External flashes

[go cowboys]

hey, I have recently purchased a d80 and love it but I am realizing I need a speedlight for better pics of the kids indoors. Can you give me advice on where to get the best deal? I am looking at the sb600 just because it is cheaper.

Anyone have one sitting around that they want to sell?

 

[KrazyPete]

The SB-400 is even cheaper. It's a pretty nifty little bounce flash.

I bought the SB-600 though. It's more powerful. It has an LCD and the controls on the flash. That saves you from have to dig in the camera menus to adjust it. One thing I've really enjoyed is using it off camera with Nikon's CLS. Your D80 will act as a wireless command module to fire the flash remotely with full iTTL. The only downside is that in low light the camera's pre-flashes (to communicate with SB-600) causes my subjects to blink half the time. Still, it's a lot of fun.

The SB-800 gets you even more power and greater zoom range. It will act like a wireless command module itself. It also has a built in bounce card. But there's only one feature that I wish my SB-600 had, a remote cord socket.

I bought mine at Best Buy. I had some Reward Zone credits from when I bought my camera. So I ended up getting the flash for under $200 and I bought it on triple points day (another $600 to reward zone account). If I was going to buy it online I probably would have gotten it from B&H.

 

[Steve's Girl]

In the below photo, I bounced the flash off the ceiling and had a Sto-fen diffuser on the flash to soften the light. And I still got a nasty shadow! I have a love hate thing with my flash. What am I doing wrong here? I know shadows can be removed in post-processing (well, some have the skills to remove shadows - I do not!), but I prefer to get it right the first time and not have to alter the photo later.

 

[Anewman]

What were your exposure settings?

Maybe set them more for available light and use the flash more as fill.

Also maybe close the door in the background and move them(family) a bit farther away from the background.

 

[Steve's Girl]

What were your exposure settings?

Used ap. priority mode f8, 1/15, ISO 400. I chose f8 because I was concerned if I used a larger ap. that the depth of field would be too shallow and due to the fact that I was pretty close, some of the faces would be out of focus.

 

[handicap18]

In the below photo, I bounced the flash off the ceiling and had a Sto-fen diffuser on the flash to soften the light. And I still got a nasty shadow! I have a love hate thing with my flash. What am I doing wrong here? I know shadows can be removed in post-processing (well, some have the skills to remove shadows - I do not!), but I prefer to get it right the first time and not have to alter the photo later.

I put your post in quotes because I just got a red X, when I do the quote I can see the pic.

I agree with Anewman. Move them further from the wall. Thats a bit to close. Typically for this kind of shot I'll use ISO 400, f/5.6 and 1/60th. The 1/15th shutter you said you used, might be to long and might be enhancing the shadow.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I concur that you should move them from the wall. If the background is very light and very close, you're more likely to have shadow problems.

I wouldn't think that you would need a diffuser if you are bouncing off of the ceiling (unless it is quite low and your subject quite close).

Actually, I'm having trouble squaring the shadow with a ceiling bounce. Looking at the shadow, it looks like the light source is relatively small (sharply defined shadow) and about level with the heads in the picture (the appears level with the heads) and a bit to your right (the shadows are left of the subject). Are you sure that didn't have relatively bright lamp to your back right that was causing the shadow and not the flash?

There are other indications that you had a bright, non-diffuse light source. When looking at the original size photo, I see three bright reflections in the woman's glasses. One is quite large and bright. I'm guessing that it was the cause of the shadow and not the bounce off of the ceiling.

I have to admit that I am terrible at lighting, so take everything I say with several very large, poorly lit grains of salt.

 

[Steve's Girl]

I concur that you should move them from the wall. If the background is very light and very close, you're more likely to have shadow problems.

I wouldn't think that you would need a diffuser if you are bouncing off of the ceiling (unless it is quite low and your subject quite close).

Actually, I'm having trouble squaring the shadow with a ceiling bounce. Looking at the shadow, it looks like the light source is relatively small (sharply defined shadow) and about level with the heads in the picture (the appears level with the heads) and a bit to your right (the shadows are left of the subject). Are you sure that didn't have relatively bright lamp to your back right that was causing the shadow and not the flash?

There are other indications that you had a bright, non-diffuse light source. When looking at the original size photo, I see three bright reflections in the woman's glasses. One is quite large and bright. I'm guessing that it was the cause of the shadow and not the bounce off of the ceiling.

I have to admit that I am terrible at lighting, so take everything I say with several very large, poorly lit grains of salt.

I think the only other light source was a ceiling fixture. The room was quite small and from what I remember, the light would have been overhead probably between me and where the fam was sitting.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I think the only other light source was a ceiling fixture. The room was quite small and from what I remember, the light would have been overhead probably between me and where the fam was sitting.

That shows what little I know.

 

[KrazyPete]

Did you point the flash towards the ceiling then turn the camera on it's side? Maybe you were actually flashing into another mirror on your right?

Looking in the mirror behind the family it looks like the room behind you is getting a lot of light from somewhere.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Did you point the flash towards the ceiling then turn the camera on it's side? Maybe you were actually flashing into another mirror on your right?

Looking in the mirror behind the family it looks like the room behind you is getting a lot of light from somewhere.

Ohhhhh...you might be right. I'll have to think about that for a minute! We were in a hurry because we were running late for a family event, I just grabbed the flash out of the bag and snapped a few photos. I hate it when I get in a hurry and make stupid mistakes like that!

Thanks for picking up on that! I have been driving myself crazy trying to figure out what I screwed up.

 

[Lachesis00]

I have a Canon 20d. I use a Speedlight external flash. My photos have been coming out with odd tones. And I am hoping someone can help me. I bounce the flash behind or above me. Never right at the subject...

