Animals photos

[Graham]

Hi all,
I have decided to give it a go and do some Animal photography, I have a 90cm Neewer softbox and a Neewer vision5 flash and some backdrops/stands etc.
Now what I would like to know is camera settings, I have a Nikon D750.
Would about f4 to f6.3 be ok and what af would I use, afa d9 or d21 or something else ?
Also what type of metering also would be best.
Thanks

 

[Fuji Dave]

I`m not an expert but when I take images of my Jack Chi Susie, I have it on Spot metering and it seems fine and make sure you focus on the eyes.

 

[Phil V]

Now what I would like to know is camera settings, I have a Nikon D750.
Manual - 1 stop below your camera's sync speed, 400ISO
Would about f4 to f6.3 be ok and what af would I use, afa d9 or d21 or something else ?
f8 I've no idea what d9 or d21 mean
Also what type of metering also would be best.
The TTL metering is completely separate from your camera's ambient metering - if you're using flash as your primary light source indoors you can use the settings above and your ambient will be massively underexposed, which it should be. Now you need to choose whether you're using Manual settings on the flash or TTL - I'd choose TTL personally.

 

[Graham]

Now what I would like to know is camera settings, I have a Nikon D750.
Manual - 1 stop below your camera's sync speed, 400ISO
Would about f4 to f6.3 be ok and what af would I use, afa d9 or d21 or something else ?
f8 I've no idea what d9 or d21 mean
Also what type of metering also would be best.
The TTL metering is completely separate from your camera's ambient metering - if you're using flash as your primary light source indoors you can use the settings above and your ambient will be massively underexposed, which it should be. Now you need to choose whether you're using Manual settings on the flash or TTL - I'd choose TTL personally.

Thanks phil, I done a little test on the family last week, sorry i can't share any photos but i guess it was in Manual haha.
Like i said, im new to this but i think they came out fairly well.
Are you familiar with this flash?

 

[Phil V]

Are you familiar with this flash?

No, I had to look it up, it's a 400Ws TTL battery head.

 

[Graham]

No, I had to look it up, it's a 400Ws TTL battery head.

Exif on one shot was, ISO, 640, S/S 1/2000 AUTO W/B. And the camera is always in manual.

 

[Phil V]

Exif on one shot was, ISO, 640, S/S 1/2000 AUTO W/B. And the camera is always in manual.

That's a pretty odd set of settings for a Manual shot with flash.

Unless theres a good reason not to* - always keep the SS below sync speed. Otherwise you're just wasting flash power.

*usually when mixing flash with bright ambient.

 

[Graham]

That's a pretty odd set of settings for a Manual shot with flash.

Unless theres a good reason not to* - always keep the SS below sync speed. Otherwise you're just wasting flash power.

*usually when mixing flash with bright ambient.

Just finding my way around atm although ive got no idea way the iso was so high.
Thanks.

 

[mike weeks]

I take it that this is indoors so put a stuffed toy etc. at about 3-4 feet from the light

try the following settings


ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/200
Aperture f8

flash in manual, start at full power, take a shot, then 1/2 power and so on to determine a base level

d9, d21 etc. are just your number of focussing points, lower the number the easier to pick a spot to focus on such as the eyes

Mike

 

[Graham]

I take it that this is indoors so put a stuffed toy etc. at about 3-4 feet from the light

try the following settings


ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/200
Aperture f8

flash in manual, start at full power, take a shot, then 1/2 power and so on to determine a base level

d9, d21 etc. are just your number of focussing points, lower the number the easier to pick a spot to focus on such as the eyes

Mike

Thanks Mike,
I did try this with real people and tbf I wasn't far out, the flash was in "M" but as i said in above comments the ISO was way too high but in all it worked out OK.

 

[Graham]

That's a pretty odd set of settings for a Manual shot with flash.

Unless theres a good reason not to* - always keep the SS below sync speed. Otherwise you're just wasting flash power.

*usually when mixing flash with bright ambient.

Thanks phil,
When I do get my 1st subject and all goes well I will post up some shots.
Thanks also re the advice for shooting in TTL, I've had a look at the flash and it was indeed in Manual, all changed now.

 

[Phil V]

Thanks phil,
When I do get my 1st subject and all goes well I will post up some shots.
Thanks also re the advice for shooting in TTL, I've had a look at the flash and it was indeed in Manual, all changed now.

That’s a late night post, I’d choose Manual.
I only use TTL flash when moving around. Always manual in a static situation.

 

[Graham]

That’s a late night post, I’d choose Manual.
I only use TTL flash when moving around. Always manual in a static situation.

Ah ok.

 

[Bobsyeruncle]

As stated above, usually iso 100, ss between 1/125 - 1/250 and f8 is what I use most of the time. Flash is usually on 1/2 power, sometimes less.

