A couple of years ago I got a speedlight to mount in the hotshoe of my digital camera. This got a lot of use as fill light for backlit daytime photos and I was pretty happy with the results. It gave me detail in shadow areas that would otherwise be underexposed. Unfortunately, mounting a powerful flash so close to the camera lens also flattens out all textural information you would get from having those shadows. Another side effect was the bright flare from any reflectorized surfaces such as license plates and tail lamps. Simply moving the flash away from the camera lens solves all of those problems at the same time.
It turns out that the camera manufacturers had already figured out a solution to getting the flash off the camera. Nikon and Canon both have proprietary systems that allow their cameras and speed lights to communicate via infrared signals. I have a Nikon D700 and 2 SB-600 flashes that I have been experimenting with. Nikon’s manuals are of only very basic help with figuring out what is possible with the system. The world of off camera flash creativity really opened wide when I discovered the Strobist website put together by photojournalist David Hobby. He explains in detail how to use the limited power of battery powered flashes in conjunction with existing light to make beautiful images out of otherwise bland scenes.
This will be an ongoing chronicle as I learn how to apply Strobist lighting philosophy to jeepin and general outdoor photography.
My very first attempt at using the Nikon “Creative Lighting System” as their wireless flash setup is called was on a trip to a B&B in southern New Mexico. Cabin fever had set in after a couple of months without any trips so I took my wife down to the Casitas de Gila for the 3 day MLK weekend. They have several casitas, each with its own theme. We stayed in the Casita de los Pajaros, or the Little Bird House for you gueros. I wanted a photo of the front porch and the bird on the door, along with the view. I was underwhelmed with the result straight out of the camera. The door and the front yard were black holes while the surroundings were nicely exposed.
Up to this point in time I would fix the under/over exposure problems by shooting in raw format and adjusting the fill light and recovery sliders in Adobe Camera Raw. The results were much closer to what I saw when standing there with camera in hand but editing each photo this way would take at least 15 minutes.
Two SB-600 speedlights were sitting just inside that door, waiting for a good reason to use them. One flash went on the ground, just on the other side of the bench, pointing up at the shadow area of the door and the wood work of the porch. The other is “perched” on a birdhouse to camera left, pointing down at the chimenea and picnic table in the front yard. This looks much more like it did to my eye when I decided that I wanted a photo of the scene:
Best of all, it looks the way I wanted, straight out of the camera.
Now for my blundering first attempts at using Strobist lighting for jeepin photos. I went with a couple of friends to Gordy’s Hill OHV area to check out some trails. Most of them are either moderate or extreme, there is nothing in between. We turned around on this trail at an obstacle called Pucker Falls.
First a photo using the speedlight mounted on the camera.
It demonstrates a couple of the shortcomings when using on camera flash. While it does illuminate the shadow area, it flattens out the texture. Second, falloff is very apparent in this shot. The dirt in the foreground is well lit, but the rocks and ledges get almost none of the extra light from the flash.
Pucker Falls, Take 2. I removed the speedlight from the camera and balanced it on the boulder to the right. Look carefully and you’ll see it sitting there upside down so the infrared sensor faces the camera. I wanted the light to rake across the rocks and undercut ledge to show just how nasty this obstacle is.
I was happy with the results at the time, but when I got home and viewed it on the computer screen I was bothered by the bluish color cast of the rocks illuminated by the flash as compared to the sunlit rocks across the gully. It was obvious evidence of flash illumination. To me, this is just as bad as the underexposed shadows I was trying to fix with the flash in the first place. My goal here was to have my flash enhance the existing lighting without making its use apparent.
Pucker Falls, Take 3. My buddy Adam wanted to go back to Gordy’s Hill the next weekend so I bummed a ride. He loves his Jeep and gets hundreds of photos of it out of the deal. I decided during the intervening week that the flash needed to be filtered to match the existing light. I had a Rosco Cinegel sample pack so I selected a #12 Straw Yellow gel, cut off a couple of pieces and taped one over each speedlight. New Mexico is known for its abundant sunshine, the one thing I didn’t expect on this day was a thin layer of clouds. The color temperature from an overcast sky is towards the blue end of the spectrum, compared with the more yellow light of the direct sunlight shining during Take 2. The ambient light zigged, and I zagged, making the resulting disparity in color temperatures 100 times more obvious than my first take.
