THE JOY of FILL FLASH

Workshop at the Ranch
March, 2004 Edition

Hi, and welcome again to the March issue of Workshop at the Ranch. Last month we looked at the endless possibilities of Arena Sport Strobe Lighting. I enjoyed many emails about the images and diagrams. Sounds like many of you are getting creative with the strobes you have. Well, I thought we might look at another style of lighting, the on camera flash. Speedlights used with digital cameras has produced less than 100% accurately lit images..................TILL NOW. Nikons NEW SB800 Speedlight is fantastic.

THE JOY of FILL FLASH IS BACK !

KC's head coach Dick Vermeil gets his team fired up. I used the Nikon SB-80DX for this image. While this older speedlight worked better than any other on the market, it was not 100% accurate. Remember that the objective of FILL FLASH is to CLEAN the subject not FLASH the subject. Dialed down -2 2/3 the speedlight adds just enough light to FILL in some shadows on Vermeils face. Enough to CLEAN him but not OVER POWER him.
	I almost always have the camera and or strobe set on REAR CURTAIN. Again this example is with the older SB-80DX dialed down -3. FILL with light, don't OVER POWER with light. I used a slow shutter speed of 1/30 and the Rear Curtain fill flash as the cyclist road by during the Sprint Finals at the Velodrome.
I used the NEW Nikon SB-800 Speedlight for the first time at an international wresting tournament. The competition showcased over 25 World and Olympic Champions and the USA Women's Olympic Wrestling Team. The arena was poorly lit and had an ambient reading of ISO800, 1/200 shutter speed, aperture f2.8. My sport strobes were all installed at other arenas so I decided to use the new SB800. I used the TTL mode and DIALED DOWN the speedlight -1 2/3. I exposed 1 stop under the ambient reading at ISO500 and 1/250th sec shutter. The SB-800 cleaned the subject but did not over power the subject. I set the White Balance on 4500K as was the color temperature of the arena lights. Backgrounds fell off the 1 stop and the action was frozen.
	Same settings for both camera and the SB-800. Without the FILL FLASH these athletes faces would be to dark. The SB800 dialed down 1 2/3 to CLEAN adds a perfect balance.
Paticia Miranda is the USA's current World Champion in the newest of Olympic sports to debut in Athens, Women's Freestyle Wrestling. She is quick and strong and is a contender for the Gold in Athens. Same settings as the previous images. Nikon D2H, Nikon 70-200mm VR Zoom lens, Nikon SB800 Speedlight -1 2/3
	Normally speedlights give out after 60-70feet, but the Nikon SB800 seemed to carry nearly 90feet or more. Shot from the top of the stands with a Nikon 400mm lens, the SB800 filled just enough to clean the subject easily. Here America's favorite Olympic Gold Medalist Rulon Gardner continues his comeback in preparation for Athens.

It's easy...........again. Fill Flash in TTL mode with the Nikon SB-800 Speedlight.
See you next time at the Workshop at the Ranch. Adios, Dave

Each month I will be teaching techniques and sharing information about photography. I hope to address not only how images are made, but also aspects of business and the industry. I hope you find the time to log on each month here at "Workshop at the Ranch" If you have a question or comment about an area of photography not covered yet in Workshop at the Ranch, contact me to suggest a topic for a future issue.

*For additional examples of photographs using various lighting techniques see the Sports Scene

For another truly unique lighting style with instructions on it's implementation, check out LightPainting Techniques in the January edition of Workshop at the Ranch or for more on artificial arena lighting techniques, see Arena Lighting, February's Workshop at the Ranch.

WORKSHOPS and PRESENTATION Schedule

September 9-12 ... American PHOTO Mentor Series Trek to Tetons, Wyoming. www.mentorseries.com

October 3-8 ... Photography at the Summit, Jackson Hole, Wy. www.photographyatthesummit.com

THE JOY of FILL FLASH

WORKSHOPS and PRESENTATION Schedule

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