 

[Graham]

Question, why is it that SS is so slow and below sync speed considering that I could ramp it up a fair bit?

 

[Bobsyeruncle]

Question, why is it that SS is so slow and below sync speed considering that I could ramp it up a fair bit?

1/250 is as high as I can go on my camera.
Never been an issue.

 

[Graham]

Ok that's fair enough but with this flash i have i could go upto 1/8000 on lets say a D500.

 

[mike weeks]

Ok that's fair enough but with this flash i have i could go upto 1/8000 on lets say a D500.

unless shooting outside or fast sports you are losing more than you are gaining

Mike

 

[Graham]

unless shooting outside or fast sports you are losing more than you are gaining

Mike

Thank`s Mike, i`ll keep that in mind but I have no intention of doing outside or sports shot`s, although I know you are just mentioning the fact.

 

[realspeed]

I have done a few dog photos in the past so lets start.
Standing have the dog 3/4 on facing you if you want a head whole body shot

at a pet race meeting. too slow a shutter speed to "freeze the shot, but gives the idea

watch out for leg placement if stationery

typical bad shot, dog only seems to have one back leg

Head shots try for some expression. focus on the eye with good DOF

Avoid direct flash it can upset a dog
not forgetting get down to their level, not looking down on them

Capturing movement make good photos

 

[Graham]

I have done a few dog photos in the past so lets start.
Standing have the dog 3/4 on facing you if you want a head whole body shot

at a pet race meeting. too slow a shutter speed to "freeze the shot

watch out for leg placement if stationery

typical bad shot, dog only seems to have one back leg

Head shots try for some expression. focus on the eye with good DOF

Avoid direct flash it can upset a dog
not forgetting get down to their level, not looking down on them

Thanks for the advice.
Hopefully the flash will not bother them at all, the father in law didn`t even notice it had triggered when I took a few shot`s of him.

 

[realspeed]

Flash could cause red eye as below, something to avoid. taken as an example of what not to get. You can actually see the flash gun in the eyes if you enlarge the photo. The other shot above has natural light from the window behind me

panning is another way for taking dog photos.
Two choices
1 track the dog so it is in focus and blur the background
2 fix a background point and let the dog run into frame so the dog is blurred
again a lot depends on shutter speed which is a trial and error job

following the dog with blurred background. still not fast enough shutter speed

fixed focal point with dogs running into frame

as i said trial and error and easy to get wrong as shown but gives the idea. Distance is a huge factor as well

 

[Graham]

Flash could cause red eye as below, something to avoid. taken as an example of what not to get. You can actually see the flash gun in the eyes

[/QU
OTE]

Luckily we have programs that can help rid this red-eye.

 

[realspeed]

i have tried editing out red eye and it is not the same as avoiding it all together if possible. When i tried it the eyes didn't look right for the dog. the trick is to try and get a natural look /light from the start

 

[realspeed]

as a by the bye a trick I use at a zoo with mesh compounds. I get as close to the mesh as possible using a fingertip to keep the lens just off the mesh. That way the mesh becomes blurred and the animal are as if you are in to compound with them

 

[Graham]

as a by the bye trick i use at a zoo with mesh compounds. i get as close to the mesh as possible using a fingertip to keep the lens just off the mesh. That way the mesh becomes blurred and the animal as if you are in to compound with them

Yes thanks, i do know that one but I'll be doing home shots (i hope)

 

[realspeed]

love to see them Graham. I have absolute loads of our pets, at least it is a way of remembering them over the last 40 years.

Here is another trick you may like to have a go at.

With this one I used my camcorder but no reason why not with a DSLR in video mode. What i did was put it on a monopod and held it upside down to ground level. After following Teazle it was back to the editing suite to turn it up the right way. Just a bit of fun getting a dogs eye view of the world in which she lives.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2neVnTkqPAM

 

[Faldrax]

Question, why is it that SS is so slow and below sync speed considering that I could ramp it up a fair bit?

With the flash operating 'normally' you are limited to no faster than the Sync speed of the camera - this is a limitation of how the shutter works.
The 'Shutter' is, in fact, two shutters - the first opens to start the exposure, the second then closes to end the exposure.
Since these are mechanical parts, opening and closing are not 'instant' - so to get fast shutter speeds the second shutter actually starts to close before the first shutter has finished opening - so that (for a fast shutter speed) at any given instant, only part of the sensor is actually unobscured - the bit in the 'gap' between the edges of the shutters.
The 'Sync speed' is the fastest shutter speed for which the second shutter does not start to close before the first shutter has completely opened (with a little adjustment to allow for variations on when exactly the flash might fire).

