Nikon D3 brochure Joe McNally Photojournalist U.S.A, Speedlight tips colored gels

Group A illuminates the main subject from the side

Make lighting work for you with wireless multiple Speedlights

p l e S p e e d l i g h t s

Joe McNally — Photojournalist (U.S.A.)

There have been many difficult lighting situations in my career where the Nikon Creative Lighting System literally amazed me by sorting out a proper exposure. The System offers incredibly high accuracy in most shooting scenarios. Milliseconds before each shot, the camera meter and Speedlight speak to each other, relaying and calculating massive amounts of lighting information — exposure variance, RGB, reflectance, distance and contrast, to name a few — all of which are constantly shifting and changing. I’ve always said that no camera system will ever solve every problem, but Nikon cameras and the Creative Lighting System do a phenomenal job of sorting through the data to give you accurate exposures. This is a

major reason to use Nikon.

http://www.joemcnally.com

Camera setting data: Camera and Speedlight: D2X and three SB-800s (one on-camera mas- ter/commander and two

remote units)

Lens: AF-S DX 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED

Shutter speed: 1/160 sec.

Aperture: f/14

Exposure mode: Aperture-Priority Auto

Flash mode: i-TTL

Image quality: RAW

Speedlight tips: colored gels

Selecting the right colored gel fil- ter is important, especially when you want the flash to appear nat- ural alongside ambient light. For the outrigger canoe photograph (shown left), an amber gel filter added extra warmth to the main subject while blending seamlessly with the sunlight

and overall color of the image.

SB-600 Speedlights can serve as remote units in wireless lighting, while SB-800 Speedlights can serve as Master, Commander or separate remote units.

M u l t i

© Joe McNally All images aside from product shots by Joe McNally

Turn good shots into great shots with Advanced Wireless Lighting

You can accomplish a lot with just one Speedlight, but sometimes an image would benefit from more artistic illumina- tion. Adding more Speedlights not only adds depth to the scene but also character and charm to your subject. One of the great- est benefits that is singular to Nikon’s Advanced Wireless Lighting is that controlling dozens of Speedlights is just as easy as controlling your on-camera Speedlight. And because it’s wire- less, setting up your Speedlights can be done quickly and smoothly no matter where you’re shooting. From the Master Speedlight located on top of your camera, you can control the flash output of three groups of wireless remote units, adding any number of Speedlights to each of these groups.

Simply set everything to Nikon's exclusive i-TTL for consistently accu- rate exposures in even the most dif- ficult lighting situations. It's just as easy to explore alternate exposures by adjusting the flash exposure com- pensation of individual Speedlight groups. Or if you like, turn off a Speedlight group, or set everything

to manual — all via the LCD panel on the Master Speedlight, all possible without ever leaving your camera. Multiple Speedlight control has never been this intuitive and fluid. No other lighting system comes close.

Timing is crucial for location shooters. Here’s how one photographer captured an aspiring dancer in 24 hours, and how the Nikon Creative Lighting System provided the speed and flexibility he needed.

Bounce flash	Seamless flash with mixed ambient lighting	Directional light for a dramatic exposure
The illuminated space needed to be large enough for	This shop had mixed light sources: fluorescent light	Shooting at sunset can offer beautiful ambient light,
the dancer to move freely. Four SB-800 units were	along with sunlight from the window. To give the scene	but in a narrow window of time. For a dramatic effect,

Add Group B to emphasize the middle ground and Group C for the background

Group C: Illuminates background

On-camera

Commander

Group B: Illuminates	Group A: Illuminates
middle ground	main subject

You can control up to 4 groups of Speedlights, includ- ing the Master and 3 remote i-TTL Speedlight groups, to achieve complete control of your lighting environ- ment. All groups can be controlled from the Master, and there is no limit to how many you can use.

Control it all from here. Set the flash mode, turn Speedlight groups on or off and con- trol the flash exposure compensation for up to 4 Speedlight groups from the Master Controller SB-800's LCD panel.

attached to the ballet bar to bounce light off the wall.	a natural look, a diffuser is attached to an SB-800 and	two sets of SB-800 remote units illuminate the dancer
Two more SB-800 units bounced light off the floor. By	tilted toward the ceiling, with an additional wireless	from the front and the rear. After a few angle adjust-
bouncing light off the cream-colored wall and the	remote SB-800 illuminating the dancer from outside the	ments, there was a large enough volume of light to
wooden floor, the lighting achieved natural warmth.	window.	emphasize the dancer's shape appropriately.

Group B: Bounced			Dancer
off the floor	Dancer	On-camera
Dancer		Master/Commander
On-camera		Group A: Illuminates	Group B: Illuminates
Commander
Group A: Bounced off the wall		from the rear	from the front
		Group A: Illuminates from
			On-camera Commander
		outside window

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