Nikon 978-0-470-04527-5 User Manual

Nikon®Creative

Lighting System

Digital Field Guide

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Nikon

®

Creative

Lighting System

Digital Field Guide

J. Dennis Thomas

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Nikon®Creative Lighting System Digital Field Guide

Published by

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

111 River Street
Hoboken, N.J. 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-04527-5

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1K/RZ/RS/QW/IN

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About the Author

J. Dennis Thomas, known to his friends as Denny, has been interested in photography
since his early teens when he found some of his father’s old photography equipment and
photographs of the Vietnam War. Fortunately, he was able to take photography classes with
an amazing teacher that started him on a path of learning that has never stopped.

Denny’s first paying photography gig was in 1990 when he was asked to do promotional
shots for a band being promoted by Warner Bros. Records. Although he has pursued many
different career paths through the years, including a few years of being a musician, his love
of photography and the printed image has never waned.

With the advent of digital photography, although he was resistant to give up film, Denny
realized there was yet more to learn in the realm of photography. It was just like starting all
over. Photography was fresh and exciting again. Realizing that the world of digital photog­raphy was complex and new, Denny decided to pursue a degree in photography in order
to learn the complex techniques of digital imaging with the utmost proficiency.

Eventually Denny turned his life-long passion into a full time job. He currently owns his own
company, Dead Sailor Productions, a photography and graphic design business. He does free­lance work for companies including RedBull Energy Drink, Obsolete Industries, Secret Hideout
Studios, and Digital Race Photography. He still continues to photograph bands, including LA
Guns, the US Bombs, Skid Row, Quiet Riot, Echo & the Bunnymen, Dick Dale, Link Wray, and
Willie Nelson. He has been published in several regional publications and continues to show
his work in various galleries throughout the country.

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Project Editor

Cricket Krengel

Technical Editor

Michael D. Sullivan

Copy Editor

Jerelind Charles

Product Development Supervisor

Courtney Allen

Editorial Manager

Robyn B. Siesky

Vice President & Group Executive
Publisher

Richard Swadley

Vice President & Publisher

Barry Pruett

Business Manager

Amy Knies

Project Coordinator

Erin Smith

Graphics and Production Specialists

LeAndra Hosier
Jennifer Mayberry
Brent Savage

Quality Control Technician

Brian H. Walls

Proofreading

Ethel M. Winslow

Indexing

Stephen Ingle

Credits

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This book is dedicated to my family.

To Hunter and Dylan, Mom, Dad, Diana, Tami, and the rest...

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Acknowledgments

T

hanks to Jack Puryear at Puryear Digital Photography, Robert and Jerry at Precision

Camera and Video in Austin, TX, Julia Czech at Wet Salon in Austin, TX, the faculty and
staff at Austin Community College, all the bands and models, Cricket, Courtney, and Tom at
Wiley Publishing, and especially to Ashley for supporting me while I undertook this project.

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Contents at a Glance

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

Quick Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Part I: Using the Creative Lighting System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 1: Exploring the CLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Chapter 2: Setting Up the SB-600 and SB-800 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Part II: Creating Great Photos with the Creative Lighting

System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Chapter 3: Flash Photography Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 4: Wireless Flash Photography with the CLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Chapter 5: Setting Up a Wireless Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Chapter 6: Real-World Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Chapter 7: Simple Posing for Great Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Part III: Appendixes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Appendix A: Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

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Contents

Introduction xix

Quick Tour 1

Getting Up and Running Quickly 2
Taking Your First Photos with the

Speedlight 4

Part I: Using the Creative
Lighting System 7

Chapter 1: Exploring the CLS 9

Features of the Nikon Creative

Lighting System 9

SB-800 10

SB-800 specs and features 10
Main parts 12
Control buttons 15
SB-800 accessories 17

SB-600 17

SB-600 feature overview 17
Main parts 18
Control buttons 21
SB-600 accessories 23

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Other Components of the Creative

