set power level of SB900?

babygodzilla

Hi,

I just got an SB900 flash. I was told that I can reduce its power level to a quarter power. What does that mean? Is that the same as flash exposure compensation? If so, what value should I set the compensation to to obtain 1/4 power usage?

Thanks

ziggy53

babygodzilla wrote:

Hi,

I just got an SB900 flash. I was told that I can reduce its power level to a quarter power. What does that mean? Is that the same as flash exposure compensation? If so, what value should I set the compensation to to obtain 1/4 power usage?

Thanks

Babygodzilla, welcome to the Digital Grin.

I believe that you can vary the power in manual mode. In any of the automation modes that use Nikon i-TTL, the flash automatically attenuates the output power according to the i-TTL programs and coordination between the flash head and camera meter.

babygodzilla

thanks! what level of power do you recommend for indoor bar photos?

ziggy53

babygodzilla wrote:

thanks! what level of power do you recommend for indoor bar photos?

The light required, from flash/incident or continuous lighting, is dependent upon the distance to subject, the zoom setting on the flash (or angle of divergence from a light), ISO setting on the camera and "f" setting of the lens (amongst other things.)

There is no particular setting that works in most, or even many, conditions.

If you are new to flash you would do well to learn how to use it in an automated mode but with either manual exposure mode on the camera or one of the "creative" modes of the camera.

Also familiarize yourself with different flash modifiers and the use of multiple flash.

Do some exploring in our "Technique" forum relating to flash and also look into the website "Strobist.com" and especially their Lighting 101 section.

http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

Qarik

babygodzilla wrote:

thanks! what level of power do you recommend for indoor bar photos?

I would just keep it TTL and bounce the flash off teh ceiling and put some kind of diffuser on it.

babygodzilla

regarding diffusers, do u recommend the Gary Fong ones? those are expensive, and the SB900 comes with one. I'm not sure I see much a difference between them.

Joves

I shoot with my SB600 in manual. Im not a fan of i-TTL myself. What I do is take a quick test shot and, then adjust accordingly. I have an Omnibounce and, I use a homemade bouncecard as well. Whaite photopaper makes a great card.

Qarik

babygodzilla wrote:

regarding diffusers, do u recommend the Gary Fong ones? those are expensive, and the SB900 comes with one. I'm not sure I see much a difference between them.

I use that and reccomend it. Many other professional use it as well. Other diffuser that are reccomended are dembit, better bounce card, and light scoop to name a few. The "diffuser" that comes with the SB900 has limited use and probably should not be used in event type settings. An event flash diffuser imo should do 2 things:

1) allow most of the light to pass through so it can bounce off the ceiling or other surfaces
2) throw some light forwards to act as fill light.

The one included with the flash is very similar to stofen omni bounce. It fails both criteria mentioned above. In certain conditions though, when there are no reflective surfaces or you are outside, they may help.

Tim Kamppinen

Before going out and buying anything more, learn to use your flash. Go to this website: http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/1-natural-looking-flash/ and read through the 15 pages on using on-camera flash. I learned almost everything about on-camera flash from Neil's website, and it greatly improved my photography after just the first read through. Go through it several times, practice the methods presented, and you'll really get a handle on this stuff. Have fun!

Qarik

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

Before going out and buying anything more, learn to use your flash. Go to this website: http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/1-natural-looking-flash/ and read through the 15 pages on using on-camera flash. I learned almost everything about on-camera flash from Neil's website, and it greatly improved my photography after just the first read through. Go through it several times, practice the methods presented, and you'll really get a handle on this stuff. Have fun!

haha..I knew you were going to chime in with your pure bounce dogma! By the way I have been enjoying your shots recently..the lensbaby stuff the senior shots. You seem to have a knack for moderately original stuff.

Tim Kamppinen

Qarik wrote:

haha..I knew you were going to chime in with your pure bounce dogma!

MUST... DO... WHAT NEIL DOES...

babygodzilla

Joves, you say that you're not a fan of TTL. Is there a specific reason?

i might be shooting an indoor dark dinner thing, and was suggested to reduce the power to quarter power. I assume this is to make the light less harsh, and also to prevent over heating. What other uses are there of reducing flash power?

Tim Kamppinen

babygodzilla wrote:

Joves, you say that you're not a fan of TTL. Is there a specific reason?

i might be shooting an indoor dark dinner thing, and was suggested to reduce the power to quarter power. I assume this is to make the light less harsh, and also to prevent over heating. What other uses are there of reducing flash power?

