I wrote this in the Flickr forums to someone having trouble integrating there Nikon SB-600 Speedlite into their photograpic regime. She said “I have no idea what the settings are on the flash so I end up using auto and saying screw it.” She was up for learning, so I decided to “learn” her:
Wai-wai-wait. Ok… So, the [pretty] OP doesn’t know jack about her speedlight? Fair, enough. Hopefully your 600 isn’t too different than my 28.
I imagine that when you hit MODE, things change on your LED screen. So keep tapping MODE until you see an M all by itself. That’s Manual mode. From there, I think you can tap on the SEL to select different deals that blink as you go through them.
The fractions you see (1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128) tell you how powerful your flash will, uh, flash. This is a good time to mention that Strobe and Flash are the same exact thing nowadays…they used to be different, but no one uses real strobes anymore. But "Strobe" sounds cooler so I tend to say that more often. :)
Ok, so, the fractions mean power. Ok, so then 1/1 is full power, and 1/128 is the weakest power. So…
Last Wednesday I was shooting Annette for a billboard advertisement and popped these for fun after we finished.
Laura, Claudia’s sister, is turning 30 in two weeks. Mariano had the idea to create invitations using a photograph and asked me to handle that. I was available after 7pm, long after the sun had set. Neither of us had any idea what to shoot and, over the screeching of a lonely cockatoo, I came up with the idea of using the pool as a backdrop. The sun had already set so I had my work cut out for me. After several different angles, I finally got the water to do what I wanted. I also came up with something relevant to Laura’s upcoming birthday…note her hands. Also, Laura is sitting on the diving board.
To get the quality of studio pictures without the studio price, you need to look into economic alternatives to studio lighting. I’ve taken the Speedlite approach to this. Up until very recently Canon flashes have not had PC sync capability, but at over $400 a pop the Canon speedlite method feels a little pricey. And you would still need accessories (stands) and light modifiers (umbrellas).
My suggestion would have normally been to check ebay for old Nikon SB-24s or 28s. I personally own a Nikon SB-28 setup which is my portable studio and I didn’t spend more than $500 for it including the most expensive element: the wireless transmitter. But you don’t necessarily need one if you’ll primarily be using the setup for indoor studio shots. The Nikons are normally around $100 but good luck finding them on ebay nowadays.
My recommendation would be to visit B&Hphoto.com or Adorama.com and look up the Vivitar 285HV. It costs $89 brand new and it’s powerful enough to get the job done. After that you need a light stand, a light stand adapter with a cold shoe and a no-less-than 40-something inch white umbrella. Then you’ll need a simple PC sync cord to trigger the strobe (strobe and flash are interchangeable nomenclature). I doubt the entire setup will cost more than $250.
All you’d need then are AA batteries.
You could spend a little more money and also get a flash bracket so you can take the setup on the road (since it is unwise to mount the flash onto your Canon camera as they operate on different voltages and one would fry the other). Maybe get one of those tiny softboxes for shoe-mount flashes or one of those omnibounces or the Gary Fong Lightsphere. Best part is all these options are relatively inexpensive. AND they work.
So why did my investment end up at $500? Because instead of going PC sync I went with the PocketWizard Plus II wireless transmitter option. I had to get two because you need a transmitter and a receiver for the initial setup. And each costs $187. But in the long run it’s better for what I do since I take mine with me everywhere, I use long lenses for portrait work and I don’t want to trip over wires…expensive, flimsy wires which ultimately need to be replaced far more frequently than I’d like. So I made the expensive plunge and haven’t regretted it at all. And they also run on AA batteries.
So I would personally recommend the PocketWizard option and for a little bit more than a new SpeedLite which would still result in pedestrian snapshots, you’ll get awesome, studio quality portraits of your beautiful daughter.
Another option, go PC sync and for the same price as the PocketWizard option, you can get twice the equipment. However, I don’t recommend this because for a beginner, one flash is ALREADY too much to worry about. Besides, I do all my work as a one strobe pony and I’m fine so far.
Check these out:
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
I took these photos with my $500 wireless-triggered Nikon SB-28 off-camera flash setup. You can see the setup making a cameo in the fourth picture. The only thing missing from anything I’ve mentioned in this post is a reflector (which fills in shadows). Look at how harsh the shadows are in #3 and #4 and how #1 and #2 have detail in the shadow area because of my use of a reflector.