Lighting System 23

Camera compatibility 23

D50 25
D70/D70s 25
D200 26

D2X/D2Xs and D2H/D2Hs 26
SU-800 Commander 26
SBR-200 Speedlight 27

Chapter 2: Setting Up the SB-600
and SB-800 29

Power Requirements 29

Non-rechargeable 30
Rechargeable 30

Flash Modes 31

i-TTL 31
DTTL 31
TTL 32
Balanced fill flash 32
Manual 32

Auto Aperture 32
Non-TTL Auto flash 33
Guide number distance

priority 33

Repeating flash 33

Setting Up for the Creative

Lighting System 34

Commander 34
Wireless remote flash 34

SB-600 35
SB-800 35

Sound 36

SB-600 36
SB-800 36

Zoom position 36

SB-600 36

SB-800 37
Channels 37
Setting groups 37
Adjusting output

compensation – on camera 38

Adjusting output

compensation – wireless
mode 39

D70/D70s 39

D200 40

SB-800 40

SU-800 40
Locking controls 41

SB-800 41

SB-600 41
Red-eye reduction 42
AF Assist 44

SB-600 44

SB-800 45
LCD panel illumination 45
Standby mode 45

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Part II: Creating Great
Photos with the Creative
Lighting System 47

Chapter 3: Flash Photography
Basics 49

Speedlights versus Studio Strobes 49
Basics of Lighting 53

Studio lighting 53

Placement 53
Basic Portrait lighting

types 56

Using Speedlights outdoors 60

Color Temperature and White

Balance 62

What is Kelvin? 62
Preset white balance 62

Using Bounce Flash 66

When to use bounce flash 67
Camera and Speedlight

settings 69

Explaining Flash Exposure and

Specifications 70

Guide number 70

Aperture 71
Distance 71
GN ÷ Distance = Aperture 73
Sync Speed 73
Fill flash 73

Chapter 4: Wireless Flash
Photography with the CLS 75

How CLS Works with Your Camera 76
Overview of Flash Setup in the CLS 76

Step 1: Choose a Flash mode 77
Step 2: Choose a channel 77
Step 3: Set up groups 77
Step 4: Adjust output levels 78

