Off Camera Flash with 2 x Nikon SB-900

A few months back, I wrote about off camera flash technique which is much more preferred than having your flash fixed on to your hot shoe. You are most certain to achieve better lighting result if you have your flash off the camera. The new Nikon SB-700 can now be used as a commander to allow you to trigger remote speedlights, so you no longer need to own a Nikon’s flagship speedlight such as SB-800 and SB-900 to have this commander function.

2 x Nikon SB-900 in remote mode, triggered by Nikon D700 onboard flash

Basically there are many ways to set up off camera flash.

Method 1: Most  Nikon’s DSLR can use the onboard flash as a commander to wirelessly trigger remote flashes. This is an area which Nikon does better than Canon :D. All you have to do is go to menu and look for flash control for built in flash (eg:menu e3 for Nikon D700) and set it to commander and then set your off camera flashes to "remote” with the right channel settings. The onboard flash will then act as the commander to trigger the remote flashes.

Method 2: Instead of using onboard flash as the commander, you can either use a SU-800, SB-700, SB-800 or SB-900 which can all be switched to commander mode.

Method 3: Use an off camera remote cable such as Nikon SC-28 or SC-29.

Here is an image taken in a recent wedding using off camera flash. I used method 2 in this case where I trigger a SB-800 using a SB-900.

You can tell by the shadow that the remote flash is positioned on my right.

Where can I find the equipment seen on this site?

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The Complete DIY Bounce Flash Kit – Full Snoot, Half Snoot and Bounce Card

To achieve a soft diffused flash, often you will need to use a soft box or bounce your flash off walls and ceilings. You can also get a diffusion dome and attach onto the flash which is a bit better than using a bare flash.

Bare Flash

Flash with diffusion dome  

There are also other products out there that are designed to diffuse the flash light, such as the Gary Fong accessories.

Diffusion Dome

Gary Fong Lightsphere Cloud

But to have something that works as good but cost very much less. I have made myself a complete bounce flash kit using foam mats and  an elastic band. There are many advantages of using foam mats to create the attachments.

Light – The foam mat is light,  it doesn’t add additional weight to your camera bag

Flexible – The foam mat is flexible, so you can roll it up and store it anywhere in you camera bag unlike carrying a Gary Fong :). You can size it/bend it the way you want. You also don't need to worry about hitting it against walls

Snaps on easily – It is effortless to put on the attachments, simply slip it on and hold it in place using an elastic band

Replaceable – It is cheap to replace if you lose it on the road.

Large diffusion area – You can design the size of the bounce card to suit.

 

Full Snoot

I have created a full snoot using one single foam mat and hold in place using an elastic band. The snoot is used to create a directional light.

Half Snoot

Half Snoot can also be created using one single foam mat. Simply fold it to the required size and hold it in place using an elastic band. The half snoot can be rotated each side very easily. Half snoot is used to minimise lens flare caused by the flash and minimise direct flash to the subject similar to how barn gate works. Half snoot is also useful to block the flash from flashing into the guests behind you.

 

Bounce Card

To create a bounce card, you will need one single black foam mat and one single white foam mat. The flash is pointed upward to light up the white area of the bounce card which is effective soften and diffused. The diffused light is then bounced forward to light up your subject while also bouncing off the ceiling.

This is how they look when the flash is fired.

Bounce card - The white area of the bounce card is lighted up to create a diffused light.

The half snoot – Provide a directional light while preventing the light flashing towards the undesired side.

If you want to purchase the complete DIY bounce flash kit ~ $15.50NZD free shipping, give me an email. Accepting orders within New Zealand only.

The kit includes:
3x Black foam mats (A4 size)
1x White foam mat (A4 size)
2x Elastic bands
Adhesive tapes

Flash Photography - Off Camera Flash

First, if you want to know more about Off camera flash photography , check out the Lighting 101 and Lighting 102 guides from Strobist Blogspot. The website is all about learning  how to use off camera flash starting from the beginning to all technical aspects.

 

Once you have tried a few times of your onboard flash, you will quickly realise the limitation of the very week onboard flash. Not only it is very weak (but still useful for some occasions) and has no  FP High Speed Sync mode, the lighting is very much directional and produces very harsh shadows to your subjects.

 

External flashes (Speedlights) helps to create a much more natural and balanced image by offering:

• swivel flash head to allow bouncing the light off walls or at least a diffuser can be attached to help diffuse the harsh light,
• a much longer flash shooting distance range (higher Guide number)
• off camera trigger to operate as a remote flash, forming a powerful Creative Lighting System (CLS)
• act as an commander to wirelessly trigger remote flashes (SB-900 and SB-800)

 

Nikon SB-900 and SB-600 triggered by Nikon D700 onboard commander

Off Camera

With the luxury of external flashes, don’t be afraid to use them off camera. Off camera flash often produces less harsh shadow due to being able to position the flash off axis . This is much more desire than placing the flash on the camera to light up your subject front on.