I seem to do fine w/o the flash w/natural light... it is using the flash I am stinking at. I am wondering if there is any suggestion you can give me.

What does Flash: flash fired, compulsory flash mode mean? I never change how the flash fires.

Too dark and a brown tone:

http://spencephotography.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=161507664 EXIF info

Again too dark with the brownish tone

http://spencephotography.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=162793804 EXIF


Super dark with a blue/gray hue.

Camera: Canon EOS 20D
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired

 

[photo_chick]

What is your white balance set on?

 

[mabas9395]

The EXIF links don't work for me, and I see that your gallery is password protected.

I see from the third one that your exposure bias is set to -1/3, that will make your photos darker.
I also wonder about your white balance, especially on the 3rd one.
I've noticed that when I bounce the flash, the camera doesn't do as good of a job of knowing how to expose the scene (i.e. how strong to fire the flash). And how could it? It doesn't know how far away the wall/ceiling is that you are bouncing from. So whenever I bounce or use my home made diffuser, I've found that I often have to take a few test shots and adjust either my EC or FEC to get the exposure I want.
The last think is what color is the wall/ceiling you are bouncing off of? The light will take on some of the color of surface you are bouncing off of. So if your walls are tan-ish in color then that could give your photos the brownish tone you are seeing.

 

[seashoreCM]

Are you sure the flash is powerful enough to be bounced at the ceiling or a wall and still put enough light on the subject?

Does the flash unit itself have a setting for "maximum" light output as opposed to "automatic" exposure?

When a flash unit has automatic flash exposure, there is a sensor that points in the direction of the subject and a microprocessor that determines the overall scene brightness. Sometimes the flash unit and camera have to be coordinated (which restricts what brand flash works automatically with what brand camera) and the camera has the sensor to guess the overall scene brightness.

And don't forget that for a given camera and flash unit, bounce flash requires a larger lens opening or higher ISO compared with direct flash which rule always applied, for film cameras too. This is always guesswork since it depends on the color of the ceiling and how high the ceiling is.

Not sure what "flash fired" means but some external flash units have no electrical connection with the camera and the camera's built in flash triggers the firing of the external unit. There are compatibility issues. Many cameras flash twice or three times to combat red-eye and the flash unit has to know which flash is the one with the shutter open. This is a coordination that relates to specific makes and models of cameras that the flash unit is intended for. In addition someone else's camera may trigger your flash if several people are taking pictures.

Not sure what "compulsory flash" means but many cameras have selections for "flash all the time" (plain lightning bolt icon), "flash when needed" (lightning bolt with "A"), or flash turned off (lightning bolt with circle and diagonal slash).

Digital camera hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/digicam.htm

 

[tinksdad]

What is your white balance set on?

I think this is the problem. Most flashes (on camera or off) are about 5200-5500 kelvin. By bouncing the light you're not overpowering the ambient light source, especially if your camera is set at 1/60 shutter. So a mixing of light is occurring and causing some problems.

If you're shooting inside under incandescent lights (tungsten) you should gel, or put a color corrected filter over the strobe for best color match. Same thing with color matching light from the sun or light from fluorescents. Each have their own color temperature that will add odd casts to the shot. For best results, all the light should be the same temperature so the camera doesn't get confused. Of course, this is downright impossible to do in real life without doing more setup than its worth for the shot. There will be a compromise that will work better for you. Check out this link for a more thorough explanation.

For grins, try the tungsten setting next time you shoot inside and see if it does help.

BTW, the baby is adorable!!!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I couldn't get the EXIF links to work.

Flash: flash fired, compulsory flash mode

"flash fired" means that the flash was used while taking the picture. I think that "compulsory flash mode" means that you had the flash turned on (or the built in flash popped up). I read it as the camera saying that it was told to use the flash.

As has already been stated, getting proper white balance while using a mixture of flash and ambient lighting can be tricky, particularly if the ambient lighting is far from being white.

Personally, I'm not a fan of messing with gels and such. That's too much hassle for me. I just white balance to suit my tastes in post production.

Most photo tools make white balancing really easy. I would suggest, however, that you be careful to use consistent settings for photos taken under the same conditions. I used to white balance each photo by itself. When you looked through several taken in the same place, the white balance would vary too much between shots.

As for the exposure levels, I don't see them as bad at all. If you went any brighter, you'd blow out your highlights.

Here's a quick color corrected version of the bottom picture. I just pulled it up on PS CS2, went to levels, and did a mid-tone white balance correction on the shadow on the white blanket behind the babies head.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Oh, I guess I also removed a few scratches. Habit.

 

[tinksdad]

Nice job Mark!!

Take the photos in RAW, then you can manipulate the white balance in PP too. It can work wonders!

 

[Lachesis00]

LOVE IT!!

I have photoshop and it wouldn't be a big deal normally but my computer was fried 3 weeks ago (long story short, my BIL robbed us-- twice-- well tried ha ha second time, I had ppl in the house {when I had baby} He got mad and flipped the power switch outside several times blowing out my computer).
Sadly my husband's old Dell isn't good enough to really run photoshop or any editing program. Makes me so mad.
If I can find a windows boot CD then I could reload windows ("windows" is on my F drive, thats how it came when I bought the computer).

VERY Frustrating I can't edit with photoshop.

As for the white balance, I normally don't mess with it *blush*. I normally have no issues w/o the flash. I am just now learning the flash so I am guessing I should get something to set white balance? Kinda sucks using program and having to do it each time... I understand why but kinda puts a hamper on taking photos on the fly.

Oh, I guess I also removed a few scratches. Habit.