Nikon Flash for dummies

[Terry]

I am a complete newbie at using a flash. I've decided that Nikon makes it fairly impossible to screw up too badly. My friends got married on New Years Eve. It was a very informal wedding, casual enough to make me the photographer . Even after a wee bit too much champagne I was IMHO bailed out by Nikon. Here are a few.....no PP except switch to D2x profile in Lightroom and output sharpening for screen.

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[Bob]

Yup,
IMO, that is one thing that Nikon has nailed.
-bob

 

[Guy Mancuso]

You did a excellent job, trick to on camera flash lighting is letting the ambient light show through as much as possible in the background which helps with that flash effect. Key word here is balance

 

[dfarkas]

Terry,

One of my favorite tricks with Nikon flash is to set the camera to M and the flash to TTL BL. Use ISO 400-800, f/2.8, 1/60th and point the flash up to the ceiling. You won't ever think you used a flash. Just as Guy is recommending, letting in as much ambient light will make your pictures look less "flashy". These shots look really nice, btw.

David

 

[Terry]

David,
That is almost what I did. I shot at ISO 800, had the flash pointed directly up. I stopped down a little bit because I needed some more DOF. I only screwed up on shutter speed. I was on Aperture Priority. I remember reading where you posted about it. I had a little trouble at the beginning with shutter speed on lower ISO and thats when I bumped it up and all was OK. I am actually pleased with the large number of keepers I got from the party.

 

[helenhill]

FAB shots Terry
in particular I Adore the Little Girl in Pink.....Adorable
& your friend in the 2009 Glasses is a Hoot

never use FLASH but if I did...Nikon Rules

Best -H

 

[fotografz]

Not bad, but sorry, if you were shooting this wedding as an assistant or second camera for me I'd send you back to the drawing board.

They're all to warm ... making the skin a bit too yellow.

The blacks are blocked up ... which can be a "Style" IF (big IF) you are doing it on purpose.

Firing the flash at the ceiling is okay at a distance and if the ceiling isn't a color ... but up close it casts a deep shadow under the chin and accents neck wrinkles or double chins, and the eyes are usually dead looking. At it's worst, it can create "Racoon Eyes" just like shooting at noon outdoors. It also lights unevenly on some images so the forehead is brighter than the chin and chest area.

Note the flash reflection in the top of the window in the first shot ... which is okay here, but on other shots it can ruin a image.

The second image works better because it's shot further away so the flash angle is more 3/4 down.

The little girl is underexposed.

Now this is not a big deal with a couple of shots to fix in Post, but try it with 800 images from a 10 hour wedding and it IS a big deal.

The advice to use Manual on the camera and TTL Flash is a good start. When you use Aperture Preferred the camera takes precedence and the image is flooded with Tungsten temp light that is only suplimented by the flash ... so you end up with yellow skin. To do it with real control, it has to be balanced ... The camera controls the exposure of the background, and the flash controls the exposure of the foreground subject. To do that, you need to ride the flash compensation.

 

[Terry]

Not bad, but sorry, if you were shooting this wedding as an assistant or second camera for me I'd send you back to the drawing board.

They're all to warm ... making the skin a bit too yellow.

The blacks are blocked up ... which can be a "Style" IF (big IF) you are doing it on purpose.

Firing the flash at the ceiling is okay at a distance and if the ceiling isn't a color ... but up close it casts a deep shadow under the chin and accents neck wrinkles or double chins, and the eyes are usually dead looking. At it's worst, it can create "Racoon Eyes" just like shooting at noon outdoors. It also lights unevenly on some images so the forehead is brighter than the chin and chest area.

Note the flash reflection in the top of the window in the first shot ... which is okay here, but on other shots it can ruin a image.

The second image works better because it's shot further away so the flash angle is more 3/4 down.

The little girl is underexposed.

Now this is not a big deal with a couple of shots to fix in Post, but try it with 800 images from a 10 hour wedding and it IS a big deal.

