Never used off camera flash (and hardly any flash at all). help

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lukewoodford

FYI, I am Luke Woodford.....by Luke Woodford
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Luke Woodford
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Hello people, I love natural like, not sure why, maybe its because its what I know or just because the way ive learnt to use it and I like the results but.......

time to experiment!!

I have an idea, try and picture this-

Night time, Massive industrial metal shutter as background, model in underwear.

I will be taking pictures from directly in front of her. I just want to light her up so the edges of the image are still black (or very dark).

I have an SB-800. Can I get away with just using this? Can I use it on camera I use some form of snoot? Would this work? Id like to experiment with off camera aswell but do I NEED more flashes?

Thanks in advance!

Luke
 
I'm pretty new to off camera flash, but the way i'd go about it is to attach a large Snoot to the flash at distance, or having a small/medium Reflective Umbrella set up close to the model so the light becomes more directional towards the model and focuses on her.

I dont know much, but just how i'd go about it..

Hope it helps!
 
Hi Luke, you have a nikon so with CLS you can get off camera straight away. Bonus!

For lighting you are basically describing a spot light. You should be able to zoom your flash, try it tonight and see how effective it is and if that is enough. (it depends on how much you can zoom it and the distance it will need to be from the model)

If you need more in the way of directional light, make a snoot. A piece of black card and some tape is all you need to try it out. You can buy snoots and honeycombs that attach via velcro if it's something you want to have at hand in the future.

Hope that helps
 
AliB said:
Hi Luke, you have a nikon so with CLS you can get off camera straight away. Bonus!

For lighting you are basically describing a spot light. You should be able to zoom your flash, try it tonight and see how effective it is and if that is enough. (it depends on how much you can zoom it and the distance it will need to be from the model)

If you need more in the way of directional light, make a snoot. A piece of black card and some tape is all you need to try it out. You can buy snoots and honeycombs that attach via velcro if it's something you want to have at hand in the future.

Hope that helps
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Thanks for the replies, what is CLS? I will definatle try zooming and stuff tonight.
 
I'm interested in this too, although typically having a D60 I can't use the CLS. What's a decent alternative? I'd like a reasonable distance between the camera and flash (say 6ft) so would I be better off with cable or wireless? If so, what's recommended, pref. as cheap as possible?

Sorry for the thread hijack!
 
lukewoodford said:
I just watched a demo on CLS, am I understanding it right that I don't need to buy a wireless or cord trigger?
Click to expand...

D700 will act as commander using CLS, all you need to do is put your SB-800 into remote mode and you can control it's output via the back of your camera. I use this a lot, such a shame it limits you to two groups (so you have to buy a commander flash).

Using commander (you need to pop your on camera flash first), I set the flashes to manual (turn the camera flash off - although it can act as a fill if you're desperate), then adjust as necessary.

Edit: Luke, triggers are great for non-CLS cameras, and for other types of shooting. CLS uses IR, which has limitations in bright sunlight. Things like PocketWizards can work through thick concrete walls. They were originally intended for using studio strobes wirelessly, although they work perfectly with a flash.
 
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