Setting Up Masters and Remotes 78

D70/D70s as a master 78
D200 as a master 79
SB-800 as a master 80

Setting Up Flash Modes 80

SB-800 in Master mode 81
Using a built-in Speedlight 81

Setting Channels 82

SB-800 in Master mode 82
Using a built-in Speedlight 82
Wireless remote flash 82

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Setting Up Groups 83

SB-600 84
SB-800 84

Setting Output Level Compensation 84

With the SB-800 set to Master 84
Using a built-in Speedlight 85

Chapter 5: Setting Up a Wireless
Studio 87

Introduction to the Portable Studio 88
Choosing Umbrellas 88
Using a Softbox 90

Flash-mount softboxes 90
Stand-mounted softboxes 90
Softbox alternatives 91

Backgrounds and Background

Stands 92

Seamless paper backdrops 92
Muslin backdrops 93

Canvas backdrops 94
Background stands 95

Space Requirements 95

Setting up indoors 95

Portraits 95

Small products 102
Setting up outdoors 102

Traveling with Your Wireless Studio 103

Camera cases and bags 103
Backgrounds and light stands 104

Chapter 6: Real World
Applications 107

Action and Sports Photography 107

Inspiration 109
Action and sports

photography practice 111

Action and sports

photography tips 112

Animal and Pet Photography 113

Inspiration 113
Animal and pet photography

practice 115

Animal and pet photography

tips 116

Concert Photography 117

Inspiration 118
Concert photography

practice 119

Concert photography tips 121

Event and Wedding Photography 121

Inspiration 123

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Event and wedding

photography practice 124

Event and wedding

photography tips 126

Environmental Portrait

Photography 126

Inspiration 128
Environmental portrait

photography practice 129

Environmental portrait tips 131

Group Photography 131

Inspiration 132
Group photography practice 133
Group portrait photography

tips 135

Macro and Close-up Photography 135

Inspiration 137
Macro and close-up

photography practice 138

Macro and close-up

photography tips 140

Nature and Wildlife Photography 140

Inspiration 142
Nature and wildlife

photography practice 143

Nature and wildlife

photography tips 144

Night Portrait Photography 145

Inspiration 146
Night portrait photography

practice 147

Night portrait photography

tips 148

Outdoor Portrait Photography 149

Inspiration 150
Outdoor portrait

photography practice 151

Outdoor portrait photography

tips 152

Still Life and Product Photography 153

Inspiration 154
Still life and product

photography practice 155

Still life and product

photography tips 156

Studio Portrait Photography 157

Inspiration 158
Studio portrait photography

practice 160

Studio portrait photography

tips 162

Chapter 7: Simple Posing for
Great Portraits 163

Posing Basics 163
Refined Posing Techniques 165

Positioning the

midsection 165

Positioning the arms and

hands 166

Positioning the head and

neck 167
Positions to Avoid 171
Planning Poses 171

Casual portrait posing 172
Traditional poses 173
Photojournalistic poses 173
Glamour style 174

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Part III: Appendixes 177

Glossary 179

Appendix A: Resources 185

Informational Web Sites 185
Workshops 186
Online Photography Magazines

and Other Resources 186

Index 189

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Introduction

W

hen Nikon introduced the Creative Lighting System, it was mostly overlooked.

The focus was on the rapidly changing advancement of digital SLR cameras. This
disregard was a shame because the Nikon Creative Lighting System was the most amazing
development to happen to photographic lighting in decades. The ability to infinitely control
the output of multiple lights

and to be able to do it wirelessly, without the need of an

expensive light meter was unheard of.

Even now, the praises of the Nikon CLS are largely unsung. Other companies have tried to
replicate the Nikon CLS with marginal success. Nikon simply offers more options and a
wider variety of accessories. With the SB-800, the SB-600, the SU-800, the R1, and the
R1C1, no other company comes close to offering such a multitude of tools for specific light­ing needs.

The main feature of CLS is the ability to get the flashes off of the camera and to be able to
control them wirelessly. When you’re stuck with the flash mounted on the camera or even
to a flash bracket, your ability to control the lighting is severely impeded — leaving you stuck
with full frontal lighting.

With the CLS, you can direct the light. Thus, you can create the same lighting patterns that
professionals achieve with expensive studio strobes, at a much lower cost. This is the key
to professional-looking images: controlling the lighting to get the effect you want.

The Evolution of the Nikon CLS

Nikon started toying with wireless Speedlight control in 1994 with the introduction of the
SB-26 Speedlight. This flash incorporated a built-in optical sensor that enabled you to trig­ger the flash with the firing of another flash. While this was handy, you still had to meter
the scene and set the output level manually on the SB-26 itself.

With the release of the SB-28 in 1997, Nikon dropped the built-in optical sensor. You could
still do wireless flash, but you needed to buy the SU-4 wireless sensor. Wireless flash still
had to be set manually because the pre-flashes used by the TTL metering system caused
the SU-4 to fire the Speedlight prematurely.

In 1999 Nikon released the SB-28DX; this flash was made to work with Nikon’s emerging
line of digital SLRs. The only change from the SB-28 was the metering system. The Nikon
film-based TTL metering was replaced by DTTL. This metering system compensated for the
lower reflectivity of a digital sensor as opposed to film’s highly reflective surface.

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xx Current element

In 2002 Nikon replaced the SB-28DX with the SB-80DX. The changes were minimal, more
power, wider zoom, and a modeling light. They also returned the wireless optical sensor. As
before, although you could use this Speedlight wirelessly, you still had to set everything up
on the flash itself.

When 2004 rolled in, Nikon revolutionized the world of photographic lighting with the SB­800, the first flash to be used with the new Creative Lighting System. The first camera to be
compatible with the CLS was the D2H. Using the D2H with multiple SB-800s enabled you
to control the Speedlights individually by setting them to different groups, all which were
metered via pre-flashes and could be adjusted separately.

