When I do weddings and portraits, I am really only concerned with setting my aperture and ISO. I want to set it and forget it so Av mode is where it's at for me. Now Av Mode is not the say-all-be-all and that is where item #2 comes in handy.
2.) Exposure Compensation: If your shots in Av Mode, are too bright or too dark then you need to rock the Exposure Compensation to tell the camera that you want your images to be darker or lighter than what it thinks is a good exposure. Too bright, tell the EC to dial it down by -1.0 or to brighten it up by +1.0. Digital is awesome so you can do a test shot and do the proper EC based upon the histogram and image preview... Check out #3 for a better indication on if your images are over exposed. This works for all the modes except for Manual mode... Using EC in Manual mode does give you a quick way to control your speedlights TTL flash compensation however! More on that in another article though.
3.) Highlight Warning: This feature is great for a quick indication letting you know if your image is blown out and over exposed. Little "blinkies" will fade in and out in the areas that are blown out.
4.) Auto-ISO: I know I want my shots to be above 1/60" to ensure that I am showing the least camera shake and motion blur from the subject. Auto ISO gives asks for you to set a minimum shutter speed that your camera should not go under... I set mine for 1/80" to be safe. You also get to choose a lowest and highest ISO that you want to use... This works for all the modes except for Manual mode. So how it works is that as soon as your camera sees that it needs more light and has to go under your lowest shutter speed, it just kicks up the ISO for you to get the shot... Cool huh? My D700 has a minimum of ISO 200 and a maximum of ISO 6400... Why? Because those high ISO files look darned good! I do disable auto ISO when shooting with a flash however... It throws things out of whack for me and it is too much dependencies on one another for my liking.
5.) Custom Menu / Button Assignment: Nothing is worse than having a bunch of buttons that you never use. Instead, I can allocate useful features to otherwise useless buttons on my D700... I have the buttons doing cool stuff like Virtual Horizon, Access Top Item of my Custom Menu (which is set to show my Commander Mode stuff for CLS flash work) and stuff like that.
6.) 3D Matrix Metering: I don't 'use' this much but can see it being REAL helpful for sports shooters. All you really have to do is set the AF point and keep tracking in Continuous AF and you will actually see the AF point move (showing that the AF is following) with your subject as they cross your frame! You should probably enable the 51 AF points and definitely need to use the dynamic AF control.
So those are really cool features that I use and abuse. I would really just suggest cracking open your user manual and search for those little gems that may help out when you out the next time shooting.
Thanks for stopping by,
Mike
Sorry I have been a little lax in posting the past couple days. I am right in the heart of wedding and portrait season and have been swamped with photo shoots and whatnot.
So I was with my assistant on Saturday shooting a wedding and it dawned on me that our digital SLR's have come a REAL long way! She has herself a Pentax DSLR and she was having a real tough time with it during the reception which reminded me of how spoiled my D700 has gotten me. Some might think of them as just bells and whistles but I think that many of these can be really helpful... That is IF you know how to use them! I mean heck, Program mode could be considered the best feature that camera's have since it does everything for you pretty much... Do you think DaVinci hand drew his lines or used a ruler? Know what I mean? We are given these tools so we need to utilize them to make our life easier.
Here are some features that I am particularly fond of and use often. Some are new, some are old and some have totally different names that you just need to link up with the lingo that your camera uses. My experience is with Nikon so that is what I am going to roll with.
1.) Av Mode: It really rocks. I know what my shutter speed should be, it is just that one isn't always fast enough to get to that proper setting in time to capture "the moment". I have lost some good pics by being too slow. When I do weddings and portraits, I am really only concerned with setting my aperture and ISO. I want to set it and forget it so Av mode is where it's at for me. Now Av Mode is not the say-all-be-all and that is where item #2 comes in handy.
2.) Exposure Compensation: If your shots in Av Mode, are too bright or too dark then you need to rock the Exposure Compensation to tell the camera that you want your images to be darker or lighter than what it thinks is a good exposure. Too bright, tell the EC to dial it down by -1.0 or to brighten it up by +1.0. Digital is awesome so you can do a test shot and do the proper EC based upon the histogram and image preview... Check out #3 for a better indication on if your images are over exposed. This works for all the modes except for Manual mode... Using EC in Manual mode does give you a quick way to control your speedlights TTL flash compensation however! More on that in another article though.
3.) Highlight Warning: This feature is great for a quick indication letting you know if your image is blown out and over exposed. Little "blinkies" will fade in and out in the areas that are blown out.
