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.

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Long Exposure with ND Filter

ND filter reduces the light intensity reaching to the sensor or film through the lens, which effectively slows down the shutter speed. This is useful if you want to capture water motion or add motion blur to your image.

When using ND filter under bright condition, it gives you a greater flexibility to change the aperture and shutter speed. It allows you to use

• a larger aperture for the desire DoF,
• a slower shutter speed to maintain flash sync or to create motion blur.

The down side using ND filters is that they do not reduce the intensity of all wavelengths equally. This can sometimes create color casts in the images, particularly with inexpensive filters. Most popular filter brands such as B&W, Cokin, Lee and Hoya offer a variety of ND filters. Some common ND filters being the ND2, ND4 and ND8 which offers reduction of the light intensity by 1-3 stops.

So…. what can you do with ND filter?

Here is an image captured using an ND filter to slow down the shutter speed to 30s.

What does it look like without an ND filter?

A much more calming effect using an ND filter to capture the water motion.

and of cause you will need a solid tripod to capture the water motion. Behind the scene of my travel tripod (which only weighs 1.5kg) holding up the Nikon D700 and 24-70mm f/2.8.

Adobe Lightroom 3

Adobe Lightroom 3 is now officially out of beta. The release came after some significant testing from the two beta releases (beta and beta 2). I have received my copy of LR3 today and will have more reviews once I had a proper go at it.

 

Here’s the official announcement

So what’s new in Lightroom 3? Quite a lot really

Check out the Lightroom 3 resources to find out more details

Here is an extract on what’s new from computer darkroom.

 

 

Workflow and Library:

• Faster thumbnail scrolling and module switching
• Completely redesigned import dialog
• Publish Collections
• Backup on exit
• Enhanced sorting (i.e. sort by aspect ratio)
• Enhanced collection and smart collection functionality
• Import CMYK files
• New thumbnail badge to show when photo is in a Collection
• Import DSLR video files
• Tethered Capture
• Animation in Library Histogram
• Optimise catalogue command included in File menu
• Improved preview quality
• New Library module keyboard shortcuts for more efficient module switching
• IPTC extensions in Metadata panel
• Lens and focal length added to Metadata filter bar and Smart Collections

Develop:

• Improved raw conversion
• Improved sharpening
• Improved colour noise reduction
• Improved luminance noise reduction
• Point Curve in Tone Curve panel
• Process versions renamed to 2003 and 2010 (Current)
• Process version switch via pop-up menu in Camera Calibration panel
• New Grain filter
• Improved Post-crop vignette
• Collections panel added
• Simplified local adjustment brush and graduated filter panel
• Automatic profile based lens corrections
• Manual lens and perspective corrections
• New develop presets

Output:

• Enhanced slideshow export, which includes HD video
• Export video files as originals
• Ability to limit file size on export
• Music selection on Mac simplified and decoupled from iTunes
• Sync slideshow length to duration of selected music track
• Custom Print Package allowing free-form layout of multiple photos on a page
• Enhanced watermarking
• New templates for Web and Print modules
• Enhanced Software Development Kit (SDK)

The new import interface

The Develop interface. Notice the lens correction applied the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens profile automatically.

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Shooting under low light condition

How do I shoot better under low light? What are the techniques involved?

Three simple steps really:

• 
  
  Choose your metering mode wisely,
• 
  
  Watch your shutter speed and ISO, and
• 
  
  Correct focus under low light.

When it comes to shooting indoor,  typically you need to shoot above ISO 800+ to give you a reasonable shutter speed (see below).

Consider the below Exposure Value (EV) Chart, notice that typical indoor lighting has an EV of 6 – 7. Outdoor lighting conditions start from EV 9, where EV 10 is the lighting condition during sunset and EV 15 being on a bright daylight.

Exposure Value Chart
EV	TYPE OF LIGHTING SITUATION
-6	Night, away from city lights, subject under starlight only.
-5	Night, away from city lights, subject under crescent moon.
-4	Night, away from city lights, subject under half moon. Meteors (during showers, with time exposure).
-3	Night, away from city lights, subject under full moon.
-2	Night, away from city lights, snowscape under full moon.
-1	Subjects lit by dim ambient artificial light.
0	Subjects lit by dim ambient artificial light.
1	Distant view of lighted skyline.
2	Lightning (with time exposure). Total eclipse of moon.
3	Fireworks (with time exposure).
4	Candle lit close-ups. Christmas lights, floodlit buildings, fountains, and monuments. Subjects under bright street lamps.
5	Night home interiors, average light. School or church auditoriums. Subjects lit by campfires or bonfires.
6	Brightly lit home interiors at night. Fairs, amusement parks.
7	Bottom of rainforest canopy. Brightly lighted nighttime streets. Indoor sports. Stage shows, circuses.
8	Las Vegas or Times Square at night. Store windows. Campfires, bonfires, burning buildings. Ice shows, football, baseball etc. at night. Interiors with bright florescent lights.
9	Landscapes, city skylines 10 minutes after sunset. Neon lights, spotlighted subjects.
10	Landscapes and skylines immediately after sunset. Crescent moon (long lens).
11	Sunsets. Subjects in open shade.
12	Half moon (long lens). Subject in heavy overcast.
13	Gibbous moon (long lens). Subjects in cloudy-bright light (no shadows).
14	Full moon (long lens). Subjects in weak, hazy sun.
15	Subjects in bright or hazy sun (Sunny f/16 rule).
16	Subjects in bright daylight on sand or snow.
17	Rarely encountered in nature. Some man made lighting.
18	Rarely encountered in nature. Some man made lighting.
19	Rarely encountered in nature. Some man made lighting.
20	Rarely encountered in nature. Some man made lighting.
21	Rarely encountered in nature. Some man made lighting.
22	Extremely bright. Rarely encountered in nature.
23	Extremely bright. Rarely encountered in nature.

