Help my exposures with flash

[Booncha57]

Hello everyone!

Here goes my first post. I have a D3000 with an SB600 and am trying to understand how to use the flash effectively in changing light conditions.

I took a bunch of photos for my cousin at her bridal shower and the lighting was very poor in the restaurant. There lights were dim and there was also a bay-style window letting in harsh light on half of the crowd.

I was having a hard time in manual mode on my camera with the flash and the changing light situations. If I had everyone in one spot, I could play with manual on the camera and the flash and get it to work out, but I guess I'm wondering how you walk around taking photos with changing light using a flash and camera both on manual and actually catch shots? When using the flash I ended up throwing it in P mode so that I didn't blow all of the opportunities of good photos.

The second part of my questions is, how does TTl work in bounce situations? I'm thinking it affects the exposure since the light isn't blasting right at the subject?

I'm comfortable getting correct exposures without the flash, but not yet with it.

Please let me know if you have any tips!

Thank you!

[candleman]

planet neil

...theres dozens of pages of examples and explainations there

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by Booncha57

When using the flash I ended up throwing it in P mode so that I didn't blow all of the opportunities of good photos.

There is nothing wrong with program mode. There is nothing "unprofessional" or "unskilled" by letting the camera do it's job... especially if you're at fast moving event or in a changing enviornment. Know what your camera is doing and override it when needed. Same with aperture and shutter priority.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by candleman

planet neil

...theres dozens of pages of examples and explainations there

Holy crap, thanks for that Candleman.. great great site for help on lighting!

[Booncha57]

Thanks for the link!

I guess I'm just trying to keep it in manual mode to become better/more familiar with my camera and the principles.

[candleman]

no problem

basically.. the TTL will cause the flash to firre "harder" to get the right exposure no mater where you point it.
thats the magic of TTL.

its all about how you meter (metering modes) in combination with your ISO,Aperture,shutterspeed an mixed in with flash exposure compensation... thats how you have the control

[inkista]

Changing lighting conditions = use iTTL on the flash. It's analogous to A or S mode on the camera in terms of setting the flash power automatically, based on metering.

However, you really want to use M on the camera (which can take a lot of practice), because that's how you can control the balance between the two basic elements of a flash photograph: the ambient illumination and the flash illumination.

My basic advice to anyone starting out in flash photography is make sure that you've got ambient exposure nailed down and automatic in your head first. You should be able to swap stops among iso, aperture, and shutter speed before you put the flash on your camera. Because flash photography is just going to throw flash distance and flash power into the mix. And it's easier to learn to juggle five balls if you can already juggle three.

The reason P can be good is that you'll get consistent results. The reason P can be bad is that it may consistently be not what you want. Chances are good, if Nikons work the way Canons do, that the metering/flash algorithms used ensure that you get a well-lit subject, but that the background will be dark.

You can actually control how much of the background you want to see/contrast with your subject by controlling the settings on your camera in Manual mode. Even if you're using iTTL.

Unlike ambient exposure, there isn't a single "correct" amount of light to let in for a good exposure. With flash, you can have any combination of balancing the ambient against the flash--it depends on what you want. You can use mostly ambient and just flick in a little bit of flash to lift the shadows, or you can use flash as your main source of illumination and have the background go to black. It depends on what you want to do and how much light from either source you've got to work with.

Yes. Flash photography really is that much more complex.