With the introduction of the D70 and later the D70s and D200, users could even control any
number of off camera Speedlights using the camera’s built-in flash. Of course using the
built-in flash had some drawbacks. Using the D70s, you can only control one group of
Speedlights, and with the D200, you can only control two groups. Even so, this is remark­able. Never before could you use a Speedlight off camera while retaining the function of
the iTTL metering.

Eventually, Nikon augmented the CLS line with the SB-600, the little brother to the SB-800.
While lacking some of the features of the SB-800, such as the ability to control Speedlights,
it’s still an amazing little flash. Nikon also released a couple of kits for doing macro pho­tography lighting, the R1 and R1C1. The R1 macro lighting kit has two small wireless
Speedlights, the SBR-200, which you can mount directly to the lens via an adaptor. The SBR­200 can also be purchased separately enabling you to use any many lights as you want. The
R1C1 kit is essentially the same as the R1 kit, with the addition of the SU-800 commander
unit. The SU-800 is a wireless transmitter that enables you to control groups of flashes just
like the SB-800 without a visible flash. The SU-800 can control any of the Speedlights avail­able in the CLS line, the SB-800, the SB-600, and the SBR-200.

What’s in This Book for You?

While the manuals that come with the Speedlights are informative and contain all the tech­nical data about your Nikon Speedlight, they don’t exactly go into detail about the nuances
of lighting — the small things and pitfalls you may encounter or the types of settings you
might want to use on your camera and lenses.

That’s where this book comes in. This book offers you tips and advice acquired in real world
situations by a photographer who has been using the Nikon Creative Lighting system
almost daily since it was first introduced.

Initially, flash photography is often thought of with dread as mysterious and confusing.
However, with this book I hope to dispel that myth and help to get you on the road to using
the flash and CLS as another creative tool in your photographic arsenal, rather than some­thing to be avoided at all costs.

xx Introduction

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QT

QT

CHAPTER

Quick Tour

M

any cameras come equipped with a built-in flash.

Like any photographer who takes many photos
with flash, you soon learn the limitations of these built-in
flashes. In order to obtain better flash lighting for portraits, still
lifes, and other types of photography, the next step is to grad­uate to external Speedlights, such as the Nikon SB-600 or SB-

800. By adding Speedlights to your photographic arsenal, you
get many further-reaching photographic capabilities your
built-in flash just can’t provide.

Nikon Speedlights are very easy to use right out of the box. All
you need to do is unpack what’s in the box, insert AA batter­ies, attach the Speedlight to your camera’s hot shoe, turn on
your flash and camera, and you are ready to start taking pho­tos! Though many would think that advanced flash units such
as the SB-800 or SB-600 are complex beasts, the reality is,
they are ready-to-go for quick snapshots, but also config­urable for some complex wireless multi-flash photo shoots.
So get ready, you are about to explore the world of the SB­800 and SB-600 Speedlights and the Nikon Creative Lighting
System.

This quick tour shows you how to get up and going with your
SB-800 or SB-600 Speedlight to take great flash photos
immediately.

✦✦✦✦

In This Chapter

Getting up and running
quickly

Taking your first photos
with the Speedlight

✦✦✦✦

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Getting Up and
Running Quickly

If you want to get up and running quickly
with your Nikon Speedlight SB-800 or SB­600, all you really need to do is insert the
batteries, attach the Speedlight to your cam­era, and then turn both the Speedlight and
the camera on. You’ll be amazed at the
quality of flash photos you can take with the
Speedlight as soon as you take it out of the
box.

The flash accepts Alkaline,
Lithium, or rechargeable AA­sized batteries

To attach the Speedlight:

1. Turn off the camera and

Speedlight. Both the Speedlight

and camera should be turned off
before attaching. Turning off the
equipment reduces any risk of
short-circuits when attaching differ­ent electronic devices.

2. Unlock the mounting foot lock

lever. Move the mounting foot

lock lever of the SB-800 to the
left —its unlocked position.