The advice to use Manual on the camera and TTL Flash is a good start. When you use Aperture Preferred the camera takes precedence and the image is flooded with Tungsten temp light that is only suplimented by the flash ... so you end up with yellow skin. To do it with real control, it has to be balanced ... The camera controls the exposure of the background, and the flash controls the exposure of the foreground subject. To do that, you need to ride the flash compensation.

Thanks for all the tips. I am completely new at using flash so all of the info is very helpful. It is hard to think about everything when it isn't instinctual and you are part of the party . I am going to be getting some instruction on lighting in the near future. Not to worry, I will never do this as a profession!

I won't have to fix too many shots as she is just going to put a small book together and we will sit down and go through them together.

 

[Oxide Blu]

They're all to warm ... making the skin a bit too yellow.

Well, I wasn't gonna say it, but since you did.

I slid the second pic (3 women) off and played around with it a little. I could not get anything close to an acceptable result, it lacks blues and greens, the information is not there to use to fix it.

It does, however, make a hell of a beautiful b&w image, I used Silver Efex Pro.

Sorry, but using a single flash for weddings is for rookies. Ok, it works for some candid pix, especially b&w. But in general, minimum of two lights -- one on flash bracket above the camera (think: red eye), and one off at about 45-deg. There is no reason to bounce light off the ceiling, unless you are taking a picture of the ceiling, and as mentioned, the light picks up the color of the ceiling and shares it with your subject.

I cannot over emphasis the necessity of getting the strobe up off the camera and onto a bracket. If you haven't already, join a gym because the rig is going to get heavy.

 

[Terry]

Well, I wasn't gonna say it, but since you did.

I slid the second pic (3 women) off and played around with it a little. I could not get anything close to an acceptable result, it lacks blues and greens, the information is not there to use to fix it.

It does, however, make a hell of a beautiful b&w image, I used Silver Efex Pro.

Sorry, but using a single flash for weddings is for rookies. Ok, it works for some candid pix, especially b&w. But in general, minimum of two lights -- one on flash bracket above the camera (think: red eye), and one off at about 45-deg. There is no reason to bounce light off the ceiling, unless you are taking a picture of the ceiling, and as mentioned, the light picks up the color of the ceiling and shares it with your subject.

I cannot over emphasis the necessity of getting the strobe up off the camera and onto a bracket. If you haven't already, join a gym because the rig is going to get heavy.

I am not a pro, will never be a pro, will never shoot a full wedding etc. My friend was having a very informal wedding in her apartment on New Years Eve. It was casual (although not all women do casual - ever). She was not getting a photographer and asked me to take pictures for her.

So, I wouldn't even put myself in the rookie category hence my in the first post. I am also brand new to using flash and will be taking a lighting class (my first) later this month. I guess I was just happy that I was able to capture shots the didn't scream flash right in the face with a big shadow or darkness behind. I've reprocessed the picture (you took a low quality jpeg) two ways one changing around the white balance but also trying to reduce the redness in skin tone of one and then a simple lightroom based B&W conversion.

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[PeterA]

Good thoughts from experienced users - but nice pics too TEB!

I havent gotten around to reading the 1000000 page manual which came with my Nikon flash - I gave up on Canon . saving it for winter time project!

 

[Ranger 9]

Good thoughts from experienced users - but nice pics too TEB!

I havent gotten around to reading the 1000000 page manual which came with my Nikon flash - I gave up on Canon . saving it for winter time project!

That new Nikon School DVD about the CLS flash system is a pretty good investment, IMO.

Yeah, I know, the pricetag of forty bones (at NikonMall) may sound steep when there are so many instructional videos on the web for free. But the production quality is high and the presentation is very logical. I've had some CLS experience, so strictly speaking there wasn't much on the DVD that was completely new to me -- but after watching it, I found that my knowledge had become more "available" to me as a result of seeing the info recapped in such a well-organized format. Worth considering for anyone trying to get his/her head around the basic concepts of Nikon flash, I'd say...

