i’ll also kick up my EV and zoom out my flash head when using the BFT half rolled back to see how that works as a starting point. i’m sure i’ll have to adjust from there.

am i on the right track in my thinking?

A

Andrew, 20 ft isn’t such a huge distance to bounce flash, when used at an appropriate aperture and ISO combination. The one variable here that makes things murky, is that you used Auto ISO. This means your actual ISO that you ended up with, was probably too low.

Neil vN

i shot my D7000 mainly with an omnibounce since i didnt have time to really think about the bounce problems i was having. i shot at 1/80s, 4.5 (or so) and auto ISO, all in TTL mode. i know my ambient metering wasnt far off of -2 stops for without flash i was 1/20s, f4.5, ISO 2000 and still underexposed. my flash compensation was set to +.7 mainly to make up for poor ambient light.

could the +EV have blown out my skin tones? i thought auto ISO would have fixed that. i never had any problem on my D200 when ISO was constant & FEV was 0. maybe i should go back to my old style and start over from there.

Argh.

I shot a wedding this past weekend and was disappointed with the inconsistency in exposure while in TTL mode, mainly overexposure. i’m not sure what went wrong, although i’m reading a lot about not using auto ISO with TTL and am pondering if that made a difference.

Also, i tried to apply some bounce techniques and found a big problem was underexposure. i was dealing with a tall black ceiling so tried bouncing mainly off walls (usually about a 20′ distance away). i couldnt get enough flash power. it was odd….and frustrating.

i hope a little more practice will help.

Donovan, good luck on the new job. That’s pretty exciting!

TTL vs manual flash in this instance … if the photographer is working with specific aperture setting, and with specific distance to the subject … then this fixed approach of using either 1/8 or 1/16 would work well.

However, if you move closer or further away from your subject .. or decide to use different aperture (and ISO) settings .. then the manual flash exposure will vary MORE than the TTL flash exposure would. You would have to work within a narrow range of distance / aperture / ISO settings for such a fixed manual flash approach to work properly.

Obviously, available light changes .. which immediately imply that shutter speed / aperture / ISO combinations change for different scenarios. Which, for me, would mean that such a limited way of using manual flash, doesn’t quite make sense.

There are 2 more ways that using only 1/8 to 1/16 manual flash will fall down:

– when you bounce flash, the size of the room will be a huge factor in light loss. TTL flash will automatically compensate for this.

– the difference between fill-flash (with correct ambient exposure and FEC around -3EV) .. and flash as main soure of light (with ambient being under-exposed but flash taking up the slack) … the difference in flash exposure there is 3 stops or more.

Finally, your colleagues would have to work within a fairly narrow set of scenarios for their approach to be consistently successful.

Neil vN

If you’re getting under-exposure via the GN calculation, then just open up by 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop. Or however much is necessary. Obviously then Nikon’s estimation of their GN is little boastful .. or perhaps you are trying this outside where there is no white walls to reflect some of the light and boost the GN. There could be a few factors influencing this.

Ultimately though, if the theory doesn’t match the practical results … then be guided by the practical results. There are real world limitations that come into play why the theory doesn’t match the results. We just accept it, adjust for it … and try to get killer images. That’s the end objective. To be an artist and not a technician.

You’re best option here still, is to rely on a lightmeter. That’s the final word on this. If it is calibrated to your camera. So there’s always that to play with and adapt to.

Just remember, the end objective is for us to get killer images.

Neil vN

I do not want to be just a photographer shooting with a flash, I want to become the best doing this as you are and I know it does require a lot of practicing but also a help from those who already know exactly what to do, so please help if you can that I would be very grateful as I’ve been so far with all your help on this thread and all others.

Beside, I shot the same picture today but instead Manual Flash, I decided to switch to TTL-BL and bounce the flash and the results were much better, following your advises, but for some portraits, sometimes you need to shoot in Manual and I would like to really know how to calculate my setup to the perfection. I do not set myself for less and thank you for your help !!

Hi there Maurice …

To answer your questions:

>> I am starting to use Flash Manual Mode. This is what I do : I do measure the distance from subject to my camera in feet; position myself to that distance; by pressing the select bottom in my SB-800, I do match that distance and my speedlight automatically select the power to match that distance, then, I do shoot. Is this right ?

That’s essentially it.
power (which you are adjusting) … distance … aperture and ISO
Those are the 4 things you need to control to give you correct exposure for manual flash.

While you could do it with the guide number (distance / aperture / ISO), and looking at the preview on your camera, it is easier and simpler to use a lightmeter for the flash.

If you have correct exposure, and you want to change your ISO, you have to change one of the other three things (distance, power, aperture), or a combination of those 3 things, to offset the change in ISO.

But really, manual flash is easier when you use a lightmeter.

best

Neil vN