Fill flash with Nikon D200 and SB 800

[tsuacctnt]

I was hoping somebody could give me some help with how to get better shots straight out of the camera when using

a fill flash. I tried to take some pictures on an overcast day of a group of kids using a Nikon SB800 attached to the

hotshoe of my camera. I found that the pictures I used the flash on were much worse than those where I just relied

on the diffused ambient light through the clouds. I was hoping a little flash would help my subjects to pop out from

the background, but instead I only succeeded in washing out the colors in their clothing and making their faces ghost

light. I was shooting in matrix meetering mode, aperature priority, with a Nikkon 70-200mm VR lens opened up to

2.8. I thought my flash was on auto everything..TTL BL FP with a -1EV compensation but now that I turn it on I

noticed it was set to AA FP, and I have to admit I don't even know what this mode is. Any input about what went

wrong would be much appreciation. Thanks!<div></div>

[ted_springer]

Have you tried reading the manual that came with the flash. The SB 800 also comes with a useful book of pictures that

illustrates different modes/positions of the flash you can use for different effects.

[tsuacctnt]

I've looked at the manual but lost the book of pictures... I'll have to see if I can find it out on the web. I don't understand what the difference between AA mode in aperature priority and TTL BL FP in aperature priority is?

[williamchuttonjr]

AA doesn't use preflashes to compute and set the SB-800 flash duration (power) nor does it transmit distance info from D lenses to the SB-800. AA mode will work in spot meter mode.

 

TTL BL FP is very different. It does use preflashes to compute and set the SB-800 flash duration. It is not available with spot metering. It will not properly expose the subject when the subject is lighter than the background. It does use distance information from D lenses. It expects the subject to be in the center of the frame. FP adds another complication. When the shuter speed is greater than 1/250. The SB-800 fires rapidly at low power.

 

When the subject is lighter or has light similar to the background, keep; the shutter speed at 1/250 or longer and use TTL mode. Start with the SB-800 at -1 EV and change it as needed. The SB-800 should fill in shadows (under the eyes, under hat brims etc. Use TTL-BL when the subject is darker than the background. If you have a D lens mounted, the SB-800 power will be computed given the background exposure (from the camera) and the subject distance (using the focused distance from the lens. Stay away from FP mode until you have non-FP working right. In bright light FP mode may be too weak to add light to the subject.

 

Simple facts:

 

in TTL mode the SB-800 computes the flash power exclusively using information from the camera exposure sensors after a preflash light pilse. No information from the camera settings (f stop, shutter speed or metering) is used.

 

in TTL-BL both camera exposure information and subject distance information is used to calculate the SB-800 power.

 

www.williamchuttonjr.com

[frank_skomial]

"in TTL mode the SB-800 computes the flash power ,,, No information from the camera settings (f stop, shutter speed or metering) is used." ? - sounds like waste of good information, that Nikon cannot afford not to use.

 

Metering, auto focusing and pre-flash testing is used when lens shutter is wide open. Then the camera must use information about f stop to translate the computation to condition when the automatic aperture gets closed to appropriate value during actual exposure time.

[tsuacctnt]

William, Thanks for pointing out the different applications between TTL BL and TTL. The relative lighting of the subject to the background wasn't something I'd considered when selecting a flash mode, instead I was operating under the assumption that the mode with the most descriptions after it would yield the best results, or at leat the best chance of a decent exposure, when supported by the camera.

[tsuacctnt]

That is to say, TTL is good, but TTL with Balanced Fill Flash is even better.

[frank_skomial]

in prior post please replace the "when lens shutter is wide open" with "when lens aperture is wide open"

[bob_bill]

Chris, why not get flash off camera? SB800 advantage is it can be off camera and triggered by camera's pop up flash. If you dont have a light stand, consider a $10 Nikon AS19 flash stand and place on something at about 45 degrees to the subjects and slightly above or it can attach flash to a tripod. You can use a VALS, McNally's voice activated light stand- someone hold the flash in their hand in about that angle. This will allow you to give some modeling, move the eye catch light into a more pleasing position in the eye, and even working manually and chimping, can adjust the flash intensity up or down to control light ratio from the flash. You will be able to control the hardness of the shadow edge by putting flash behind a diffuser like a folding multi color reflector that is also a diffuser. This uses the flash as main light, but if want it as fill, turn subjects to 45 degrees from BOB, big orange ball or if sun high, at edge of an overhang's shadow, using sun as main, and use flash from other side to adjust the ratio. Can use the diffuser between sun and subject to soften shadow edges. You have 2 lights outside, might as well use them to your advantage if you have the time. Indoors, that flash tilts to the side, put subjects about 3 feet from side wall and 10 feet from back wall. Bounce flash off side wall so hits subject at about 45 degrees. Its like a billiard ball off a cushion. This diffuses(softening the shadow edges) and gives direction to the light so gives modeling. If want background darker or black, move subject further from back wall. If want to adjust shadow/highlight ratio, can adjust flash, or move subject closer or further from side wall. You have paid for the off camera possibilities of the sb800 though, explore them. Take a look at the Strobist website, read McNallys The Moment it clicks to see what can be done with flash. Truly inspirational. He also has a dvd on using the 800 off camera. Great job posing 3 probably impatient subjects, one can be a handful.

[tsuacctnt]

Bob, I like the acronyms. I really should start experimenting more with getting the flash off the camera. I've played around with it a little bit with some pet portraits and like the results but need a lot more practice to get quick consistent results. Moving the flash off to a light stand would certainly add a lot more dimensionality to my pictures. Thanks for the Info!

[gerald_kraus]

AA on the Nikon Speedlights stands for Auto Aperture. The sensor on the flash itself is controlling the exposure. The flash does get the ISO and f/stop that you have set on the camera. What they mentioned about spot metering does not matter. The spot metering in this mode would only control the camera exposure sice you have the camera in Aperture Priority.

 

TTL BL FP is Thru The Lens metering with Balanced Fill and it is set to work in the FP High Speed sync mode.

The meter in the camera is controlling the camera exposure and the flash exposure which is set to be balanced with the ambient light. My though about the picture is that the whole thing is too light. I put the image into Photoshop and adjusted the levels (middle slider) to make it darker. The give away is that the backgound to too light also, meaning the camera overexposed it, causing the flash to do the same.<div></div>

[tsuacctnt]

Gerald, do you think the overall overexposure is a result of all the green in the image? Would -2/3 stop compensation have been approrpriate as if I was just metering off the grass? Thanks for your reply and adjusted photo!