 

Diffuser

A Diffuser is used to diverge the light (less concentrate) to give a soft light. The most simple way without any additional equipment is to bounce the flash light to reflective ceilings and walls. This effectively turns the ceilings and walls to a huge spotlight to create a much softer light source. There are many diffusers that can be used in conjunction with the speedlights:

 

;
Flash Diffuser Dome	Flash Umbrella	Softbox

Here I illustrate one of the most simple lighting setup, which works very well. First, position an umbrella on the left hand side about 45 degree towards the subject and then a silver reflector on the right hand side (or vice versa).  The idea here is to use the umbrella to create a diffused light source off centre and then use the reflector to fill in the shadows.

and the results

Where can I find the equipment seen on this site?

If you find this site useful and planning to purchase any of the equipment seen on this site, please show your support by purchasing your photo equipment at B&H Photo Video or through any of the affiliate links seen on this site.

Nikon FP High Speed Sync with SB-900

Nikon and Canon’s flash sync is typically 1/250s. This number defines the shortest time that the shutter curtain can maintain fully open. Any use of faster shutter speed will enable the 2nd curtain to close while the 1st curtain is still being opened. This effectively means the shutter is no longer fully open, but only exposes the sensor via a slit. If you apply a normal flash which has a duration of ~1/1000s, only part of the frame will be exposed to the flash and you will get a partial darkened image where the flash has tailed off while the slit is still travelling.

Check out Jeffrey Friedl’s animation on a D3 shutter release in slow motion (originated from Marianne Oelund). In the animation you can see the shutter is fully opened exposing the sensor so the shutter speed must be slower than 1/250s. Should the shutter speed be faster than 1/250s, the 2nd certain will come down while the 1st certain is still opening.

Cameras now days lock the fastest shutter speed to 1/250s when using flash to avoid the above problem and typically, you will get the most benefits of your flash by shooting below the sync speed (1/250s) where you can

i) fully utilise the full flash power

ii) maximise flash range and

iii) achieve faster recycle time.

However, the problem occurs when you are shooting with flash under brightly lit condition and require a shallow DoF or to stop motion where your shutter speed is usually above 1/250s. You will need to enable FP High Speed Sync using an external flash (onboard flash has no FP High Speed Sync). With FP High Speed Sync enabled, the flash will fire for the duration of the shutter curtain’s travel, so it syncs with the camera’s shutter speed (as shown in 2nd half of the below diagram).  Because the flash is continuously lit, more flash power is being lost and flash range is significantly reduced.

You can see the shutter and flash sequences between a slow shutter and a fast shutter from the below diagram.

For example: In the below image taken at a recent portrait session, I was shooting into the sun the shutter speed was well above the sync speed, and in fact I also wanted a shallow DoF, the shutter speed was set to 1/8000s. Because I am shooting into the sun, I will need fill-in flash to properly lit the model, otherwise she will be in complete shadow.

This is where I need to turn on FP High Speed Sync, so I can proper lit my subject and shoot @ f/2.8, 1/8000s.

As you can see even with flash power being lost and flash range being reduced,  the SB-900 was still able to overpower the shadows when shooting into the sun.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 | SB-900 FP

f/2.8 | 1/8000s

Where can I find the equipment seen on this site?

If you find this site useful and planning to purchase any of the equipment seen on this site, please show your support by purchasing your photo equipment at B&H Photo Video or through any of the affiliate links seen on this site.

• Nikon SB-900

Light Painting

Light painting, also known as light drawing is a photographic technique in which exposures are made usually at night or in a darkened room by moving a hand-held light source or by moving the camera.

My version of “ I love you” and Grace’s version of “ I love you”

My version of “ Love heart” and Grace’s version of “Love heart”

Kent and Grace. Here I strobe my SB-600 momentarily to show Grace in the background

My artistic version of Sun, Mountain and Ocean

My artistic version of a Palm tree

Grace’s artistic version of 櫻桃小丸子

Nikon Speedlight SB-900

The SB-900 is set to replace my SB-600. SB-600 will be used as a remote wireless flash.

SB-900 is much larger in size, but has alot more features:

Better Interface, Better Zoom range (up to 200mm), Faster recycling, Better AF assist, Wider Swivel, Thermal cut off, etc…

SB-600 on the left, SB-900 on the right

Back LCD of SB-900

MY DIY bounce cards

Large version of my DIY bounce card

Lite version of my DIY bounce card