First Portrait with multiple SB-800's (c/c please)

[Edge767]

My more-than-willing model (my daughter Gelli) helped me "break in" the new setup (two SB-800's, one umbrella) yesterday, and I would like some c/c on this photo. Other than the horrid background (the wall of my office), did I do okay on the exposure, positioning of the speedlights, and in my post-processing to make the photo softer?

Setup: D50 on manual, 1/350 @ f/11, 50mm f/1.8 lens, (2) SB-800's (one of which was attached to an umbrella). Umbrella was placed at around 60 degrees to the left of the subject, while second SB-800 was on the floor behind subject at an angle upwards on the wall. The built-in flash of the D50 was used to trigger the SB-800's in SU-4 mode.



Many thanks in advance: I can't believe how fun portrait photography is! I want to volunteer to take portraits of all my friends and their kids!!! lol

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[betterliving]

Looks pretty good. Try cutting the umbrella flash intensity down and change the background to darker.
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David

 

[flakko]

I normally use black background paper and iluminate it with a flash to the color that better enhances the picture.

I would have liked her right eye to have shown more of the black, not looking so far to the left

 

[me2000]

I shoot with a D50 and a SB600. I want to add a second flash like you are doing. Judging by your results, I will. Only question, will it be a SB600 or SB800. (I know the differences...)

Could you tell me how you the SU-4 works. Have you ever used the SU-800 ?

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D50, 18-70, 50f/1.8D. Love it.
DK21M Eyepiece magnifier.
SB600 Flash
7000 pictures with the D50
User of Gimp and Ufraw on Linux instead of Photoshop
Nikon 950, still used !

 

[Edge767]

Well, I haven't used an SU-800, and the SU-4 "mode" is where the SB-800 emulates using an SU-4 in that it detects flash and shoots. Using both of my SB-800's this way allows me three speedlights, although I did take the power on the built-in flash to 1/8.

Setting the SB-800 up to do so only took a few moments of reading the SB-800 User Guide, but I now find myself wanting more material on shooting portraits and setting up flash properly.
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[Edge767]

Thanks for the feedback, David. I will definitely keep shooting, and will take your advice.

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[Edge767]

Thanks for the feedback! I was trying to decide if I should go with white or black as my first backdrop, but based on what I've seen in a few places, I think I'll go with the black and use gels on the flash that is behind the subject.

Thanks again!
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[flakko]

Well, I haven't used an SU-800, and the SU-4 "mode" is where the
SB-800 emulates using an SU-4 in that it detects flash and shoots.
Using both of my SB-800's this way allows me three speedlights,
although I did take the power on the built-in flash to 1/8.

Setting the SB-800 up to do so only took a few moments of reading
the SB-800 User Guide, but I now find myself wanting more material
on shooting portraits and setting up flash properly.
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I use two umbrellas, one at full power the other one at half. one flash in the background with a gell and one small Quantaray MS-1 $20 at Ritz for the hairlight, and a light meter, shooting manual.
Sometimes only one umbrella with a white posterboard on the oposite side.

 

[Edge767]

Thanks, Flakko.

Almost immediately after receiving my umbrella and umbrella mount in the mail, I realized I should have ordered two of them. One is nice, but I can see where having two may be nicer.

Thanks for the info!!!

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[Nealh]

I thought that the shot was good. I noticed that your shutter speed was quite fast. The faster the shutter speed, the more prevalent the flash as the main light source. This is ok but can result in muddy backgrounds. I would have liked to have seen a shot taken with a 1 or 2 stop (1/200s or 1/125s) exposure bracket. You would see a more natural shadow (with a it more fill) develop as there is better illumination from ambient light. Make sure that you turn your office lights off though (as long as there is a window) as you can get a green/yellow cast if the shutter speed is too long.

 

[Edge767]

Great tips! Thank you!

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[Mike Leone]

My more-than-willing model (my daughter Gelli) helped me "break in"
the new setup (two SB-800's, one umbrella) yesterday, and I would
like some c/c on this photo. Other than the horrid background (the
wall of my office), did I do okay on the exposure, positioning of
the speedlights, and in my post-processing to make the photo softer?

Quite a nice job, especially for a first attempt.