There's no way anyone can tell you what power to set your flash at. The power is variable from 1/1-1/128 power and if you're setting it manually the proper power setting will depend on:

Your aperture
Your ISO
The ambient light level (influenced by shutter speed)
The distance from the subject to your flash
Whether you bounce your flash off anything, and if so how far away that surface is form your flash and from your subject
What flash you're using
How you want the image to look

So basically anyone who says "put your flash at 1/4 power" doesn't know what they're talking about.

babygodzilla

haha ok I will take that into consideration. I am not sure what power level I should use and how do I determine that knowing my ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. Perhaps I'll use TTL for now and experiment later.

I have a technique question that doesn't belong here, but might as well since we're on the topic of flash.

When there is absolutely no surface to bounce light off, what should one do? If you and your subject are in the middle of a big room, no walls on your sides, no ceiling, the only surface is the floor. How should the flash be angled? If not, what lighting method should be applied?

Thanks

Art Scott

babygodzilla wrote:

regarding diffusers, do u recommend the Gary Fong ones? those are expensive, and the SB900 comes with one. I'm not sure I see much a difference between them.

get a copy of the HOTSHOE DIARIES....read it......Joe explains the use of diffusers and such.........

I truly DISLIKE the fong diffusers...they are heavy and take up a lot of space in a cam bag of any type and another thing I HATE about the fong style diffusers is that they are made for a specific flash head.....if like a lot of photographers you wind up with several different brands and types of hotshoe or handle mount strobes you'd have to have a different Gary Fong for each.....with LumiQuest and other types of diffusers they are held on by a velcro strap that wraps around the head and then you attach the diffuser and they are very stable....for now the large (sto-fen type) of diffuser that came with your flash will suffice....Joe McNally use that along with LumiQuest diffusers....His book really is indispensable for a person want to learn to use HotShoe strobes.....also study up on STOBIST.com.....great site........

Art Scott

babygodzilla wrote:

When there is absolutely no surface to bounce light off, what should one do? If you and your subject are in the middle of a big room, no walls on your sides, no ceiling, the only surface is the floor. How should the flash be angled? If not, what lighting method should be applied?
Thanks

LUMIqUEST SOFTBOXES OR BIG BOUNCE .........

Lumi Quest Product Page ...............

the soft box link is to the one I use.....there are others on the product page.....Joe McNally explains his use of the LumiQuest Products in his book....I got Hot Soe Diaries off Amazon for just under $20.............New.........

Qarik

babygodzilla wrote:

haha ok I will take that into consideration. I am not sure what power level I should use and how do I determine that knowing my ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. Perhaps I'll use TTL for now and experiment later.

I have a technique question that doesn't belong here, but might as well since we're on the topic of flash.

When there is absolutely no surface to bounce light off, what should one do? If you and your subject are in the middle of a big room, no walls on your sides, no ceiling, the only surface is the floor. How should the flash be angled? If not, what lighting method should be applied?

Thanks

if you are in room as you described and the ceiling is painted black and 100 feet high and teh walls are far away and black as well. Then the bounce portion won't work..only the light that is thrown forward. You can still use a diffuser or you want a soft box diffuser or attach teh chrome done the fong sphere, etc.

babygodzilla

Qarik wrote:

if you are in room as you described and the ceiling is painted black and 100 feet high and teh walls are far away and black as well. Then the bounce portion won't work..only the light that is thrown forward. You can still use a diffuser or you want a soft box diffuser or attach teh chrome done the fong sphere, etc.

sorry Qarik, I don't understand your last sentence. "attach the chrome done the fong sphere" ?

thanks

Tim Kamppinen

babygodzilla wrote:

haha ok I will take that into consideration. I am not sure what power level I should use and how do I determine that knowing my ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. Perhaps I'll use TTL for now and experiment later.

I have a technique question that doesn't belong here, but might as well since we're on the topic of flash.

When there is absolutely no surface to bounce light off, what should one do? If you and your subject are in the middle of a big room, no walls on your sides, no ceiling, the only surface is the floor. How should the flash be angled? If not, what lighting method should be applied?

Thanks

Definitley start out in TTL. Seriously, go read the website I linked to earlier. It's the best education you'll be able to get for this stuff on the web, bar none.

If you're shooting manual flash the only thing you can do is guess at a power level, shoot, check your shot on the LCD, look at the histogram, adjust, and shoot again. And all that might change when you turn around and take a picture of someone else on the other side of the room who's farther away, and you'll have to do it all over again. So in fast moving situations, you definitely want to stick with TTL.

