First Time Using a Strobe.

masterofone

I have recently become more interested in shooting people and thought a strobe might be a good idea. Wednesday I bought an SB900 to use with my D700. I flipped through the manual briefly and shot a couple hundred shots of my tv and headed out Thursday morning to shoot this beautiful gal. I have much to learn. Any tips, tricks, critique, I am interested.


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Art Scott

for these shots you should have been in manual not aperture priority...reason...meter for the background set reading and use flash as fill....lot of practice......

photo 1- there is what appears to be a large blister on he left thigh......I am pretty sure it is shadow line...but ......

Photo 2- there is a bright spot on her left cheek........

all photos.... no sparkle or catch lights in the eyes..........

How was the flash set up?? On hotshoe?? on a stand and in wireless mode?? on a flash bracket?? Were you trying to bounce it off something or just had it raised a bit so it was not totally directly hitting her?? did you use the diffuser or not???

Lot s of questions I know...but it will help knowing all the details of the shoot.....

Not a bad 1st try with a flash.

colourbox

Yeah, not bad at all for first time. The two critique points would be that the flash seems straight on because there is no surface modeling (it's flat), and the background is often brighter than the subject, when it should be the opposite. You fix the first one by moving the flash off camera, and the second by learning how to control flash vs ambient ratio. Usually learned best not from the flash manual, but from strobist.blogspot.com and other sites like it. I'm no expert but Strobist has taught me an incredible amount. Sample post:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/05/on-assignment-womens-lacrosse-cover.html

Alex_

This is a great start for first-time strobe use. The D700/SB900 is a pretty clever combination so will try and do a lot of work for you. I don't mind the over-exposed backgrounds as it gives a very summery, bright feel. As others have mentioned. Flick that flash to manual mode as well as your camera and then start working with ratio's of flash and ambient. On a bright day like this you'll struggle to get the background dark, have the model well lit AND get juicy background blur. 1/250 will be your fastest practical shutter speed so closing your aperture to f11 should bring mid-day sun into a more useable space (maybe even f16 is needed depending on where you are). So then you have to crank that flash power. Often the little SB900s need full or half power to compete with the sun at few meters of distance.

There are no hard-and-fast rules to what ratio is best as strobe-vs-ambient ratios give you so much control and flexibility it really comes down to the mood you want to create. Ultimately you want to try and get that flash off camera which then opens the door to angles of light, not just ratio. Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!

masterofone

Thanks for the replies. These were all shot with no diffuser, on the hotshoe. I am looking forward to getting it out again and trying some new things with it. I tried to use it in manual mode but could not get it right, quickly. Next outing will have to be a slow relaxed one so that I can "tincker".

jonh68

masterofone wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. These were all shot with no diffuser, on the hotshoe. I am looking forward to getting it out again and trying some new things with it. I tried to use it in manual mode but could not get it right, quickly. Next outing will have to be a slow relaxed one so that I can "tincker".

Since you have the D700, you can use it to trigger the Sb-900 remotely. Being able to use off camera flash will improve your photography like nothing else.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/ittlslave.htm

anonymouscuban

I'm some very minor nits with these... so minor, I won't mention them considering this is your first time using a flash. These are pretty damn good. Even if you told me you lied and you've actually been shooting with a strobe for a year, these are still good. The posing is good. The compositions are great. The choice of backgrounds compliment the shots. Looks like you shot these in midday but still had the sense to find open shade, something a lot of people forget to do. You should be proud of these shots. Good job. If you want to know what my nits are, let me know and I'll share them.

masterofone

anonymouscuban wrote: »

I'm some very minor nits with these... so minor, I won't mention them considering this is your first time using a flash. These are pretty damn good. Even if you told me you lied and you've actually been shooting with a strobe for a year, these are still good. The posing is good. The compositions are great. The choice of backgrounds compliment the shots. Looks like you shot these in midday but still had the sense to find open shade, something a lot of people forget to do. You should be proud of these shots. Good job. If you want to know what my nits are, let me know and I'll share them.

I just saw this reply. Thank you very much. I enjoy your photography very much and am very happy you replied. It is indeed my first time with the flash. I have been shooting without flash for a while and just never thought a $500 flash was a must have, for me. So far I am enjoying it. I would consider your nits an opportunity to learn something.

reyvee61

Not bad at all for the first try...
Art brings up some good critique and I concur on the lack of catch lights on #4...makes for an odd portrait...
It will get better with each outing and as I said good start.

Qarik

Ask yourslef what are you trying to improve with your flash? Typically the purpose of shooting with a strobe in the hot shoe outside in the sun is two fold:

1) provide a bit of fill light to lift the shadows under the yes, nose, clothing, etc. To do this just point the flash directly at the subject TTL with say -3 stops. Super easy. This will give little pop to your subject.

2) over power very bright sun and expose the subject. set the high speed sync on your camera and shoot at 1/2000 shutter speed with manual flash set at 1/2 power for example. This will destroy the direct sunlight but will expose your subject to a reasonable level. (depending on distance and flash strength, etc)

In the shots you have provided, you have done neither. It is too strong for fill flash as all the interesting shadows have been wiped out leaving you "flat" light. (subject looks 2 dimensional). It is too weak for over powering the sun as you have blow highlight everywhere. It's great to experiment and keep doing it but always ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish when you practice something.

PupWeb

Strobist blog - good learning resource
Good shots, beautiful model that either knows how to pose or you are good at setting up great poses. I agree with Art also.

A great site you may have heard about for learning to use strobes is the Strobist Blog by David Hobby check it out.

reyvee61

Daniel I will have to try your number two, I've never thought of increasing the shutter speed. A few times when I had to shoot weddings in bright sunlight I set the f stop to 16 and then used the speedlight to fill....

Bakko

Art Scott wrote: »

meter for the background set reading and use flash as fill....lot of practice......


Not a bad 1st try with a flash.

*warning noob question*
I am also fairly new to flashes (bought my 430 EX II last week).
How does one go about metering for the background?
Do you use flash to fill on manual more or TTL?