To go 'faster' then the sync speed, flashguns use a 'trick' where instead of a single bright (and short duration) flash, the instead give a very rapid series of lower power flashes.
This approximates to a continuous light over the period of the shot - and so you get an image in the same way as you would with continuous light - the bottom of the image is of the scene a (very) short time after the top - but provided nothing moves much, all is OK, as the time difference is very small.

The downside, as already mentioned, is that in order to get the flash to be able to maintain the rapid firing, the power output has to be reduced significantly, and so typically the overall exposure will be less than from a single flash.

 

[jamesev]

That’s a late night post, I’d choose Manual.
I only use TTL flash when moving around. Always manual in a static situation.

Phil, a question that often comes up when shooting manual flash is how do you know what manual setting to use. Obviously in TTL the setting is worked out by some jiggery pokery on a circuit board in the flash unit. If you over ride this with the circuit board in your brain do you start with a setting take a test shot and adjust til its "right". Or can you just "see" what setting to use right out of the blocks because of that "experience" thing?

 

[Bobsyeruncle]

Eventually you'll get a feel for what's usually ok, and then you make minor adjustments as required.

 

[Phil V]

Phil, a question that often comes up when shooting manual flash is how do you know what manual setting to use. Obviously in TTL the setting is worked out by some jiggery pokery on a circuit board in the flash unit. If you over ride this with the circuit board in your brain do you start with a setting take a test shot and adjust til its "right". Or can you just "see" what setting to use right out of the blocks because of that "experience" thing?

This...

Eventually you'll get a feel for what's usually ok, and then you make minor adjustments as required.

But it’s not as tricky as it first appears.
If you start with sync speed -1 for the shutter speed, then an ISO based on quality; so 400 or less. Then your variables become aperture v flash power.
If you’re a purist, you can use a flash meter, if not, you can shoot a test and chimp.
I have a f5.6 and 1/4 power as a start point with speedlights and 1/16 power with my studio heads, but once you’ve nailed the ‘knowns’ it becomes obvious.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Phil, a question that often comes up when shooting manual flash is how do you know what manual setting to use. Obviously in TTL the setting is worked out by some jiggery pokery on a circuit board in the flash unit. If you over ride this with the circuit board in your brain do you start with a setting take a test shot and adjust til its "right". Or can you just "see" what setting to use right out of the blocks because of that "experience" thing?

As Phil and Bobsyeruncle said. . .
We've become over-reliant on technology, it's all now so easy that many of us just use the technology and switch off our brains, which actually do a far better job. When we use our brains we already have the basic data that we need, for example we know roughly how much flash energy is emitted by the flash unit because the manufacturer has told us what the guide number is.

Let's assume that the guide number is accurate and that it's 100 (in feet). With no modifier fitted to the flash head we know that with the ISO set to 100 then at a distance of 10' from flash to subject the correct indoor exposure will be f/10 (100/10=10) so call that f/11 for convenience. And we know how the inverse square law works, so we know that if the distance is reduced to 5' then the correct exposure will be at f/22. And we know that if we want to shoot at f/8 then we need to turn the flash power down to 1/8th.

Adding a modifier of some kind will change this, and adding extra lights will change it again, but not by much because the key or main light almost always does nearly all of the work (in terms of both exposure and lighting effect) and these factors are easily calculated.

But yes, there's an element of experience involved too, all that this does is to speed the process up. The alternative option, using a flash meter, is arguably slightly more accurate but also takes a lot longer than making a quick calculation and then taking a test shot. The test shot is needed anyway, to judge the lighting effect and the same shot will also confirm the exposure, so no time lost there.

This very basic mental arithmetic dates back to the time when we were shooting on film and needed to get it right, and before flash meters were available, it worked then and it still works.

The same thing applies to getting the exposure right outdoors, shooting on film. Go back long enough and cameras didn't have automatic metering and didn't even include a meter of any kind. Meters were available but they used to cost a week's wages and most of us didn't have them - but what we did have was a simple guide that came with every roll of film, this included the "Sunny 16 rule" which told us that in bright summer sunlight, 100 ISO and 1/100th second required f//16 - simple but very effective.

 

[Gremlin]

Make sure your gear is covered by insurance !
I know a couple of photographers that have had expensive gear wreck
by badly behaved dogs

 

[juggler]

But yes, there's an element of experience involved too, all that this does is to speed the process up. The alternative option, using a flash meter, is arguably slightly more accurate but also takes a lot longer than making a quick calculation and then taking a test shot. The test shot is needed anyway, to judge the lighting effect and the same shot will also confirm the exposure, so no time lost there.

Not for me. I find a flash meter is way quicker - and doesn't rely on assumptions about guide numbers being accurate or the effect a modifier will have.

Maybe I'll change my mind when I've got as much experience as you

 

[Garry Edwards]

Not for me. I find a flash meter is way quicker - and doesn't rely on assumptions about guide numbers being accurate or the effect a modifier will have.

