The SB-800 comes equipped
with the SW-10H diffusion
dome. When you place the dif-
fusion dome over the flash
head, you get a more subdued,
softer light on your subject.
Consider using the diffusion
dome when shooting portraits
of people or even when you
want to soften the light on other
subjects such as a floral
arrangement.
Taking Your FirstPhotos with theSpeedlight
After you get your flash attached and turned
on, the flash default sets itself to TTL mode.
TTL stands for Through the Lens, which
means that the light meter in the camera
takes a reading through the lens and
decides how much flash exposure you need
depending on your camera settings.
✦If your camera meter is set to
matrix metering, which means the
light meter is taking a reading of
the whole scene, you see BL after
the TTL icon. The BL stands for bal-
anced fill flash. The camera adjusts
the flash exposure to match the
ambient light, creating a more nat-
ural look.
✦If your camera is set to spot meter
the scene, the flash sets to full TTL
mode. The camera’s meter takes a
reading of the subject and exposes
just for that, not taking into
account the background light.
I recommend setting your camera to matrix
metering mode and using the TTL BL mode.
This mode produces great results and you
don’t have to do anything but press the
shutter release. When set to TTL, the back-
ground tends to be too dark or the subject
seems to be unnaturally bright. And remem-
ber, setting up your Speedlight for TTL BL
flash is easy; after the Speedlight’s attached
to the camera, turn it on!
Tip
4Quick Tour ✦
Modeling Illuminator button
QT.4 The back of the SB-800 Speedlight
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