At least you can get an idea of exactly how much light 2 SB-600’s will put out. I used them both this day.
Take 4. Whaddaya know, with the gels removed the bare flashes balance nicely with today’s cooler ambient light.
It turns out that the camera manufacturers had already figured out a solution to getting the flash off the camera. Nikon and Canon both have proprietary systems that allow their cameras and speed lights to communicate via infrared signals. I have a Nikon D700 and 2 SB-600 flashes that I have been experimenting with. Nikon’s manuals are of only very basic help with figuring out what is possible with the system. The world of off camera flash creativity really opened wide when I discovered the Strobist website put together by photojournalist David Hobby. He explains in detail how to use the limited power of battery powered flashes in conjunction with existing light to make beautiful images out of otherwise bland scenes.
This will be an ongoing chronicle as I learn how to apply Strobist lighting philosophy to jeepin and general outdoor photography.
My very first attempt at using the Nikon “Creative Lighting System” as their wireless flash setup is called was on a trip to a B&B in southern New Mexico. Cabin fever had set in after a couple of months without any trips so I took my wife down to the Casitas de Gila for the 3 day MLK weekend. They have several casitas, each with its own theme. We stayed in the Casita de los Pajaros, or the Little Bird House for you gueros. I wanted a photo of the front porch and the bird on the door, along with the view. I was underwhelmed with the result straight out of the camera. The door and the front yard were black holes while the surroundings were nicely exposed.
Up to this point in time I would fix the under/over exposure problems by shooting in raw format and adjusting the fill light and recovery sliders in Adobe Camera Raw. The results were much closer to what I saw when standing there with camera in hand but editing each photo this way would take at least 15 minutes.
Two SB-600 speedlights were sitting just inside that door, waiting for a good reason to use them. One flash went on the ground, just on the other side of the bench, pointing up at the shadow area of the door and the wood work of the porch. The other is “perched” on a birdhouse to camera left, pointing down at the chimenea and picnic table in the front yard. This looks much more like it did to my eye when I decided that I wanted a photo of the scene:
Best of all, it looks the way I wanted, straight out of the camera.
Now for my blundering first attempts at using Strobist lighting for jeepin photos. I went with a couple of friends to Gordy’s Hill OHV area to check out some trails. Most of them are either moderate or extreme, there is nothing in between. We turned around on this trail at an obstacle called Pucker Falls.
First a photo using the speedlight mounted on the camera.
It demonstrates a couple of the shortcomings when using on camera flash. While it does illuminate the shadow area, it flattens out the texture. Second, falloff is very apparent in this shot. The dirt in the foreground is well lit, but the rocks and ledges get almost none of the extra light from the flash.
Pucker Falls, Take 2. I removed the speedlight from the camera and balanced it on the boulder to the right. Look carefully and you’ll see it sitting there upside down so the infrared sensor faces the camera. I wanted the light to rake across the rocks and undercut ledge to show just how nasty this obstacle is.
I was happy with the results at the time, but when I got home and viewed it on the computer screen I was bothered by the bluish color cast of the rocks illuminated by the flash as compared to the sunlit rocks across the gully. It was obvious evidence of flash illumination. To me, this is just as bad as the underexposed shadows I was trying to fix with the flash in the first place. My goal here was to have my flash enhance the existing lighting without making its use apparent.
Pucker Falls, Take 3. My buddy Adam wanted to go back to Gordy’s Hill the next weekend so I bummed a ride. He loves his Jeep and gets hundreds of photos of it out of the deal. I decided during the intervening week that the flash needed to be filtered to match the existing light. I had a Rosco Cinegel sample pack so I selected a #12 Straw Yellow gel, cut off a couple of pieces and taped one over each speedlight. New Mexico is known for its abundant sunshine, the one thing I didn’t expect on this day was a thin layer of clouds. The color temperature from an overcast sky is towards the blue end of the spectrum, compared with the more yellow light of the direct sunlight shining during Take 2. The ambient light zigged, and I zagged, making the resulting disparity in color temperatures 100 times more obvious than my first take.
At least you can get an idea of exactly how much light 2 SB-600’s will put out. I used them both this day.
Take 4. Whaddaya know, with the gels removed the bare flashes balance nicely with today’s cooler ambient light.
