First Off-Cam Strobing Attempts

[hynek]

Hi,

I'm trying to get into off-cam strobing and wanted to ask your opinion about my first half-way acceptable attempt:



EXIF:
Camera: Nikon D90
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Strobe:
One SB-600 through an umbrella left, above the model. As I haven't remote triggers yet (are stuck at UPS ), so I had to use AWL and block off the pop-up flash with my hand. A rather dim ambient light otherwise.

Post processing:
Just a little bit dodge & burn + some skin softening around the eyes.


So what do you think? How can I improve with one flash? Overall critique is welcome too of course.

TIA

[zona5101]

Outstanding work. I believe you nailed it. I would not change anything.

[i speak in math]

Looks good. I would tweak a few things compositionally next time. I would like to see a tiny bit more face. I would like to see half instead of less than half as it is now. I would move the fan over a bit to get the fingers out of the frame as well. Other than that, looks good.

[hynek]

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

JFTR: There was a reason why there's only as much face as is shown. So it's been a comprimise.

[evader]

I think it's a really nice shot. I am also trying my hand at portrait type shots using an sb600 off camera.
Did you use any type of reflectors or anything else like that? What output power was the sb600 set at?

Thanks

[iboy]

In Nikon's CLS on the D90 I believe you can trigger with the pop up flash without actually having it contribute light to the picture. I'd have to go look at the settings but I think you set it to "--" and it will still trigger the off camera flash.

[hynek]

Originally Posted by evader

I think it's a really nice shot. I am also trying my hand at portrait type shots using an sb600 off camera.
Did you use any type of reflectors or anything else like that? What output power was the sb600 set at?

I was using a shoot-through umbrella (as stated left above the model). I don't remember the power, I should really start writing it up. Just experiment!

Set your exposure as you want it (strobist suggests 2 EV below the ambient light but I didn't know it back then ) and play with the flash controls until it is well-lit.

[hynek]

Originally Posted by iboy

In Nikon's CLS on the D90 I believe you can trigger with the pop up flash without actually having it contribute light to the picture. I'd have to go look at the settings but I think you set it to "--" and it will still trigger the off camera flash.

No, that doesn't work as they as the flash is triggered by the light of the pop-up (if you set it to ---, it still flashes).

I set the pop-up to the lowest possible power and blocked it with my hand.

But now I've got my Yong Nuo RF-602 which work perfectly and are pretty cheap compared to Pocket Wizards or even the Sync cables.

You can get them from eBay UK (I also got my light stand from there.) or some other seller.

I'm very pleased with it so far.

[hynek]

I have to correct myself: If you set the internal flash to "--", it strobes before taking the picture (for communication). Thus it flashes but doesn't have any impact on the exposure.

TL;DR: iboy was right, you can do perfectly wireless off-cam strobing w/o additional gear with the Nikon D90.

Just make sure the light of the cam flash reaches the IR sensor of the SB-600.