Here’s a look at the setup of #2:
See the use of the reflector with the bare strobe? Reflectors are an excellent investment. You can get a nice 30-something inch five-in-one reflector for about $25. For the money you’re saving already, I’d say go for it. You can even get the huge collapsible background I use for around $130. So already, you’ve spent $370 with everything except the PocketWizards. But you’re still triggering via PC sync cord which should be okay until you upgrade (and you’ll want to later). And since we’re talking about wireless I’m going to recommend you not go with the cheap eBay alternative. You get what you pay for and in this case it’s flimsy at best.
Now that I’ve given you a bunch of pointers here’s what you should do:
Go to Strobist.com and read up on off-camera flash technique, DIY adventures and tons of thrifty, working examples for awesome photos that are worthy of publish. Pretty soon your daughter’s friends are going to hire you to take their photos.
So I guess the next lesson will need to be on portrait lenses, huh?
Well. Another year has come and g-blah, blah, blah…I spent New Year’s Eve over at Marco’s house (that’s Edward’s bro) with his family, Mariano and his family, Jay and Leo. Edward’s clan was spending time with his wife’s family in Mexico so they had their U.S. celebration on Saturday (which I totally missed–thanks, Andi! :))
Deja vu, man. It would seem that I had a shoot with Andi just about this same time last year. It’s funny how schedules and things work out like that.
This second time around, however, I arrived with a new rig, a lighting system and a lot more experience. The photos this time, in my opinion, are more technically competent. I feel that, after a year, I have grown more confident in my abilities as an artistic photographer, as well.
Armed with the knowledge provided by lurking over Strobist.com, reading many many photography books and spending some cold hard cash on the necessary equipment, I can honestly say my abilities have skyrocketed over the last two months.
It would not have been possible if it weren’t for guys like David Hobby, Zack Arias, the folks at POTN, Photo.net and the Strobist Flickr Group passing on their knowledge to know-nots like yours truly. So thanks guys. I hope you’ll accept my photography getting better as a reward. :)
I finally got to do a “headshot” photoshoot with Marcela today. We walked outside (during a particularly windy day) and decided to shoot across the alley at a construction site. We backed up against a wall, I set up my light and presto!
Marcela was pleased with the pictures which I cropped for 8×10″ then uploaded to Flickr where she ordered some prints.
The portraits were shot CR2 in grayscale. Canon 20D + BG-E2, EF 50mm f1.8 II, Nikon SB-28 strobe at 1/4 power fired into 41″ umbrella 5 feet away. ISO 100, f4.5, 50mm. PocketWizard remote triggers. 32″ gold reflector hand-held on right. It sucked holding the 20D in my left hand and in portrait orientation. Auto focus.
I love my expensive little hobby.
Had a wonderful shoot with Marian this past Sunday in Brownsville. I finally got around to post-processing the photos the way I wanted and uploaded them to my Flickr gallery.
I think the results work very well, especially considering the shoot was my introduction into studio flash photography. This comes before I acquired the snoot this past Friday so, in a few of the pictures, if it’s not bounced off the umbrella or the nearby wall, the light is coming direct without a modifier.
I have been fortunate to start this new idiom of my photographic journey with some lovely people, inside and out, and Marian is no exception. She was a pleasure to work with and offered ideas and encouragement when she could. And I’m glad she did, because as someone who has had experience in front of the lens, her knowledge only helps me understand the model’s perspective which in turn aids in my communication toward her.
Earlier that same Sunday I had holiday portrait shoots with two families in Olmito. Both families had prepubescent children so I got my gear and prepped for a difficult two hours.
If there is one thing I know about working with children, or animals, as a seasoned photog (photo and video) is that you simply don’t work with children or animals. Of course, you wind up working with either most of the time and both a lot of the time.
But the slug-fest wasn’t as bad as I’ve had in the past. The children were generally well behaved and the parents of the first shoot even held my diffusion panel for several of the shots (like the one above). As usual, the majority of the shots are rubbish and the parents are happy if you just get one fairly decent one (I mean, who better than the parent to know how difficult it would be to photograph their own children?). But the children acclimated well to the lens and wound up photographing well. Despite their inherent predisposition toward childish behavior. Being kids, ya know?
Meanwhile, this Sunday saw me working it with the pro video camera for work as we covered the First Annual Toys For Big Boys Expo at the McAllen Civic Center for Noticias KNVO 48. I got to share the pros of why I would be a killer boyfriend to Gaby, my “back off, I’m workin’ on it” main squeeze who, of course, has a boyfriend. A rich, doctor boyfriend…yeah.
Still, we danced together in front of a large group of people (after telling her I don’t dance) and rubbed each other’s backs a few times. And of course, the massive, awesomely huge hug when she was leaving when everyone else got the “acquaintance lean-in only hug”.