3. Attach the Speedlight to your

camera. Slide the Speedlight hot

shoe into the camera’s hot shoe.
Turn the mounting foot lock lever
to the right to lock the Speedlight
in place.

4. Position the flash head to the

horizontal position. When you

first attach the Speedlight to your
camera, make sure the flash head is
positioned in its normal horizontal
position. You can reposition the
flash head by pressing the flash
head tilting/rotating lock release,
and then positioning the flash head.

When using the SB-800, if the
flash head is not in the normal,
horizontal position, the LCD
panel shows a warning.

5. Turn on your camera.

6. Turn on your Speedlight. The

On/Off switch for the Speedlight is
located on the back panel, shown
in figure QT.4.

After you power up your Speedlight and
camera with the flash head in the horizontal
position, both the flash and camera sync.
You can then reposition the flash head to
your desired position.

Note

Note

2 Quick Tour ✦

QT.1 Turn the mounting foot lock lever to

the left to unlock.

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Mounting foot lock lever

(unlock position)

✦ Quick Tour 3

QT.2 Position the flash head in the horizontal position by pressing

the flash head tilting/rotating lock release.

QT.3 Repositioning the flash head.

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The SB-800 comes equipped
with the SW-10H diffusion
dome. When you place the dif­fusion dome over the flash
head, you get a more subdued,
softer light on your subject.
Consider using the diffusion
dome when shooting portraits
of people or even when you
want to soften the light on other
subjects such as a floral
arrangement.

Taking Your First
Photos with the
Speedlight

After you get your flash attached and turned
on, the flash default sets itself to TTL mode.
TTL stands for Through the Lens, which
means that the light meter in the camera
takes a reading through the lens and
decides how much flash exposure you need
depending on your camera settings.

✦ If your camera meter is set to

matrix metering, which means the
light meter is taking a reading of
the whole scene, you see BL after
the TTL icon. The BL stands for bal­anced fill flash. The camera adjusts
the flash exposure to match the
ambient light, creating a more nat­ural look.

✦ If your camera is set to spot meter

the scene, the flash sets to full TTL
mode. The camera’s meter takes a
reading of the subject and exposes
just for that, not taking into
account the background light.

I recommend setting your camera to matrix
metering mode and using the TTL BL mode.
This mode produces great results and you
don’t have to do anything but press the
shutter release. When set to TTL, the back­ground tends to be too dark or the subject
seems to be unnaturally bright. And remem­ber, setting up your Speedlight for TTL BL
flash is easy; after the Speedlight’s attached
to the camera, turn it on!

Tip

4 Quick Tour ✦

QT.4 The back of the SB-800 Speedlight

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Modeling Illuminator button

Don’t be afraid to use your flash
outside in the sun. This is where
balanced fill flash excels. The
flash fills in some of the harsh
shadows that are created by
the sun.

Taking photos with the Speedlight on TTL is
just as easy as taking photos without a flash.
Just press the shutter release. The camera
makes all of the adjustments for exposure
and adjusts the flash head zoom for you.

The flash head zoom is a feature of the
Speedlight that adjusts the flash to match
the focal length of the lens you’re using.
Don’t be concerned if you don’t completely
understand how TTL BL works or why the
flash zoom is important —you will in good
time. By the time you finish this book, you
should be an expert. In the meantime, this
Quick Tour is just to get you started with
flash photography and comfortable with
your new flash equipment.

Tip

✦ Quick Tour 5

QT.5 An outdoor portrait using TTL BL

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Everything is attached and you have the
basic settings, so get out there and shoot.
Take some pictures of your friends or signif­icant other. Get your dog or cat posed. Set

up a still life. Experiment with different aper­tures and shutter speeds. Above all, have
fun!