4.) Auto-ISO: I know I want my shots to be above 1/60" to ensure that I am showing the least camera shake and motion blur from the subject. Auto ISO gives asks for you to set a minimum shutter speed that your camera should not go under... I set mine for 1/80" to be safe. You also get to choose a lowest and highest ISO that you want to use... This works for all the modes except for Manual mode. So how it works is that as soon as your camera sees that it needs more light and has to go under your lowest shutter speed, it just kicks up the ISO for you to get the shot... Cool huh? My D700 has a minimum of ISO 200 and a maximum of ISO 6400... Why? Because those high ISO files look darned good! I do disable auto ISO when shooting with a flash however... It throws things out of whack for me and it is too much dependencies on one another for my liking.
5.) Custom Menu / Button Assignment: Nothing is worse than having a bunch of buttons that you never use. Instead, I can allocate useful features to otherwise useless buttons on my D700... I have the buttons doing cool stuff like Virtual Horizon, Access Top Item of my Custom Menu (which is set to show my Commander Mode stuff for CLS flash work) and stuff like that.
6.) 3D Matrix Metering: I don't 'use' this much but can see it being REAL helpful for sports shooters. All you really have to do is set the AF point and keep tracking in Continuous AF and you will actually see the AF point move (showing that the AF is following) with your subject as they cross your frame! You should probably enable the 51 AF points and definitely need to use the dynamic AF control.
So those are really cool features that I use and abuse. I would really just suggest cracking open your user manual and search for those little gems that may help out when you out the next time shooting.
Thanks for stopping by,
Mike
8.12.2009
inLIGHTin'ed Lightroom Presets
PRICE: $75
| 
This collection includes Over 75 Lightroom Presets and instructional video to help maximize their potential. These presets have been divided up into categories for the ease of use.
Get the Quick Fix Preset HERE
Get the Aqua Duotone Preset HERE
Get one of the Nostalgia Presets HERE
Here is a brief description of what each category entails:
QUICK FIXES: One click awesomeness! These are great presets for your proofing needs. Apply these to all your images and grab a coffee while these presets take care of everything for you.
SPECIAL EFFECTS: These help to take Photoshop out of the equation. It is called 'workflow' not 'work-slow' people!
BLACK AND WHITE: What good would presets be without killer black and white presets?
DUOTONES: These add a little spice to black and white images.
SHARPENING: Believe it or not, Lightroom actually has useful sharpening tools!
VIGNETTE: Pick your vignette tolerance and watch it go.
WHITE BALANCE: These presets help to give you instant color correction!
PRICE: $75
| Click HERE to view more Lightroom Preset Examples!
8.07.2009
Using the Gradient Filter in Lightroom
Lightroom 2 introduced a lot of amazing new features. One of which happened to be the Gradient Tool (shortcut = M). This tool basically makes it so that you can do without using a physical graduated neutral density filter. Granted, nothing beats getting the shot perfect in camera so using actual graduated neutral density filters is always encouraged. I use the Galen Rowell grad ND filters manufactured by Singh-Ray. I use these filters because they provide me with the best image hands down. Other filters by other companies can demonstrate an odd color cast and other undesirable effects.
Anyways, the Singh-Ray grad ND filters are amazing... BUT they cost around $250 each. That is the basically the price of Lightroom. So for those who want the best images without breaking the bank then look no further than shooting your images in RAW and using Lightroom's Gradient Tool. This tool is basically a digital graduated ND filter and can help to bring your sky or foreground in the same exposure range. The resulting image is one that has amazing sky and cloud detail while still having a well exposed foreground.
Another way to achieve a similar effect is to use HDR (high dynamic range) techniques. I personally think that HDR images can be too overwhelming. Look into it though and see if you like it.
YouTube video up soon!
Anyways, the Singh-Ray grad ND filters are amazing... BUT they cost around $250 each. That is the basically the price of Lightroom. So for those who want the best images without breaking the bank then look no further than shooting your images in RAW and using Lightroom's Gradient Tool. This tool is basically a digital graduated ND filter and can help to bring your sky or foreground in the same exposure range. The resulting image is one that has amazing sky and cloud detail while still having a well exposed foreground.
Another way to achieve a similar effect is to use HDR (high dynamic range) techniques. I personally think that HDR images can be too overwhelming. Look into it though and see if you like it.
YouTube video up soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)