Awwwww, yeah. Finally! Favoritism in my favor. :-D
I finally hunkered down and spent the couple of minutes it took to make a DIY Cereal Box Snoot ala Strobist.com.
It’s fastened snugly to my Nikon SB-28 using good old fashioned friction. You can clearly see the PocketWizard fastened to the swivel mount via Velcro strip so it doesn’t bounce around whilst in transit.
By the way, this little portable light setup has served me extremely well since I’ve put it together. I’ve had it fall to the ground from tall heights (minus snoot, plus umbrella) on several occasions and it has yet to explode on me. I even bent my Photoflex adjustable umbrella and squeezed it right back to perfection. What’s cool is I actually seem to be getting better at this whole “lighting” thing. :)
Getting back to the subject, I tested out my new toy tool by firing it at the kitchen drapes hanging defenseless against the onslaught of homemade snooty goodness.
At a distance of five feet, the 6″ snoot struck a beam of focused light that created a flashy sweet spot of about 2.5′ across and around 1′ in height. I walked around the house and took snooted strobe shots of whatever I could find. Even did a few texture shots against an open pamphlet in the kitchen.
Then I bothered my dad in the living room for a few minutes while I tried out a few different things. I learned something new over the holidays this week. If you remove your lens from its camera mount and hand hold it a bit away from the camera, you can do some serious damage to the lens’ perception of depth of field.
I ‘ve been doing the poor man’s tilt shift lens thing since I learned it [cough, yesterday] and decided to apply it to the use of my newly snootified flash. Thanks to Zack Arias for the “ghetto tilt shift” idea. I decided to make a statement with my picture; something to the effect of my dad spends way too much time on the computer.
And here I am writing a very descriptive blog, with illustrations, in the middle of the night. Like father like son, I suppose.
When I was done, I went to my room and tried my hand at some self portraiture using my new found knowledge. The culmination of which resulted in what I think is a photograph I’m going to be proud of for a really long time.
You can check out the images in a larger form at Flickr by clicking on them. However, I think my self portrait looks best on black.
Thanks to David Hobby and Zack Arias for graciously spilling their knowledge onto unsuspecting amateur photogs like myself. Y’all da bomb!
Cheers.
Posted to the Strobist Flickr Pool today. Enjoy.
Ok, check this out: as a photojournalist (like DH) you’re not supposed to do any kind of photo manipulation because that would be the same thing as writing false information in the text of your story. As an artist, on the other hand, you’re supposed to use all the tools you have in your arsenal to communicate your artistic vision.
Strobist.com is about cheap, DIY speedlite flash lighting techniques and is not necessarily a “how to be a photojournalist” though it certainly can feel that way since the blog is written by one.
So what is this Flickr pool all about, anyway? Apparently it’s here for we photographers to showcase what we’ve learned from the writings of David Hobby to become better technical photographers. Some of us don’t want to be photojournalists. Some of us want instead to be artists so we use every digital darkroom technique we can to express our creative vision.
You can achieve a lot in-camera. But like any good technical photographer who can achieve precise results with his camera, a real artist can make a good exposure, can manipulate the depth of field, compose a shot correctly and use the light to paint a picture AS WELL AS do all the fun stuff in Photoshop that’ll really make his photo artwork.
I do it all the time. I come from photojournalism and I take a damn good picture if I wanted to using manual everything. But I can take that same photo into the digital darkroom and do things to it that I couldn’t do back in the chemical days.
When I go into Photoshop, I’m probably opening the RAW file and adjusting the image to suit the style I intended it to have whilst I was shooting. The exposure and focus may be correct, the colors may be true, but I may want the reds to pop a bit more than could have been captured on “film”. 
Or maybe I wanted to increase the sharpness of the image because I want to enlarge it and you can do that sort of thing in RAW without all the JPEG-alicious artifacting. Maybe I had a bit too much headroom to crop. Or, which is most often the case, I’m correcting blemishes on the model’s face.
Regardless, I’m not modifying the pose, the emotion of the model, the direction of the light, or the intended composition. I am enhancing a mere photo into something that pops. I didn’t take a bad photo and am trying to fix my mistakes in post.
So the complaint really should be: photographers shouldn’t use Photoshop as a safety net.
Photographers should be more than just people with a snap-shot mentalities and expensive pro cameras. Photographers should learn their craft, learn their camera, learn how to paint with light and THEN learn how to further enhance their images through digital manipulation, not the other way around.
So, learn your craft. Practice. And love your hobby (or your way of life, whatever). :)
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