Setup: D50 on manual, 1/350 @ f/11, 50mm f/1.8 lens, (2) SB-800's
(one of which was attached to an umbrella). Umbrella was placed at
around 60 degrees to the left of the subject, while second SB-800
was on the floor behind subject at an angle upwards on the wall.

I like the background. Perhaps having the umbrella at closer to a 45 degree angle (a bit less sidelighting), and perhaps a bit less intense, might make for a pleasing shot, too (softer light). Just some thoughts. Well done; look forward to more.

 

[Bill E(UK)]

Hi

I use the SB800 with my D70 bodies and have used this remotely both in SU-4 mode and under the intelligent wireless remote (this allows far more control than the SU-4 mode).

Having said that, I use my SB800 in SU-4 mode together with a set of old pro style hammerhead flash units (Chinon) and bounce reflectors with slave light triggers. Many of these older flash units can be purchased for very little money on ebay and many have adjustable power level or auto sensing making them ideal for a cheap studio set-up.

Anyone wishing to set up an SU-4 type control environment need not spend on multiple SB600 or 800 but buy some cheaper units and experiment first.

One warning: don't use these older units wired to your camera unless you have first tested the trigger voltage to be low. Many older flash units use high voltage triggers that will damage a digital camera.

If you really want to get creative, use multiple SB-600 or 800's in the wireles s intelligent mode (not sure if D-50 supports this) as this allows you to set different power levels on each unit but still link to the flash metering system on the camera. SU-4 mode requires manual camera and flash settings (either trial and error (use your histogram display and the peak flashing highlights screen) or buy a flash meter (Gossen, sekonic etc.).

If you do buy some cheap slave units, try to get identical models so you can calciulate exposure (by either reducing power or moving further away) more easily.

Hope this gives some inspiration and gets more people into portrait and studio photography at a sensible strt up cost!

BTW, nice portrait, a little softly lit for my taste but works very well for a child shot.

Bill E (UK)

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Bill Ellingford
Forest of Dean, UK

 

[flakko]

Thanks, Flakko.

Almost immediately after receiving my umbrella and umbrella mount
in the mail, I realized I should have ordered two of them. One is
nice, but I can see where having two may be nicer.

Thanks for the info!!!

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No sweat just get a nice poster board about 24x36 or 36x48 and position it opposite the umbrella, you can also use the board outdoor with the subject being lit by the sun on one side and the board on the other.

To save time and avoid trial and error I recommend a meter, doesn't have to be an expensive one but something that can read the light falling on the subject, I use a Sekonic L-308b.

 

[morris]

I think you have done a very nice job with the lighting. You need another light source behind her to make her hair glow. If you don’t want to invest in another flash, you could place an incandescent lamp back there with no shade.

Morris

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http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~morris/POD

 

[digiworm]

very nice shot...i like the softness that it portrays..the 50/1.8 lens is so nice

 

[Edge767]

Thanks, Mike.

I'll be doing lots more of these photos this weekend taking all this great advice into account.

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[Edge767]

Thank you, Bill.

Using the SB-800's in SU-4 mode does seem a bit overkill in the sense that the strength of the SB-800's is their ability to be programmed for the smart lighting via radio. With a D50, I don't have the commander mode unless I mount one of the SB-800's onto my camera. For the time being (until I get a camera higher on the food chain), I am tied to either using one SB-800 as commander, or using SU-4. What I've found I like about the SU-4 mode is that it's forcing me to better understand the many facets of using speedlights since I'm having to use the camera in manual as well. Using manual outdoors hasn't been a problem for me in a long time, but flash photography has always been the bane of my existence. With DSLR's, it's so nice to finally be getting a grip on this monster!

I will more than likely pick up a few more slave flashes: I read earlier in this very thread that there is a Quantaray that is around $20 that operates as a small flash-activated flash. I'll probably pick up a few of these to augment my lighting setup already.

Thanks again for the plethora of information you provide! I'll be taking more photos incorporating all the advice I've been getting and look forward to posting a new photo soon!
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[Edge767]

Thank you, Morris. I'll be getting a few more small flashes that I'll be adding to my kit to better help with the lighting (and backlighting).

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[Edge767]

Thanks!

Yes, the 50 f/1.8 is a phenominal lens! I actually had to soften the photo in post-processing because it was so sharp. I think the softening effect came out nicely and really made the picture glow.

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