Once you have a bit of understanding on the different EV lighting condition, you can use the second chart below to find out  how your camera behalves based on the EV of the scene. For example: an EV of 6 (typical indoor lighting), the suggested camera setting is 1/8s @ f/2.8, 1/4s @ f/4 or equivalent.

The suggested shutter speed is of cause too slow, in which case you need to raise your ISO until you get a reasonable shutter speed (say 1/60s). To get to a reasonable shutter speed say 1/60s, there is a 3 stops difference (count 3 squares down to get from 1/8s to 1/60s), so the ISO needs to increase by 3 stops to ISO 800 (100->200->400->800).

However, when you use a slower lens like f/4, then you will need to use an even higher ISO (1600) or slower shutter speed (1/30s). Typically, ISO 800 is the lowest ISO required to shoot indoor hand held.

In an even lower lighting condition, like in a dimly lit restaurant, you will need to use a very high ISO and/or a very slow shutter speed. This is where your fast lenses and Full Frame camera (FX) pay off :D. Ultimately, the setting for shooting under low light condition is a compromise between

• 
  
  the highest ISO you are willing to accept,
• 
  
  your slowest hand held shutter speed w/o camera shake, and
• 
  
  the largest aperture you want to use

Different metering modes (spot, center-weighted and matrix) can also affect the camera settings since it changes the way the camera determines the exposure (EV). I won’t go over them here, but they are well explained in Metering Mode – Wiki.

Here are some images taken recently at a candle lit restaurant

Camera: Nikon D700

Lens: Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8

Spot metering

Matrix metering, ISO 3200, f/2.8

Center-weighted  metering, ISO 1600, f.2,8

Matrix metering, ISO 3200, f/2.8

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

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• Nikon SB-900

Oriental Bay Lunch

Instead of trekking on this beautiful day, Grace and I decided to enjoy the Wellington sunshine over lunch overlooking Oriental Bay. The food wasn’t that good, but we were not there for the food, but the view. Afterward, we headed off to see GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

A superb Wellington day and certainly the most relaxing view.

Of cause the perfect day is not complete without the Nikon D700. I took the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 only. Here I attached a step up adaptor to allow for the 77mm CPL to be attached. On a sunny day like this, all the photos are taken with flash.  The best thing about the prime wide angle lens is that  I can use my onboard flash even at 20mm (i.e. ~13mm DX). So I can travel light without bringing my flashgun.

At such a wide angle and bright day, shooting at hyperfocal distance is too convenient. It eliminates the need to focus at all.

Without the need to focus, you can take a shot in a blink of an eye. Here I saw the seagulls passing through so I pick up the camera, press the shutter and still get the seagulls in a reasonable focus. Didn’t even have time to look through the view finder.

A perfect day at Wellington

Wide Angle 14mm, 20mm & 24mm Comparison

These images were taken at the Old St. Paul’s using Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8.

All numbers are referred to FF format (35mm).

Ultra wide angle @14mm, picture angle on FF is 114 degree. At 114 degree, this is actually wider than the angle of view of human eyes. Perspective distortion becomes an issue at such a wide angle. As I recalled, this image is wider than what my eyes saw at the time.

Ultra wide angle @20mm, picture angle on FF is 94 degree. This is pretty much the same angle of view as human eyes, except human eyes have a magnification that is equivalent to a focal length of about 43mm and aperture of f/2 - f/3.4 (max) to f/8 – f/11(min).

Wide angle @24mm, picture angle on FF is 84 degree. This is a typical focal length seen in many standard zoom lenses such as Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 and Canon 24-105mm f/4.

Remark

Ever happened to you that an image you captured looked so different to what you see? Try taking a panorama using a 35mm or 50mm (with AE lock) to cover an angle of view of about 94 degree. This should mimick what our eyes see. Alternatively, shoot at 20mm, but pay attention to the distortion.