As Qarik said, if you can't bounce you can use some sort of device to soften the light going forward. The larger you make your light source, the softer the light. That's why bouncing is so good, because your light source becomes huge (like an entire wall or an 8ftx8ft section of a ceiling, etc.).

Just keep in mind that while there are some places where you won't be able to bounce (like in the black ceilinged cavern that Qarik described) most places you will be able to. Even when the celings are high or you're far away from the walls... if you turn up the ISO a bit and open your aperture, you'll be surprised at how you can bounce light where you thought it wasn't possible.

Tim Kamppinen

babygodzilla wrote:

sorry Qarik, I don't understand your last sentence. "attach the chrome done the fong sphere" ?

thanks

He meant "chrome dome". It's an inverted-dome shaped attachment for the lightsphere that blocks the light from escaping thorugh the top of the device and instead reflects it out the sides and front, for situations where you are unable to get a good bounce off the ceiling.

ziggy53

babygodzilla wrote:

...
When there is absolutely no surface to bounce light off, what should one do? If you and your subject are in the middle of a big room, no walls on your sides, no ceiling, the only surface is the floor. How should the flash be angled? If not, what lighting method should be applied?

Thanks

A single flash with a scoop is my most used event configuration for candids and even some formals. All of the following are a single Sigma flash and scoop modifier:

babygodzilla

ooh ok that makes more sense. thank you Tim

babygodzilla

so I read the first few paragraphs of this page: http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/1-natural-looking-flash/


the guy has a few examples on bouncing flash on a surface directly BEHIND him ? so he turned the flash 180 degrees from the subject, is that correct? if the light bounces from a surface behind him, wouldn't his body cover much of that bounced light?

Tim Kamppinen

babygodzilla wrote:

so I read the first few paragraphs of this page: http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/1-natural-looking-flash/


the guy has a few examples on bouncing flash on a surface directly BEHIND him ? so he turned the flash 180 degrees from the subject, is that correct? if the light bounces from a surface behind him, wouldn't his body cover much of that bounced light?

I think when he says that he pointed the flash head "behind him" he means backwards from the camera but still angled upwards, in most cases. Still, even if you fire the flash straight backwards, as long as you're not standing right up against the wall, and don't have your flash head zoomed out so that the beam is overly narrow, the light is going to spread out enough and cover the wall so that you'd still probably get plenty of light back to your subject. But again, I think the idea is backwards with an upward angle in most cases.

EDIT: After looking at the image in question (the bride and groom on the balcony area) I think it's safe to say that he bounced the flash backwards, behind him, but at an upward angle. If you look at the shadows cast by the brides head and legs, they're clearly cast downward, which means the light is coming in at a high angle. So he must have bounced the light backwards but also up higher than himself.

babygodzilla

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

I think when he says that he pointed the flash head "behind him" he means backwards from the camera but still angled upwards, in most cases. Still, even if you fire the flash straight backwards, as long as you're not standing right up against the wall, and don't have your flash head zoomed out so that the beam is overly narrow, the light is going to spread out enough and cover the wall so that you'd still probably get plenty of light back to your subject. But again, I think the idea is backwards with an upward angle in most cases.

EDIT: After looking at the image in question (the bride and groom on the balcony area) I think it's safe to say that he bounced the flash backwards, behind him, but at an upward angle. If you look at the shadows cast by the brides head and legs, they're clearly cast downward, which means the light is coming in at a high angle. So he must have bounced the light backwards but also up higher than himself.

I see. Thanks a lot for the explanation. My untrained eyes can't see all that you described

Joves

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

There's no way anyone can tell you what power to set your flash at. The power is variable from 1/1-1/128 power and if you're setting it manually the proper power setting will depend on:

Your aperture
Your ISO
The ambient light level (influenced by shutter speed)
The distance from the subject to your flash
Whether you bounce your flash off anything, and if so how far away that surface is form your flash and from your subject
What flash you're using
How you want the image to look

So basically anyone who says "put your flash at 1/4 power" doesn't know what they're talking about.

Exactly! I shoot a quick test shot for what the conditions are then adjust accordingly. More or less ISO or, less flash output if I have less to go to, more of less f-stop. I can usually ge it in one of two shots. Then all you should have to do is adjust your shutter speed or f-stop for the given distance. You might try searching for a good old fashioned flash chart. They gave a wealth of information and, in the old days that is all I would ever use, with some minor tweaks fepending on the effect I wanted.