louisekennedy

I am in the middle of a jewelry shoot right now and I can't find the manual or the answer to this online. I

have two sb800s set up and an sb600.

I just put new batteries in all the flashes, but the sb600's alarm is on when I take a shot, and it's not just a

chime, it's an elongated chime, a bit like a police siren.

A. what does this mean?

B. how do I turn the darned thing off?

thank you.

Looks like banding to me. I would return it to the store you bought it, or if that is not an

option, send it to Nikon. I had banding on my first d200.

Thanks for all the help. Boat is a 55' sail boat.

Of course I worry about the camera, but at some point I have to say, why did I buy it to

leave it behind when I'm on an adventure, plus the d200 stands up to quite a bit. the 17 -

55 is also quite heavy, and the 12 - 24, while as heavy, is wider which will be helpful to

get wide shots while on the boat. I have both the 24 mm and at 50/ 1.4, so I might just

slip the 50 in a bag, good idea!

We did a trip earlier this year sailing around the Grenadines, and I found I used the 18 -

200 and 12 - 24 the most. But the weather conditions were glorious and there was no

worry about any weather concerns. I didn't even use a bag.

There will be a fair bit of sailing traffic that week, all headed down from NE, stopping off in

Bermuda and then heading down to the islands, so there will be an opportunity for shots

of other boats. but the bad weather photos are the shots that will be likely the most

interesting. And since we will have two days in Bermuda I naturally want to take shots of

all the colors there.

extra batteries, good idea. alcohol wipes, good idea. Hadn't thought about silica gel,

thanks for that tip! A pelican box might be overkill, and I have to think about space saving

bags. So some plastic bag with a strap. I'm thinking about those EWA but will look at EMS

as I hadn't thought of looking there. Thanks for that.

Am sailing from Bermuda to BVI in November, so plan to be on a sail boat for about 10 days. I will have my

d200 with me. I will likely leave my 17 - 55, only because it's too expensive a lens to lose in case we

capsize, or get hit by a rogue wave. So will likely pack the 18 - 200, and a 12 - 24. Neither are fast, but I

will have to live with that. Am I missing a must have lens? No room for a tripod either.

Also, I need to find a marine bag for cameras. Has anyone had any good luck with the EWA marine bags?

Not sure how they work, or if they work with twist zooms as opposed to push pull zooms. ARe there other

marine bags, or waterproof bags. I will not taking the camera underwater.

the 60 and the 50 are great lenses for portraits. 18 - 200 is a work horse. If you want wide,

try getting rid of the 18 - 200 and go for the 17 - 55 2.8. Or the Tokina 12 - 24 if you need

wider.

Lizzie, I shoot a lot of furniture that is made out of wood. You need to really try to rig up

some lights so that the wood warms up. Shoot RAW so you can adjust afterwards, put the

white balance on auto and fix it afterwards as need be. On the shot you provided the top

surface of the table should be the part that pops, but it's the least interesting. You could

try bouncing some flash off the ceiling if that is an option. (not the in camera flash). Try

shooting with a tripod and practice with different shutter speeds. Try to do some nice

macro shots with your aperture settings wide open.

If you are shooting for a book, make sure your images are no smaller than 300dpi

I agree with what someone said about taking the tables outside rather than fight with

those inside shots.

if you're shooting for a show catalog, it would be great to make sure you get the best

shots. If it's a table, try to show all four legs so that they are all showing and one set of

legs doesn't cover up the other. Think about the negative spaces and shapes that the table

creates and include that in your shots.

but also, it would be good to get the furniture into a studio. You can get a local

photographer to shoot everything for you for a few hours, and it would be worth it.

Thanks Elliot. I'm pretty comfortable with PS masking and magic wand, and Vertus. But I

really do want to go in there, shoot on a white background, and get the result I want in the

camera. I know I can adjust in PS, but I don't want to have to rely on that as a fall back when I

know I should be able to get the results in the camera. I hope that makes sense. I may pick

up an r200 and see if that fourth light helps.

Juano, thanks for the tips. I'm interested in what settings you had the flashes on, manual

or ttl. I would prefer to go manual. As much as ttl seems to work when I am using one

flash, I want more control for the background. Also, I'm curious why you opened up the

aperture so much? I know that I did the same, but I would prefer to shoot at f 5.6 or f 8,

which I find is the sweet spot for the 60 mm. At least in my humble opinion.