Maybe I'll change my mind when I've got as much experience as you

I think that it's probably more about context than experience, but I'll plead guilty to generalising too. . .

In many situations I would agree with you. For example if I was photographing Cornish ice cream against a white background with various effect lights and with backlighting thrown in for good measure I would use an flash meter and I would also use a colour temperature meter, simply because everything would need to be right and there would be very little lattitude for error. But the OP has asked about photographing animals, which I assume to be pets, in a home studio with basic equipment.
A key light, a fill which - if not overdone - will affect the exposure only a little - and probably some light on the background. That's a simple scenario that with minimal experience should allow an educated guess that will be close enough to need little in the way of correction.

And something else that needs to be factored in is that all that a meter actually does is to produce data, which then has to be interpreted. For example, f/11 may be technically correct in terms of an incident reading but it may not produce the required result, which could easily be f/8 or f/16. And then there's usage, for example the meter should always be pointed at the lens when the lighting is frontal or mainly frontal but needs to be pointed at the light when the subject is rimlit, and although a semi-spherical receptor suits 3-dimensional subjects a flat one is needed for 2-dimensional subjects and not everything falls neatly into one of those categories - all or which creates a need for both knowledge and experience when using a meter.

 

[Graham]

No meter reading for me so it will all be done as is.
Like I have said, I am in this field a total newbie that needs to learn a bit.
I have used this set-up on the family for which I am banned from showing anywhere on the internet but I did use one of my speedlights for some side lighting and I had this in "S" slave mode and it kept up with the neewer flash at 1/2000 or more, strange this as when I use this flash in M or TTL mounted on the camera it will max out at 1/250, Just seems strange to me that I can use it for one in slave and it`s ok but in Manual/TTL and I`m limited.
Anyway, no need to get technical with any answers here on this one.

 

[juggler]

all or which creates a need for both knowledge and experience when using a meter.

definitely.. and practice. It's very easy to get a complex meter into a state where it seems to make no sense at all.. and then it causes more work than it could have saved.

 

[Garry Edwards]

In an idle moment I checked out the "Neewer vision5 flash" because I didn't know what it is - all that I know is that Neewer don't actually make anything, everything that they sell is rebranded. In fact it's a Visico 5, more info on he Visico range here https://www.lencarta.com/visico

The higher end Visico models (which includes this one) are in fact extremely good, capable machines with all the features. They are virtually unknown outside China but if Godox didn't dominate the market they'd sell like hot cakes. . . You've got a good flash.

What you seem to be doing though is to be using the fancy features that it has, without good reason. TTL and HSS can be useful outdoors but you're just making your life over complicated when you use them indoors. Just the the flash on manual, with the shutter speed set to about 1/125th and it will all get a lot easier - and quicker..

 

[juggler]

No meter reading for me so it will all be done as is.
Like I have said, I am in this field a total newbie that needs to learn a bit.
I have used this set-up on the family for which I am banned from showing anywhere on the internet but I did use one of my speedlights for some side lighting and I had this in "S" slave mode and it kept up with the neewer flash at 1/2000 or more, strange this as when I use this flash in M or TTL mounted on the camera it will max out at 1/250, Just seems strange to me that I can use it for one in slave and it`s ok but in Manual/TTL and I`m limited.
Anyway, no need to get technical with any answers here on this one.

I think you need to get the difference between normal flash and high speed sync really clear in your head. I'd suggest avoiding both TTL & HSS while you're learning on static subjects. The fact that your system can - mainly - seem to swap seamlessly from one to the other is likely to confuse you more as the behaviour is quite different.

No need to get technical on this one

There is, while you're using HSS.

ISO, 640, S/S 1/2000 AUTO W/B.

This is a very strange setup. There's no reason to use ISO640, nor any reason to go at 1/2000 - which will force you in to HSS territory.
Fwiw the max sync speed on my D750 varies from 1/160 to 1/250 depending on the triggers & flash setup used.

The ISO was way too high

I wonder how much ambient light there was in your setup? It's possible that the flash was barely registering and most of the light was ambient.

It's difficult to help much further without some example pictures.

I think Mike is right.. set up a soft toy, dial in ISO100, f8, 1/160s and take a shot with no flash. It should be basically black.
Then turn the flash on in manual & adjust its power to suit.

 

[Graham]

Thanks Simon and Garry.
I know I am trying to run before I can walk with this set-up but that`s me all over.
I am in holiday mode atm (I leave in 2 days) so I have not even tried to get any clientèle work but in 3 weeks time I will be doing more to help myself with finding some.
Anyway as you know, taking great shots and taking ok shots is normally all the same for joe bloggs but it will be a learning curve for me as I progress along the way.