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I've been reading Strobist for the last several months and have wanted to apply the principals espoused by the site. Once I replaced my unreliable Vivitar 285HV with the Nikon SB-800, I dove in. First thing I tried was shooting portraits using the setting sun as the backdrop.
Some notes about the photos: In the self-portraits I was not always in focus. This is because I couldn't get the auto focus to work with the self-timer, so I manually focused on a point where I thought I'd end up standing. Even though I marked a place on the ground, I wasn't consistent. Also, none of the photos were retouched or cropped, but the quality was reduced for the web.
The first two shots featured the same setup except the flash fired in one photo and not in the other and I changed the f-stop slightly. I'm not sure why I changed it, because I didn't need to. I was probably mucking with something. Notice how the sky looked nearly the same in both photos. Any difference was due to the f-stop difference. That makes sense, because my SB-800 is powerful, but it ain't powerful enough to light the clouds! I was overexposed in the first picture, because I either set the flash at too high of a level, or stood too close to the flash. It's very difficult to shoot yourself, make sure the wind doesn't knock down your equipment, and try to remember all the shooting details. :-)
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/5, 1/100, ISO 200, Flash at 1/4 or 1/2 power (don't remember), 7:55 pm.
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/7.1, 1/100, ISO 200, Flash off, 7:55 pm.
I finally got the flash set up correctly and my distance from the light was optimal.
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/6.3, 1/100, ISO 200, Flash at 1/4 or 1/2 power (don't remember), 7:55 pm.
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/6.3, 1/100, ISO 200, Flash at 1/4 or 1/2 power (don't remember), 7:56 pm.
In the following photo, do you see the weird murky black silhouette around me? This silhouette effect occurs when you mix slow shutter speed, flash, and movement (camera or subject). It was an unintentional effect, but Strobist devotes an article or two on the topic. It's advanced stuff that I'm not going to worry about yet.
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/6.3, 1/25, ISO 200, Flash at 1/4 or 1/2 power (don't remember), 8:07 pm.
Notice that I went up two stops in exposure time between the two pictures above. The reason was in those 11 minutes, the sun dropped out, so I needed to increase the exposure time to capture more of the ambient light.
Now for a change of pace, here's a shot of my neighbor who was kind enough to let me snap a few photos of her before she dashed off to make dinner.
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/8, 1/250, ISO 200, Flash at 1/4 or 1/2 power (don't remember), 7:50 pm.
So where did I shoot these photos? What did my setup look like? Where was my flash? Figured it out?
...
...
...
Tada! Here's my totally awesome studio setup: one SB-800 on a light stand with a shoot through umbrella at camera left, camera low to the ground on a tripod pointing up, and a green waste bin. :-)
I've been reading Strobist for the last several months and have wanted to apply the principals espoused by the site. Once I replaced my unreliable Vivitar 285HV with the Nikon SB-800, I dove in. First thing I tried was shooting portraits using the setting sun as the backdrop.
Some notes about the photos: In the self-portraits I was not always in focus. This is because I couldn't get the auto focus to work with the self-timer, so I manually focused on a point where I thought I'd end up standing. Even though I marked a place on the ground, I wasn't consistent. Also, none of the photos were retouched or cropped, but the quality was reduced for the web.
The first two shots featured the same setup except the flash fired in one photo and not in the other and I changed the f-stop slightly. I'm not sure why I changed it, because I didn't need to. I was probably mucking with something. Notice how the sky looked nearly the same in both photos. Any difference was due to the f-stop difference. That makes sense, because my SB-800 is powerful, but it ain't powerful enough to light the clouds! I was overexposed in the first picture, because I either set the flash at too high of a level, or stood too close to the flash. It's very difficult to shoot yourself, make sure the wind doesn't knock down your equipment, and try to remember all the shooting details. :-)
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/5, 1/100, ISO 200, Flash at 1/4 or 1/2 power (don't remember), 7:55 pm.
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/7.1, 1/100, ISO 200, Flash off, 7:55 pm.
I finally got the flash set up correctly and my distance from the light was optimal.
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/6.3, 1/100, ISO 200, Flash at 1/4 or 1/2 power (don't remember), 7:55 pm.
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/6.3, 1/100, ISO 200, Flash at 1/4 or 1/2 power (don't remember), 7:56 pm.
In the following photo, do you see the weird murky black silhouette around me? This silhouette effect occurs when you mix slow shutter speed, flash, and movement (camera or subject). It was an unintentional effect, but Strobist devotes an article or two on the topic. It's advanced stuff that I'm not going to worry about yet.
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/6.3, 1/25, ISO 200, Flash at 1/4 or 1/2 power (don't remember), 8:07 pm.
Notice that I went up two stops in exposure time between the two pictures above. The reason was in those 11 minutes, the sun dropped out, so I needed to increase the exposure time to capture more of the ambient light.
Now for a change of pace, here's a shot of my neighbor who was kind enough to let me snap a few photos of her before she dashed off to make dinner.
Photo info: 52.5mm focal length, f/8, 1/250, ISO 200, Flash at 1/4 or 1/2 power (don't remember), 7:50 pm.
So where did I shoot these photos? What did my setup look like? Where was my flash? Figured it out?
...
...
...
Tada! Here's my totally awesome studio setup: one SB-800 on a light stand with a shoot through umbrella at camera left, camera low to the ground on a tripod pointing up, and a green waste bin. :-)
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