Elliot, thanks for the mask. I know I can mask, and that will work. I spent several hours

masking out about 20 images with vertus fluid mask, which is very good. But I want to

achieve the white background out of the camera so that I don't have to keep relying on

masking. I believe that I should be able to achieve this without photoshop, but by setting

the lights correctly. I also prefer to have ever so, ever so slightly a shadowed (but not

much) foreground, so the image doesn't completely float in flat white.

I'm posting this here because I am shooting with all nikon equipment.

So I have a shoot on Monday where I will be shooting more products similar to the ones I am attaching.

The first shoot was more about testing angles to show the houses etc. Now that we have the look exactly

how we want it, I want to get the lighting exactly as I want it so that the background is pure white.

For the last shoot I spent a few hours masking out the background, and I'd rather just get it right in the

camera. But shooting a white background has me vexed. I know it can be done.

So I will be shooting with a D200. 60 mm (same as these two images) 2 sb800's and one sb600. Three

light stands. One silver umbrella. A white seamless background.

I have the products on a table with about 3 - 4 feet between the back of the ginger house and the white

background. No other lights wil be on in the area. No outside light. No tungsten/halogen etc.

Should I overexpose the background so that it's almost blown out?

I need to figure out a system, that's relatively fool proof so that once a month I can go in, spend a short

amount of time setting up, and re shoot new products, using the same set up.

Thank you for your input, I really, really appreciate it. Shoot is on Monday and there is no luxury of

another test round.<div></div>

Brilliant, ! Thank you. And I'll play around with lenses. I don't have a 35 mm normal, but I'll

play around with my 24 and my 50 f1.4

Brilliant, ! Thank you. And I'll play around with lenses. I don't have a 35 mm normal, but I'll

play around with my 24 and my 50 f1.4

silly question, but how do you select the background only? Are you first masking the subject

then creating a new layer? Or are you going right into the image and selecting the

background only?

thanks Elliot. Removing background is not an ideal option as we're shooting about a 100

pieces and we want a little bit of dimension to some of the shots. I do have PS (CS3) though.

I'd rather try to get the image I want and save the post shoot PS editing only if I must.

i wonder if shooting continuous using the client's rudimentary smith victor kit might not be

an option as well.

I'm shooting what should be a simple set up, and I don't want to overcomplicate it.

I have to shoot some paper portfolio pieces, (business cards, brochures, cards etc) all of which are

uncoated stock, many of them have white as the stock color. I need to shoot them on a white background.

Some of the shots will be close up, but not all.

I don't want to get into a hugely complicated set up if I don't have to.

I have a savage white backdrop. Two SB800's and one SB600. D200. Probably a 60mm f2/8 , tripod

I have to shoot them at the client's office. Space is limited. So I plan to bring a couple of light stands,

drape the background over a small wall and onto a table. Turn all their lights off, so no interference from

halogens etc.

I know I want to have my background two stops brighter than the objects I am shooting to maintain a

white background, but since my objects are also have a fair bit of white in them, and I don't want those to

appear gray.

Anyone have any ideal settings I should set the sb800's to, or has anyone shot portfolio pieces before with

easy success?

(I've done a bit of searching before I posted, and of course came across the white background posts, but

nothing that talks about shooting flat paper on a white background, thus the post)

thank you!

Also Jessica, go browsing through the wedding forum to see if you can pick up some pointers

there. They're very helpful as well.

Go to the family member's backyard a couple of nights before at exactly the time of the

wedding. Look around. (try to see if you can go if there is a rehearsal) take test shots,

using the same equipment you'll be using. Take tests shots, and even write them down in

a notebook so that you can go back and look at what you shot and refer to the notes.

Make sure you understand how to work the flash. If you can get a cable for the SB800 get

one so that you can work the flash off the camera.

And Shoot RAW so that you can edit afterwards.

Take everything that everyone else has suggested. Extra batteries. Many, many Memory

Cards. Extra double AA batteries for the flash. A tripod. A diffuser for the SB800.

Definately a tripod and definately an extra camera in case the D50 craps out. Not saying

that it will, but what if it gets dropped. Best to plan ahead.

The light will be with you already depending on the exact setting. Nice soft light.

You'll feel more confident if you go there ahead of time and do your due diligence.

re: the batteries.

I recently did a five hour shoot, tethered, three sb800's so my onboard flash was the

commander, and I only went through two and a half batteries. I always keep one extra

battery charged in my bag, or charging while the other one is being used.

half an hour seems terribly short compared to the battery life I have been getting.

If no electricity is available, then I use the D200 Multi-Power Battery Pack, and carry AA's

in my bag, but to be honest, I've never needed to go the double a route.