6 Quick Tour ✦

QT.6 A quick snapshot of Clementine taken using the SB-600 with a wide aperture

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Using the
Creative
Lighting
System

I

I

PART

✦✦✦✦

In This Part

Chapter 1

Exploring the CLS

Chapter 2

Setting Up the SB-800
and SB-600

✦✦✦✦

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1

1

CHAPTER

Exploring
the CLS

T

he components of the Nikon Creative Lighting System

are any Nikon dSLR and the SB-800, SB-600, and SBR­200 Speedlights. Additional components include the SU-800
commander unit, and the R1 and R1C1 macro lighting kits.
And, as with any new camera equipment, it is important to
know how everything works and where all the controls are.

In this chapter you take a look and the main features and
functions of the major components in the Nikon CLS, includ­ing the SB-800 and the SB-600. Additionally, this chapter also
touches on some features and functions of the SU-800 wire­less commander and the SBR-200 macro Speedlight kit. By
the end of the chapter, you ought to have an in-depth knowl­edge of what all the buttons do and how to use the features
of the CLS for the best results with your photography.

Features of the Nikon
Creative Lighting System

In this section you take a look at all of the available features
of the Nikon Creative Lighting System. It’s important to keep
in mind that although at some level all of these features are
available, not all of them are available with certain Speedlight
and camera combinations.

While all Nikon dSLR’s can be used with the Nikon
Creative Lighting System, not all features are avail­able with every camera.

For specific information on what features are available, see
the tables in the following pages to determine which features
can be utilized with your Speedlight and camera combination.

Note

✦✦✦✦

In This Chapter

SB-800

SB-600

Overview of the SU­800 Commander

Overview of the SBR­200 Speedlight

Components of the
Nikon Creative Lighting
System

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✦ iTTL. Nikon’s most advanced

metering system, it uses pre­flashes fired from the Speedlight to
determine the proper flash expo­sure. The pre-flashes are read by a
1005-pixel metering sensor. The
information is then combined with
the information from matrix meter­ing, which is a reading of how
much available light is falling on
the subject. The Speedlight uses
this information to decide how
much flash exposure is needed to
create a fill flash.

✦ Flash Value lock. The FV lock

allows you to meter the subject,
getting a reading for the proper
flash exposure. Pressing and hold­ing the FV lock button allows you
to meter the subject, and then
recompose the shot while main­taining the proper flash exposure
for the subject.

✦ Advanced Wireless Lighting.

This allows you to use your
Speedlights wirelessly. The com­mander unit fires pre-flashes,
which transmits information back
and forth between the camera and
the flash.

✦ High-Speed Sync. This allows

you to use your flash at higher
shutter speed than your camera
body is rated for. You may want to
use this feature when shooting
outdoor portraits requiring a wide
aperture and high shutter speed.

✦ Wide-Area AF-assist Illuminator.

The SB-800 and SB-600 have a
built-in LED that emits a light pat­tern to give the cameras AF some­thing to lock onto. The LED pattern
is wide enough to cover all eleven
focus areas on the D200, D2X/s
and the D2H/s.

✦ Flash Color Information

Communication. As the flash
duration gets longer the color tem­perature changes a bit. The SB-800
and SB-600 transmit this change to
the camera body, ensuring a more
accurate white balance.

SB-800

The SB-800 has many great features and
offers a great deal of versatility when shoot­ing with flash. As you no doubt already have
the flash and have read the manual (or at
least skimmed through it), you should know
the basics about your Speedlight already.
But, before you go much further, you should
familiarize yourself with the Speedlight.

SB-800 specs and
features

This section provides a brief look at different
features that are available on the SB-800
Speedlight. It is important to note, however,
that some features may not be available to
use depending on the camera body you are
using. For example, when using the D50 or
D70/D70s the FP High Speed Sync feature is
unavailable.

The features the SB-800 is capable of
include

✦ Guide Number. 125 at ISO 100

on the 35mm setting. See your
owner’s manual for more specifics
on GNs for specific zoom ranges.

✦ Automatic zooming flash-head.

Provides lens coverage from 24mm
up to 105mm, 14mm with the
included wide-angle adaptor.

10 Part I ✦ Using the Creative Lighting System

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