Thread: SB 800 Do you have one?

You can lower or raise the flash intensity using the up/down of the centre keypad. The flash will display + or - steps. This will allow you to reduce the flash level. You should be able to find a how to on google. I went through this when I got mine and found the answer on the web, can't remember where though. I'll try and find the site and post the URL if I do.

Not the article I was looking for but this should help: How to Use a Nikon SB800 Flash for a Fill Light

Have a look THIS site

Also check the Nikon KB.

Flash techniques with D-series camera and DX-series Speedlight

Thanks guys....chucaro I would like to get my hands on the thom Hogans book but its out of print, according to his website its being remade into an E-book so will have to keep a look out for that.

Originally Posted by dm_td5

Also check the Nikon KB.

Flash techniques with D-series camera and DX-series Speedlight

How silly I never thought of looking on the nikon site

Originally Posted by dullbird

Reason I ask is

I'm trying to understand what I have to do to be able to use my speedlight for fill in flash etc.....

i have searched various forums and googled it watched a couple of vids on creative lighting and none of them will just explain in laymens terms how to set the speed light up so I can use fill flash etc

Can anyone help...or even point me in the direction of a explanitory artical

So many settings and so much to learn

I tell you I dont know how many forums I have joined to try and get the answer

I actually dont know which ones I have and which ones I haven't joined now

Firstly there's several types of fill flash, namely frontal, side and backfill (also known as hairlight fill). The name corresponds with the location of the flash relative to the camera and subject.

If you're using the SB-800 speedlight (here after called the flash) mounted on your DSLR your limited to frontal fill types of flash fill.

There's a couple of creative ways to use the flash. and these all work very well but need to be practiced and the results examined.

Bounce flash: This is where you aim the flash at the ceiling and bounce the light from the ceiling and down to the subject. The advantage of doing this are the elimination of shadows cast against walls from the subjects head and body, a more diffuse and even lighting and a less intense light that doesn't tend to cause hotspots. (Hot spots are areas of over exposure caused by patches of skin that are more reflective than others). A major bonus however is the elimination of red eye.

The important things to note about ceiling bounce: 1) It chews up power and has a limited range. You will loose up to 3 stops of light output bouncing from a 2.5m high ceiling. This reduces the effective range that bounce can be used.

2) The flash "light" will take on the colour of the surface it's bounced off. White's are fine, but if you were to bounce off say a green ceiling the light will be green tinted when it hits the subject .. with the end result of a strange coloured face.

3) Bounce flash tends to leave a shadow under the chin line. This can be cured by either using the small pull out white reflector inbuilt in the SB-800 or by using a 4x5" white card held to the flash with a rubber band (at the back of the flash head).

Bounce flash with the SB-800 can be done using all matrix and manual modes.

Straight ahead flash fill. This is most useful when shooting outdoors and you want someone or someting to stand out. Dial in 0 to -1.5 stops of compensation for most typical outdoor shots when the subject is a person or animal etc. Typically -0.7 to -1 stop works well depending on the effect wanted.

The real key to using flash fill is to practice, practice and practice some more. There are few hard and fast rules and each shot presents it's own unique set of real world issues with flash fill. Unlike a studio environment where the photographer has complete control over all aspects of lighting, the real world presents an ever changing myrid of lighting conditions and ulitmately experience is what makes flash fill really work.

I normally put my SB-800 in remote mode (off camera) and let TTL do the work and if that doesn't work I'll bump up/down the flash exposure compensation. Seems to work well for me...

Just need to get a better model



Follow the blogs at www.storbist.com (Nikon shooter)

And I would checkout the blog/books/videos by Joe McNally, he does Nikon CLS all the time and shoots Nikon too.

Matt.