I use capture control pro with my PB G4. Works great. Make sure you bring a long

extension cord as well a long USB cord in case you can't have the lap top close to the

camera. You can do all your shooting from within camera control (controlling exposure

etc) . Download the trial as someone else mentioned. Test it before you go to the shoot to

familiarise yourself with the settings, as it can be finicky out of the gate.

It's also helpful because what you see in the viewfinder of your camera, is rarely what the

image really looks like. So having the image on the laptop monitor can really help you get

that shot you are looking for, in less time, and with less post editing. But I still shoot RAW

just in case.

for the amount of money you'd spend on a rental lens, you could pick up a used one from

craigs list in SF. There seem to be lots to choose from http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sss?

query=nikon

Also, why are you selling your battery grip? I rarely have mine off my d200 because the

battery goes faster than you'd want, so having an extra battery ready to go, and having the

ability to put AA's is really great when I am out shooting all day.

Louise

thanks for the responses.

I kind of adhere to the thinking that if there is an opportunity to learn something, then

why not, so the idea to put them in a dslr rather than p and S, falls into that category. And

they may find that they can use the camera for event photographs and such, and remove

their dependency from having to spend money for my time for what they are looking for.

I'm all for that.

If I were only doing studio work, I would go with a set of lights, probably some nice alien

bees, a good light meter, stands and so on. but I'm on the road alot so the sb's are really

great to throw in my big camera bag. I have some clamps if I'm on the fly, or I can bring

some light stands and an umbrella or two. I love the sbs and they are so fun that I'm still

spending time experimenting.

but my client will not have fun with them, so thus the set up I outlined. Elliot, thanks for

the feedback about the D40 vs D40X. You're right of course. although I would argue a bit

about your statement that the image quality on those four cameras is virtually identical. I

know that there is a big difference image wise between my d70s and my d200, even with

identical lenses. By the kit lens, you're talking about the 18 -55 right? Or the 18-135?

Strobist is a great site alvin, thanks. this client really doesn't need to learn all there is to

know about lighting to get the product shots they need, if I set them up with a good

guide.

Frank, the set up calls for a white background, and it's not restaurant type of food. More

product using food. (think candy canes and such) so nothing perishable. Very static. No

classic foodie shots. Although thanks for the feedback which I will store for future use for

other projects where I can have fun. I love my 50 f1.4 for those shots as well. good to

know about meat and blue. I did not know that.

so my thinking to recap is a D40, a simple cubelite system something like this from bh

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/501700-REG/

Lastolite_LR8837L_Cubelite_39_Studio_Kit.html or some version of this

thanks Shun. It's likely they would not use the sb800's at all. I want to try to set up a system

that is very easy for them. But your point is taken on the DOF. There will likely be about 25%

macro work. it's not photography where you'd have a beautiful DOF of a food item, as you

would find in a recipe. More website shots where more is in focus. Does that make sense?

I have a client who has asked me for advice as to what they should buy to do their own photography. The

photography will be product shots. Very simple, about 24 inches high, three dimensional food items.

(nothing shiny) the idea is that they will have a static set up in their studio so that they can readily

photograph a product using exactly the same settings over and over again.

So I am suggesting that they get kitted out with a D40x, the kit lens, and a cubelite system, with two lights

(tungsten 500w) that comes with light stands etc. Plus a tripod of course.

their products will be shot on a white background for use on their website.

I did a product shoot for them, using my d200, two sb800's an sb600 and my 60mm on a white backdrop

and as it is I will have to do quite a bit of masking to get the white, but we got some great shots of the

products. (I just have a heck of a hard time shooting on a white background with my sb's to get a white

background)

I've not used the d40x and certainly not with one of those studio lighting systems. Will it be adequate?

Would a D80 be overkill? I figure they will need to spend about 500 - 700 on lights. 700 on a camera, 100

on a tripod (maybe used) to get them off the ground.

(I'm posting this in the Nikon area and not the lighting area) because I really only want to know about

nikon cameras and this one works with this set up.

thank you

Are you sure it's not the pre flash you are seeing? I thought my flash was firing too, when I

first set up the SB800 to my D200, but then realized that it was just the pre flash. I'd set up

my onboard flash to "--"

I have two sb 800's and one sb600. I find that when I just want to use one flash I'll keep the

sb800 in my bag. It's got more power. It takes a bit of getting used to figuring out how to use

it, but this site helped me learn a lot http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/

I usea d200, but my husband uses my old d70s and he also gravitates to the sb800. I haven't

needed to use an su 800 as I use my d200 as the commander mode, but if you wanted to

position several sb's around the place, picking up an su 800 might be a good future buy.