 

[Oxide Blu]

TEB, after your adjustment the color is better, but that B&W just rocks!!! :thumbs:

I did wedding photography, professionally. Now that you are all done photographing the wedding I can tell you everything you did wrong.

Every image that went to the bride was considered for how it will be perceived now, and in 20-years. That image in b&w will stand the test of time, will be something of value to your friend in 20-years from now. You did good.

 

[PeterA]

That new Nikon School DVD about the CLS flash system is a pretty good investment, IMO.

Yeah, I know, the pricetag of forty bones (at NikonMall) may sound steep when there are so many instructional videos on the web for free. But the production quality is high and the presentation is very logical. I've had some CLS experience, so strictly speaking there wasn't much on the DVD that was completely new to me -- but after watching it, I found that my knowledge had become more "available" to me as a result of seeing the info recapped in such a well-organized format. Worth considering for anyone trying to get his/her head around the basic concepts of Nikon flash, I'd say...

Thanks for the link Ranger 9

 

[Terry]

That new Nikon School DVD about the CLS flash system is a pretty good investment, IMO.

Yeah, I know, the pricetag of forty bones (at NikonMall) may sound steep when there are so many instructional videos on the web for free. But the production quality is high and the presentation is very logical. I've had some CLS experience, so strictly speaking there wasn't much on the DVD that was completely new to me -- but after watching it, I found that my knowledge had become more "available" to me as a result of seeing the info recapped in such a well-organized format. Worth considering for anyone trying to get his/her head around the basic concepts of Nikon flash, I'd say...

I was waiting for it to be released but then I got all busy with moving. I almost pulled the trigger on it this past weekend and thought I would wait until after i had some instruction and then get it.

 

[Terry]

TEB, after your adjustment the color is better, but that B&W just rocks!!! :thumbs:

I did wedding photography, professionally. Now that you are all done photographing the wedding I can tell you everything you did wrong.

Every image that went to the bride was considered for how it will be perceived now, and in 20-years. That image in b&w will stand the test of time, will be something of value to your friend in 20-years from now. You did good.

When she gets back in town we will go over them and figure out what to do. I left her the disk under instructions she was NOT allowed to send anything to print. This past summer I enlightened her on straightening out her horizons before sending stuff out for printing so we should be just fine. There are a lot of shots that I would certainly look to do in B&W.

Thanks for the tips before, sorry if I was snippy but wedding photography is not my thing so elaborate setups just weren't going to happen.

 

[etrigan63]

Terry, an excellent gadget for transforming the otherwise useless popup flash into a real tool is Gary Fong's Puffer. It's a shoe mounted diffuser that wraps around the popup flash. With some deft flash EV adjustment, you can crank out some decent images at close range with this.

Here is a shot of the Puffer mounted on my D300

Here are photos of two [strike]victims[/strike] subjects both shot at point blank range:

Normally, being flashed directly at this range meant have the complexion of a cave eel, but as you can see both came through the ordeal looking none the worse for wear.

 

[woodyspedden]

Terry, an excellent gadget for transforming the otherwise useless popup flash into a real tool is Gary Fong's Puffer. It's a shoe mounted diffuser that wraps around the popup flash. With some deft flash EV adjustment, you can crank out some decent images at close range with this.

Here is a shot of the Puffer mounted on my D300

Here are photos of two [strike]victims[/strike] subjects both shot at point blank range:

Normally, being flashed directly at this range meant have the complexion of a cave eel, but as you can see both came through the ordeal looking none the worse for wear.

Very nice Carlos. I'll have to get me one of these. Do you have a link to Gary Fong's site?

Woody

 

[etrigan63]

http://www.garyfong.com

The Puffer retails for $19.95.

 

[Terry]

Thanks Carlos!