Workshop at the Ranch – July 2004 – Location Portrait Lighting using Nikon’s NEW SB-800 Speedlights

Hi and welcome to the July issue of Workshop at the Ranch. How to do Lighting is the most frequently asked question that I receive. I thought it would be a good idea to illustrate Location Portrait Lighting using Nikon’s NEW SB-800 Speedlights with there remarkable Advanced Wireless Lighting system. My daughter Haley plays on her high school tennis team and offered to help with the shoot. So…………….Let’s learn……………

I noticed during dinner that the sky was shaping up to be a great sunset. The hill top behind our house is a beautiful location for a portrait as it offers full view of the Rocky Mountains and colorful sunsets. With these factors in mind I felt an outdoor portrait would be a great way for me to get acquainted with my SB-800. The portability and convenience of the Nikon SB-800 Speedlights would be perfect as we needed to walk up the hillside with equipment. I used my Nikon D2H, ISO200, Aperture Priority set at f5.6, Nikon 12-24mm lens, Lexar 1G Flash Card, Bogen Tripod, 2 Bogen Lightstands, and 4 Nikon SB-800 Speedlights with 3 Bogen “JUSTIN CLAMPS” named after Justin Staily of Bogen.

Joe McNally tells us “there is only one rule in lighting…THERE ARE NO RULES” In other words, Light to create a feeling. In Haley’s case I wanted to light her in such a way so as to showcase her youth in harmony with her maturity and determination.

7:40pm… I composed the scene roughly the way I wanted with Haley blocking the sunset and God providing sun rays that illuminated the sky. Aperture Priority would expose for the overall scene but I wanted Haley ” left in the dark ” so I dialed down the EV -1 which would bring down the exposure for the brilliant sky and leave Haley in the dark……..just what I wanted. White Balance is set on cloudy for a touch of warmth. The first of four SB-800’s (the MASTER) is on the D2H hotshoe and is dialed down -3. Only a fair amount of light hits Haley. The background is faintly lit by the setting sun, just enough to separate Haley’s lower body from the background.

7:43pm… I placed the next SB-800 on a “Justin Clamp” and attached it to a Bogen Lightstand to the side about 4 feet away from Haley’s face. Haley is 5′ 10″ tall…the Speedlight is about one foot higher. With the Nikon SB-800 Speedlight system I can divide the remote flash units into 3 groups and control the flash output independently for each group. This Speedlight is group A and I set its power output at 0 (full power) and took a shot and looked at the LCD Screen….not enough light so I dialed up the group A SB-800 directly from the MASTER SB-800 to +1 looked…..still not enough light so I dialed up again to +2 and looked on the LCD screen….Perfect!. The amazing thing about these units is I can dial the power up or down on each SB-800 from the MASTER SB-800 on the camera. No running around from light to light and with the sun setting quickly and the sky changing with every second I could not afford to waste time. The MASTER SB-800 on the camera triggers the independent SB-800’s and allows me to control the flash output all from my position behind the camera.

7:47pm… The sun is setting fast and the sky is changing every few seconds. I want to see more of Haley’s hands and racquet so I placed another SB-800 (designated group B on the MASTER) on the same Lightstand as the group A SB-800. It is level with her hands and tipped up slightly to illuminate not only her hands and racquet but fill in under her chin…a “glamor light” effect. I set the flash output at +2 took a shot and looked….too much light so I dialed down the power to +1…still too much so I dialed down again to +0.7…perfect. Because this SB-800 is set on group B I can independently adjust the flash output from the SB-800 on her face and vise-versa.

7:50pm Ten minutes into the shoot. YES, just 10 minutes! The sun is setting and clouds are changing fast……….One more light to take away the deep shadow on Haley’s face should do it. I placed another SB-800 (designated group C on the MASTER) on another lightstand about 4 feet away from Haley’s left elbow. I tilted it up so as to illuminate both her left arm and left side of her face. From the MASTER I started at 0 (full power) and dialed down to -.3 and looked, too bright…dialed down -1 and looked, still too bright…dialed down -1.7 and liked it. It is now 7:55pm and I think I am done. Unfortunately the sky had changed enough to reveal hot spots that are distracting to me. I like the light on Haley but the sky is less than perfect…….so we wait for a few minutes and the clouds to my left begin turning a burnt yellow….so…..

7:57pm… I moved the camera position and recomposed the scene to a vertical and included a single golden cloud. The Aperture Priority does its job for the sky exposure ( Aperture Priority EV-1) and I zoom in from 12mm to 20mm to take away the elongation of her arms. I moved the lights to approximately the same position as before and had Haley change her stance and look over the other shoulder. She also lowered her tennis racquet slightly to reveal more of her face. Also, what appears to be a shadow from her racquet around her neck is not a shadow at all but Haley’s favorite black choker necklace. I set the WB on Shade-1 to bring up more warmth, added the tennis ball and I am ready to shoot again. I adjusted the group A SB-800 (the light on her face) from the MASTER to a +1.3 flash output instead of +2 while keeping the group B SB-800 on +0.7 and the Group C at a -1.7 then captured this final image at 8:00pm. She and I both like it. The sky in the previous images was perhaps too spectacular and competed with Haley for the viewers eye. The softer golden cloud is a better compliment to her and allows her to stand alone as the main focus.

Twenty minutes start to finish not including walking up the hill. Normally I would have gone to the location well before sunset and had everything ready and dialed in before the subject arrives but this exercise demonstrates the versatility, speed, simplicity and beautiful results that can be achieved with the Nikon SB-800 Speedlight system. Being able to capture a well lit portrait on location is essential to the overall success of any photographer shooting sports these days and the SB-800 Speedlights are a perfect and inexpensive way to do so. I hope you enjoyed this edition of Workshop at the Ranch…….see you next month. Adios, Dave