M8 + TTL Flash - Recommended Book?

[wstotler]

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Hi, all.

 

I know how much picking up "The Hand Exposure Meter Book" (Hirschfeld / Shell / Silverman / Zuckerman) helped with my exposure metering. This book was recommended to me on the forum and it did wonders to help me cure my M8 exposure woes.

 

I've recently been shooting my M8 with the SF24D off-camera/handheld, in TTL mode, via a Nikon SC-28 cord. (Thanks are due to Sean Reid and his article on using flash--shows how a hand-held technique can be used to excellent effect.) I've got the basics down and I'm practicing now.

 

However, I haven't yet found an excellent single source book that really talks about TTL flash and how to use it most effectively: theory, practice, and technique in one volume.

 

General searches in Google and Amazon are netting back nothing for me. (Probably the way I'm searching.)

 

I've already read through Strobist, a variety of articles online, etc., about modern flash photography. These are not specifically geared toward using TTL flash--although the general principles do apply.

 

Can anyone here make a recommendation for a TTL flash "bible" that they have read and helped them specifically with their TTL flash?

 

Thanks!

Will

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[Luke_Miller]

I may be misunderstanding your question. TTL flash is when the flash output is regulated by the camera (by metering through the lens) to produce proper exposure. This is one of two ways of automatically controlling flash exposure. The other is auto thyristor in which the flash itself controls flash output. The SF-24D supports both modes. These are methods of producing properly exposed flash images, but have little to do with creating artistically pleasing ones.

 

I suspect what you really want is a reference that describes the techniques used to get great flash shots using a single flash. Sean Reid gets great results using manual flash, so TTL is not essential to success. The best reference I've found is Neil van Niekerk's web site. I've learned more from him than from any other source. You can buy his book or learn directly from the articles on his site.

 

http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

[wstotler]

Luke,

 

Thanks for the help. I read his examples on effectively using TTL and some key points were cleared up for me. Just to start, I clearly misunderstood how TTL worked. . . . I knew it was metering through the lens but did not fully get what it was metering or why it was behaving like it was. (I do now.)

 

Next, what I needed to understand (and didn't) was that I needed to set my ISO to 320, aperture to 1.2, and then "drag" the shutter at 1/30th or 1/60th to get the amount of ambient light I expected to see--with a small "pop" of flash that I could channel by hand into the scene appropriately. Duh. Shoot like you generally do and set the flash controls appropriately. (A quick test confirms this works great.) Instead, I was compensating for using the flash by setting my speed at 1/125th or 1/250th and using f/5.6 or f/8 and losing all my ambient light, getting nasty shadows and was generally unhappy. You would think it's just common sense. Apparently not.

 

Anyway, thanks for the resource. Big help. I'll be applying this basic strategy for use on a shoot next week. I may pony up and buy his book. Have to read a bit more. I like his show-and-tell style.

 

If anyone else has additional resources, I'd be happy to have a look.

 

Thanks!

Will

[Luke_Miller]

Balancing the flash output with the ambient light really improves the image IMO. The other useful technique is changing the characteristics of the flash output. Just mounted in the hotshoe and pointed towards the subject the flash produces very hard shadows which are not pleasing. Also, since it is so close to the lens it creates very flat lighting, which I don't care for. Bounced off a ceiling or wall the light becomes very difused and produces very soft shadows. It also will create modeling of subject features creating a more 3D look. It allows you to use a lot of flash output when there is not much ambient light without looking like a flash was used.

 

Here is where the SF-24D TTL mode is really valuable in my view. It doesn't care which direction the flash was pointed since the flash exposure is metered using the light passing though the camera lens. I put my SF-24D on a Nikon SC-28 cord so I can direct the flash output to best advantage. My favorite mode is bounced off a ceiling. This turns the ceiling into (effectively) a really large softbox. I use a rubber band to hold a piece of white cardboard to the top of the flash so some of the light goes directly towards the subject, while most goes towards the ceiling. Performs the same function as the secondary flash tube on the SF-58.

 

Since the SF-58 has a bounce and swivel head you can do all this from the hotshoe. I don't have an SF-58, but have used my Nikon SB-800 (in Auto mode) in this fashion. Works fine, but now I have a much larger and awkward flash/camera package that I really don't care for. The SF-24D is much more manageable, but you have to get it out of the hotshoe.

 

The techniques that Neil van Niekerk and others recommend produce images that do not look like flash was used, but rather that they were taken in really good light. To my mind this is often better than not using flash and creating images that accurately record the bad lighting that illuminated the scene.

[wstotler]

Balancing the flash output with the ambient light really improves the image IMO. The other useful technique is changing the characteristics of the flash output. Just mounted in the hotshoe and pointed towards the subject the flash produces very hard shadows which are not pleasing. Also, since it is so close to the lens it creates very flat lighting, which I don't care for. Bounced off a ceiling or wall the light becomes very difused and produces very soft shadows. It also will create modeling of subject features creating a more 3D look. It allows you to use a lot of flash output when there is not much ambient light without looking like a flash was used.

 

Here is where the SF-24D TTL mode is really valuable in my view. It doesn't care which direction the flash was pointed since the flash exposure is metered using the light passing though the camera lens. I put my SF-24D on a Nikon SC-28 cord so I can direct the flash output to best advantage. My favorite mode is bounced off a ceiling. This turns the ceiling into (effectively) a really large softbox. I use a rubber band to hold a piece of white cardboard to the top of the flash so some of the light goes directly towards the subject, while most goes towards the ceiling. Performs the same function as the secondary flash tube on the SF-58.

 

Since the SF-58 has a bounce and swivel head you can do all this from the hotshoe. I don't have an SF-58, but have used my Nikon SB-800 (in Auto mode) in this fashion. Works fine, but now I have a much larger and awkward flash/camera package that I really don't care for. The SF-24D is much more manageable, but you have to get it out of the hotshoe.

 

The techniques that Neil van Niekerk and others recommend produce images that do not look like flash was used, but rather that they were taken in really good light. To my mind this is often better than not using flash and creating images that accurately record the bad lighting that illuminated the scene.

 

 

+1 to what you've said here and thanks for the additional info!

 

Flash that *doesn't look like flash* but instead is a bit of controlled light added strategically to the scene is ideal IMO, which was the kind of look and what I was after in the first place. (I pretty much feel the same about infrared photography--when you take it and do the B&W conversion it should look like a dramatic B&W shot with great/strange light and not have "IR" written all over it.)

 

The info from Niekerk + the info from Sean Reid regarding freehanding flash = great control. Now I just need to get a good handle on how to best put this into action in a consistent fashion. (E.g., practice!)

 

I'm not sold on the bounce card just yet as you describe it and as I've seen elsewhere, but I might get there soon enough.

 

I bought Niekerk's book, BTW--I'd read enough on the Website to feel as though it would be valuable to have and really go through in detail.

 

Thanks!

Will